Breakdown of an Anti-Science, Science Teacher

[20score]

I don’t want to single out just one anti-science teacher, but Ray Shelton signed his name to a letter that proudly proclaimed his ignorance. So I’ll focus on him. Fortunately, the vast majority of teachers are well above the national average when it comes to intelligence, good demeanor and critical thinking. My mother taught English for twenty years at the high school level and now teaches at a college. And most of the teachers I know socially, the majority of my children’s teachers and most of the ones in my past, are fantastic.

The follow letter was published in the March, 8th 2010 Los Angeles Times:

“Re “Getting global warming right,” Editorial, March 3

In Wednesday's editorial, you again attack the rationality of global warming "deniers."

As a fifth-grade public school science teacher, I am one of those deniers -- as are thousands of respected climatologists.

Global warming scientists simply do not have solid scientific evidence behind their claims. What they do have is human-programmed computer modeling, error-filled statistical sampling, government-driven "crisis" funding and an anti-capitalist ideology.

Actual science is driven by facts, logic, inductive reasoning and a love of the truth.

Global warming is a hoax, plain and simple.

Ray Shelton
Glendale”

First off, no one who isn’t blinded by ideology would tie anti-capitalism to a neutral scientific theory. That can only come from someone who is extremely susceptible to today’s propaganda. And if one puts more value on baseless propaganda than on established science, then that person should re-evaluate his or her critical thinking skills. There is good reason why creationists are hitching their wagons to the global warming deniers. Both groups, “don’t think” the same. They both have their pre-determined answers and will gather all the minutia they can to back up that answer, while ignoring the larger picture at all costs. My personal favorite claims are that carbon-14 dating doesn’t work after six thousands years, and that scientists and hippies are using their vast powers to take money from the government and the poor energy companies. (And both claims are made with straight faces.)

It boils down to this, in very simple terms, no one is disputing that CO2 is a greenhouse gas. This has been established science for over one hundred and fifty years when John Tyndall discovered its properties. Add that to another fact that no one disputes: That we are emitting 29 billion metric tons of this greenhouse gas into the air annually. When millions of years of accumulated and sequestered carbon is thrown back into the atmosphere, it will have an effect. There are multitudes of peer reviewed studies and an overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is anthropomorphic in nature. Even the anti-capitalists over at the Pentagon are in on the act, it seems.

I have three children, each of whom had a science teacher that should have been barred from any science classroom. My oldest daughter had a sixth grade teacher who took two full days to grasp a science experiment that my daughter and a partner did. Everyone else, including the children understood. My other daughter had a science teacher that was telling his students – until I stopped him – that homosexuality was a choice and some kids were going to hell. And my son had a teacher that insisted, until I complained to the principal, that the earth was only six thousand years old.

If you get your science from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, you’re not getting your science. What I’m saying Ray, is that before you brag about being a fifth-grade science teacher, you should have a fifth-grade grasp of science.



NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_warming_worldbook.html

Pentagon Study:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:NRGvr4J5wPUJ:www.climate.org/PDF/clim_change_scenario.pdf+global+warming+study+pentagon&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjfebhSSRNXjR8e0PTULgNjlXHfO6KDQbZJzKD9HUn2w2GZppEJafMfWn-I_O_wfQlQ57U9Dc4Wcrki9WbHa95WDpvYjQy23Z2xuMzdp6sb-cHiON_ddRb77643r3lkpzJSXHR4&sig=AHIEtbQ47T_jRWhzGRWuK8_nUxJ7I5300w

[HeresyLives]

1. Fire his ass.

:rofl:

[ihavenobias]

2. Great last line.

K & R

[Mithreal]

30. +1

[SutaUvaca]

3. ",,thousands of respected climatologists."

Thousands!?
Love to see that list, with a column added for where they bought their degrees.

[Canuckistanian]

6. I'd like to see that, too

I'll bet they're neither "respected" nor "climatologists"

[progressoid]

11. Does watching the Weather Channel count?

If so, I'm a climatologist!

[Canuckistanian]

17. Maybe if you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express

Otherwise, no.

