Biology teacher fired for referring to Bible (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

SISTERS, Oregon (AP) -- During his eight days as a part-time high school biology teacher, Kris Helphinstine included Biblical references in material he provided to students and gave a PowerPoint presentation that made links between evolution, Nazi Germany and Planned Parenthood.

That was enough for the Sisters School Board, which fired the teacher Monday night for deviating from the curriculum on the theory of evolution.

"I think his performance was not just a little bit over the line," board member Jeff Smith said. "It was a severe contradiction of what we trust teachers to do in our classrooms."

Helphinstine, 27, said in a phone interview with The Bulletin newspaper of Bend that he included the supplemental material to teach students about bias in sources, and his only agenda was to teach critical thinking.

"Critical thinking is vital to scientific inquiry," said Helphinstine, who has a master's degree in science from Oregon State. "My whole purpose was to give accurate information and to get them thinking."
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/03/20/teacherfired.ap.ap/index.html

[gratuitous]

1. Critical thinking! Yeah, that's the ticket

Which is why he couldn't run his lesson plans past the administration first.

[bryant69]

3. In fairness most highschool administrators are pretty cowardly

when it comes to this sort of thing.

On the other hand, the nature of the material he presented looks pretty questionable.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Jade Fox]

12. Neocon tactic....

Claim that you ARE doing exactly what you are being criticized for NOT doing by those opposing you.

[tanyev]

2. I'm guessing he omitted Prescott Bush's ties to Nazi Germany and Planned Parenthood.

[trotsky]

4. What a freaking misleading headline.

Thanks, "liberal" media!

[Blue_Tires]

7. agreed

it's dangerous these days because oh so many people that watch/read the news just glance at the headline or crawl and move on...

and i SO want to see that powerpoint show about the nazis, evolution, and planned parenthood it makes me think of something Mr. Garrison from South Park would say...

[Wickerman]

10. exactly! The original headline in the local paper said:

Sisters fires a new teacher for presenting creationism (03/20/07)

i'd love to read the article, but it is a subscriber (pay) site.

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/search?crit=Kris+Helphinstine&Category=SEARCH&Profile=1055&Daterange=

[blondeatlast]

16. My thinking as well.

The Bible references are minor compared to the tin hat ravings. Sheesh.

[BoneDaddy]

5. Critical thinking?

Wow these folks co-opt everything don't they?

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. He should have stuck to the curriculum

Then he would still have a job.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Good. We need more of this.

Science teachers who teach mythology and not science need their asses fired pronto.

[Clark2008]

9. Um... the headline is a kicker.

Too bad there's nothing in the story that backs it up.

:shrug:

[Bandit]

11. This was located within the very first sentence

, Kris Helphinstine included Biblical references in material he provided to students.
I would say that follows the subject line fairly well..

[mondo joe]

13. Still inaccurate - he was not fired for MENTIONING the bible but for

using biblical references as part of science education.

[npincus]

14. pretty benign headline-- where's the word "indoctrination"?

[july302001]

15. Proper to fire him

He's way over the line trying to draw associations of evolution with Nazi Germany.

It's OK to say that the Nazis misused genetics with their eugenics theories. Same concept as misusing a hammer to hit someone over the head.

Just because a criminal misuses a hammer doesn't mean that hammers themselves are evil. Just because the Nazis misused evolution doesn't mean that evolution is bad. It's another case of Godwin's Law.

This is pretty cruddy teaching from someone who supposedly has an M.S.

Debate is good in science. However, his mission is to teach a science curriculum. He should have covered creationism in a more detached fashion and made it very clear that evolution by natural selection is very widely accepted among scientists and has been for many6 years. If he wanted to do "debate" stuff - there are innumerable topics he could have covered from Lysenkoism to the stem cell issue.

As another person with a science degree - yes - it was the right thing to fire this guy. He went too far off the curriculum.

[Cerridwen]

17. Sounds like he was talking about eugenics

A movement begun in the U.S. and allegedly advocated by many progressive leaders of the day including Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood. It was practiced in the U.S., yes there is proof of this, though the nazis took it to an extreme. There have been many progressive movements which have suffered through intense classism and racism including the early birth *control* movement. It's ugly, but it is part of our history. And, yes, I do believe we should not only think critically about our current progressive movements but know the history of them; as much as we hate it; so we can see what can happen if we don't address our own racism and classism.

I'm not sure what biblical passages he used but if he were trying to show how creationism conflicts with scientific evidence surrounding evolution, I'd think that would be a good way to, again, prompt the children to think critically about what is being told to them; even if it comes to them from such an authority as the bible.

I wish we had more information to go on.

[WinkyDink]

18. "My whole purpose was to give accurate information ...."

THIS shows his deliberate proselytizing.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. from LBN, two better headlines, and better articles:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2773702&mesg_id=2773719

Kudos to depakid for posting these.