[Rhiannon12866]

34. +1

:rofl:

[YOY]

57. And he probably cannot name one.

The only ones I have seen are on the payrole of companies such as Exxon. And they get caught in their lies so easily it's hilarious.

[tinrobot]

4. Sad that our kids have people like this "educating" them.

I wish schools could afford to hire real scientists rather than people like this idiot.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Well the good news is he is the minority

I've never taught with a nut this stupid.

[damonm]

5. Rec-worthy for the last line ALONE...

even if the rest wasn't good - which it is.

[20score]

21. Thanks much!

[TlalocW]

7. After I graduated high school

A new science teacher was brought on that insisted that men have one less rib than women because of the Adam and Eve story. He also was adamant that thunder caused lightning and not the other way around.

TlalocW

[20score]

10. Used to have nuns tell me that.

A science teacher saying that is much worse.

[Maru Kitteh]

24. Are you serious? Really? When? Where? That's unbelievable.

[TlalocW]

27. I graduated from a small farming town in Kansas

Called Clearwater (2000 people, just south of Wichita) in 1991. A high school friend (who also went to the same college as I) was two years behind me, and he had the guy for a class and argued against him (and the rest of the class who sided with the teacher), especially on the thunder causes lightning issue.

Fortunately, the other science teachers - the biology one, and the woman who taught both chemistry and physics were dedicated experts in their fields.

TlalocW

[Maru Kitteh]

28. Wow. 1991? That's crazy. I would have loved to have heard them debate thunder/lightning

I thought you were going to tell me you graduated in the 50's or something. Yikes.

As for the whole rib thing.... I don't even know what to say.

[Mithreal]

31. More common than people want to believe. Taught same, graduated 1987 in MI.

About ribs and many other superstitions. Lutheran school, Missouri Synod.

[rasputin1952]

33. Me too...Lutheran, Missouri Synod; I always wondered where they

came up with that.

Wisconsin Synod would have been worse though, "Theory of Devilution"; massive guilt...if one even smiled, it was a quick slide to hell...:scared:

[Mithreal]

50. Good thing all my superstitions I was taught were never a bar to college

The joke was on me, I always loved science.

As a country, we keep being told science education is key to our competitiveness and I wonder how many private schools get away with reinforcing superstitions and other anti-science. My wife went to Catholic schools in MI, she says her schools never tried to pull the sorts of things I experienced.

My favorite is still, the devil put the dino bones in the ground to test our faith and god let him do it. I was always fascinated with dinosaurs, never really grew up in a lot of ways. It's all very embarrassing.

[rasputin1952]

52. I heard that one too! But there was a switch later...

some of the people now say they are the bones of the "giants" mentioned in the OT.

I have fundy friends that swear the Grand Canyon is proof of the Great Flood. When I ask what happened to all of the water that covered the earth...up to Everest's height, I get all kinds of answers...from it is in the oceans now, to "God sent it into space"....:D

I also know of two people that do not believe in gravity...guess they never cleaned gutters while on a rickety ladder...;)

[Mithreal]

60. Good stuff.

:hi:

[Maru Kitteh]

49. I can see how that kind of mythical silliness could end up in a Religious school

Faith above evidence is probably a job requirement, so that's not too surprising. In public schools however, the only thing that belongs in a science class is science. If I were a parent and the whole rib thing were being pushed by my kids school... forgive the pun, but God help them.

Although I am myself a practicing Christian I vehemently oppose any intrusion of religious belief into public classroom education outside of discussions of literature and/or reasonable accommodations such as pork-free meals for Muslim children.

[Mithreal]

51. I am agnostic, but red letter Christians are more my sort of people

Private schools are often held up as some sort of model, but that many get away with less than stellar teaching is really unnerving to me. I saw better more challenging teachers run out of my schools, was even really torn up by how my eighth grade teacher was treated by a "powerful" family in my church. When the school fired her at the end of the year, for being a good teacher, I can't remember if I cried or she did or both. I know that may sound silly, saying fire her for being a good teacher, she just irritated the wrong family who pressured the principal who was the biggest fool, will never forget that. I taught in public schools, absolutely loved it. I am very torn up by what is happening to the schools right now. I am past my breaking point.

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. There's a nut from Clearwater on a local blog I am on

He claims to be a retired Social Studies teacher. But his knowledge of govt is shallow at best. It's definitely a good thing he is retired.

[TlalocW]

73. Yeah, I believe we've talked about him

The social studies teachers I had in middle and high school were female so he either came before or after me.

What's the blog? :)

TlalocW

[Arkana]

8. I wouldn't let that prick teach my kid.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. "human-programmed computer modeling, error-filled statistical sampling"

Yep, that's science. So?

[BurtWorm]

12. The righties are proving to be the biggest PoMo mofos in education

and elsewhere. They want us to view science as ideological. They want us to believe their "version of truth" is as good as any other version of truth. Anything that makes truth more slippery is their friend.

[jimlup]

13. well put

[suede1]

14. Main page this.

If more people pointed out the bad teachers, like the one who told children they are going to hell, there would be less bad teachers.

[20score]

20. Hope he sees this, so wouldn't mind that at all!

[suede1]

22. I put it on Face Book.

So, there you go!

[canaar]

41. Public Schools are governed locally.

To paraphrase H.L. Mencken with apologies to Mark Twain 'the boobocracy of Boobistan' in the heart of Bubbaland. The ugly truth is that communities at large get the public education that they want, by and large just as the U.S. citizenry gets the government that it wants.

[truedelphi]

15. Nowhere in this man's letter does he state he is a creationist.

He is questioning the pervasive Corporate Control spin on science. Perhaps. But we don't even know that from his letter.

[20score]

16. And nowhere in my post did I say he was.

So your reply leaves me at a loss.

[donco6]

18. 5th Grade Science Teacher?

Must be nice. We're all self-contained up to 6th grade in most schools. How do they have a 5th grade science teacher?

[depakid]

19. Conspiracy theorists have no business teaching science classes- at any level

Unfortunately, it seems that in the states, it's become acceptable in many places for science teachers to be scientifically illiterate.

[Catshrink]

23. What an idiot.

As a science teacher, I'm speechless. The man discredits my profession. Thankfully, he's in the minority.

[Ms. Toad]

25. Just remember - in a number of states,

you do not have to be subject matter certified until high school. Elementary certification (meaning a few hours in lots of subjects) is all that is required to teach up through the 8th grade.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. Thanks to NCLB that's not true anymore

Teachers have to be 'highly qualified'. They've intensified the requirements at all levels. Elem Ed is a 5 year degree now in many states.

[Ms. Toad]

38. Yes, but a 5 year broad subject area degree

does not qualify one to teach algebra and geometry in 7th and 8th grade, or the first year of high school biology - both of which are taught in the middle school in our district (and in most districts that have any kind of AP or IB program). I'll double check, but the last time I reviewed the rules, a K-8 certificate still qualifies one to teach both in the 7th/8th grade

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. You have to have subject area certification for those grades

Even teachers already certified are having to go back to school.

[Ms. Toad]

48. As I said - I have not checked Ohio recently

- but, as I am sure you know, teaching certification is a state matter. The details of what is required will vary from state to state.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. No it's not a state matter anymore

NCLB changed that. We have to fill out a form now every year declaring we are highly qualified. If we aren't we lose our jobs or are transferred to a position we are qualified to teach. It's a federal requirement.

[Ms. Toad]

74. I have checked enough to know that each state still has

a certifying agency, and that the standards are different from state to state.

What I haven't checked is whether Ohio has changed the K-8 certificate.

There are federal requirements on top of state certification, but certification is still very much a state matter. As to the definition of what constitutes middle school - that is expressly left up to each state by NCLB, and after defining middle school, the state is then permitted to determine whether elementary certification is sufficient for the grades which the state defines as middle school. I don't know how Ohio has handled that flexibility.

[proud2BlibKansan]

75. That is absolutely not true

This is becoming a ridiculous argument.

The federal govt now dictates certification standards to states. Yes there may be a slight variation from one state to another but they are all based on NCLB requirements.

I personally know many teachers in several states who were forced to go back to school or to retire or who were fired because their certification does not meet federal standards. State control is a thing of the past.

[Ms. Toad]

76. What happens in your state, or any other individual state,

is not necessarily how each state has decided to handle things in order to meet the requirements. Scroll down to "Exisiting Flexibility" Section II Middle School Teacher Requirements

http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/methods/teachers/hqtflexibility.html

Reports from people you know personally who did not qualify for whatever reason may just mean that the state in which they were teaching chose to define middle school in a way that "caught" them, and/or chose to evaluate competency in a way that "caught" them. The section to which I am directing you indicates that many states have not chosen to use the flexibility the law affords them. I don't know what choice Ohio has made, because I have not checked recently - but the point is, it (and every other state) has a choice.

[Richard Steele]

26. Drooling nutjob. Sad that a loon like this is considered to be a Teacher"....

Vote all you want: it's to late to matter.

We are living in the twilight of the "Age of Reason", folks.

That whole "thinking" craze? It's over.
It's so godamned OVER it ain't even funny.

[rpannier]

29. So he thinks he's a climatologist

Either that or he thinks climatologists are 5th grade teachers

[Mithreal]

32. Why not, Sarah Palin is a statesman.

[baldguy]

39. Hundreds of square miles of open water at the North Pole isn't enough for him?

Icebergs the size of states breaking off of Antarctica isn't enough for him?

This:



Isn't enough for him?

[intheflow]

42. This line alone would be a great LTTE response to this asshat:

"No one who isn’t blinded by ideology would tie anti-capitalism to a neutral scientific theory."

That really says it all about where this teacher is coming from.

[and-justice-for-all]

43. "thousands of respected climatologists."?

may be hundreds, not thousands.

That is why you teach 5th grade Science.

and since he ism making a claim, he needs to provide the evidence to support it.

[wolfgangmo]

44. Our education system has long benefited from a few economical factors.

For years, the best and brightest of female and minority minds went into education because they were denied access to other professions by the old (white) boys network. These days that is no longer true and the last of these bright minorities and women (and in some cases men) are now on the cusp of retirement.

The current crop coming up are not, taken as an aggregate whole as good when considered as a class in terms of being the best and brightest. All of which is not to say that there are not some EXCELLENT young teachers out there, but the statistics prove that most of them do not last more that 5 years. The system, that used to nurture the development of good teachers, has become a meatgrinder.

The NEOCON systemic starving of the education system has lead us, over the past 40 years, to the point where education can now be taken over and no one, no generation will protest and stop it.

Education used to be a moderate but middle class profession with enough security that teachers could be comfortable and raise a family. Given the facts that teachers are pretty easy to fire, subject to the whims of school boards, carpritious principals, bad benefits, and vague budgets, they are not even able to afford or plan for a family, never knowing when they might get another contract or job, or even if they will have to find a job loading boxes for UPS or waiting tables just to pay the bills.

It is depressing to note that the upcoming economic shitstorm (i.e. wholesale theft from the middle class and poor by the rich) will once again encourage some of the best and brightest to teach, although this time they will not have tenure, job security, or decent benefits going for them. If you are thinking about becoming a teacher, good for you. Welcome to the ranks of the poor. I hope you enjoy it.

[20score]

46. Good observation!

[Mithreal]

58. +1 meatgrinder. Well said. And my party advocates the conservative agendas.

:cry:

[sunnystarr]

66. Poor??? Give me a break!

Teachers in Nashville, TN starts out with no experience, working 201 days a year making around $38,000 PLUS benefits. Teachers with 10 years in make over $52,000 and the higher the degree the more they make. This is low compared to New York State. PLUS they can make more money if they teach summer school or get any other employment in the summers. My son's art teacher who had her doctorate degree made over $65,000 a year. She was a crappy teacher who did next to nothing - she never had any of her middle school students' art hanging - EVER! Cry me a river!

[Mithreal]

68. I haven't taught in a decade but my salary during the mid to late 90s was 18 to low 20+k.

Perhaps we should lower the requirements for teaching to associate or high school diploma? I know it took practically forever to get out from under our college debt, my wife who is a teacher still has 10s of thousands in debt and we are VERY frugal.

There may be some teachers that work less than others, but much of the time I taught I was lucky to get 5 hours sleep many nights. While coaching which paid very little, wasn't uncommon to get home after midnight and go to work the next day on next to no sleep.

I have little patience for people who think teachers work a 9 to 5 and 201 days. All those nights I stayed up grading papers and homework weren't appreciated by such a one as this.

You get what you pay for, maybe we can ship our kids to China to be educated.

[proud2BlibKansan]

70. I made $7200 my first year teaching

I am sick to death of wingnut talking points on this website condemning teachers for their salaries. It's pathetic and ignorant.

Why shouldn't a teacher with a masters degree and a couple decades experience earn $65,000 a year? No one ever answers that question.

Tell ya what though - see how many teachers you can hire for half that amount. I'm predicting the line will be short.

[PVnRT]

72. Sigh....anecdote != data

How much do college graduates with no experience make in Nashville? More or less than $38,000?
How much do college graduates with 10 years experience make in Nashville? More or less than $52,000?
How much do PhDs make in Nashville? More or less than $65,000?

If you anti-teacher zealots would fucking bother to use your heads rather than spout right-wing talking points ad nauseum, you'd see how ridiculous your argument is.

[ghartog]

45. Actually....

What the Science teacher seems to be missing is that NO ONE
believes that global warming is a hoax.  The deniers are
challenging the cause of Global Warming.  They claim that it
is caused by the cyclic nature of weather systems and not by
industrial emissions.  Yeah right.

Global warming is real.

[ljm2002]

47. Welcome to DU!

It is true, the deniers for the most part have political motives. And that is not a good basis from which to make "scientific" proclamations, as anyone who knows the tiniest bit about science should understand.

[Chulanowa]

54. I've run into lots of people who think it's a hoax

Invented by Al Gore, no less.

[YOY]

56. Al Gore and some guy in Tennessee.

Pure money making genius on rival with the guy who invented religion!

[Viking12]

63. "Senator Inhofe, you have a courtesy call on the white phone..."

[Chulanowa]

53. Damn, and I thought I had it bad

In 6th grade, we were doing some basic crap, you know, the differences between a suspension, a solution, and a colloid. This teacher insisted that flour and water made a solution, when it clearly made a suspension. Gave me a failing grade for that, too.

[xocet]

55. Background links...

My apologies if this is a breach of posting etiquette: there is a lot of potential background material on this topic, so I posted it as a second OP in General Discussion and "crosswise" in my journal. I lack explicit confirmation that the Ray Shelton of multiple-posting fame in Glendale and this Ray Shelton of LA-posting fame are the same individual. So, I treat it as possible, but not confirmed. If it is true, though, it may explain his ideology.

[20score]

59. Thanks, and feel free to supply a link.

[xocet]

65. Here is the link:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/xocet

[SemperEadem]

62. looks like Ray isn't as smart as a fifth grader

besides, it's actually called "Climate Change".

[Machiavelli]

64. argument from authority

I love how he implicitly includes himself among "thousands of climatologists" -- a classic argument from authority. Of course, if he were well-versed in "facts, logic, inductive reasoning and a love of the truth" he would know this. Then he puts the cherry on top of the ice cream: he reveals his true intentions when he equates belief in climate change with anti-capitalism.

There may indeed be doubts about "global warming" or "climate change" or whatever you wish to call it, but this little letter won't change anyone's opinion.

[pundaint]

67. He sounds more like a scientist of Aristotle's time. Now experimentation and measurement

are all the rage in Science. Somebody needs to tell him that it's gotten way more complex since wind was an element.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

69. You should send this to the LA Times

I want to see these morons, liars and blind zealots who steal the public airwaves get PUBLICLY rebuked.

Just one correction before you send: anthropomorphic, in the next to last sentence, second paragraph, should be anthropoGENIC.

[swilton]

71. He fails to make the distinction between scientific 'theory' and

scientific 'fact' -

This guy should not be teaching in the public schools.....Another classic example of how public education is failing our country - what kind of degree does this guy have anyway?

I rank this type of ignorance up there with bigotry, uber-patriotism, and the English only spoken here crowd