tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post5678575594995406377..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Intelligent Hire? From InsideHigherEd.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-76021143381760565012013-07-13T11:02:40.858-04:002013-07-13T11:02:40.858-04:00I thought of 9/11 denial, too. I actually had a st...I thought of 9/11 denial, too. I actually had a student last semester who believed in American involvement. Of course, it's worth remembering that we're getting to a point where 9/11 is history beyond their immediate memory for some students (but this one was older, of Arab descent, and generally a bit whifty. The last factor was probably the most important.) Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-72874419677797673552013-07-12T23:17:57.908-04:002013-07-12T23:17:57.908-04:00Bluntly, it's stupid to even consider hiring a...Bluntly, it's stupid to even consider hiring a crackpot who believes in Intelligent Design when so many well-qualified people can't get a position.Dave Kielpinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05137244695127182583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-25266193205244020652013-07-12T02:13:47.558-04:002013-07-12T02:13:47.558-04:00If she hadn't raised the birther crackpots, I ...If she hadn't raised the birther crackpots, I might have. It's a parallel issue to evolution denial and Holocaust denial. I might also have brought up global warming denial or moon landing denial. Not to mention 9/11 Al Qaeda involvement denial. <br /><br />In all these cases, certain partisans with a knack for media exposure claim that some sort of conspiracy calls a fact or event into Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-25298039895648221912013-07-11T15:53:14.462-04:002013-07-11T15:53:14.462-04:00"...even as I also think it's important t..."...even as I also think it's important to present practically everything as having the potential to be proven (not just asserted) false."<br /><br />Yes. And if some discovery during the semester changes some known "fact", it's important to present it. In my field, that would be a new hominin discovered, or some milestone pushed back thousands of years, like the Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-83934562335527255352013-07-11T12:27:26.456-04:002013-07-11T12:27:26.456-04:00Well of course Cassandra has to bring Obama and po...Well of course Cassandra has to bring Obama and politics into it.No Cookieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17722547269501795463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-55611368450718432752013-07-11T10:01:34.268-04:002013-07-11T10:01:34.268-04:00I guess I believe that it's an academic's ...I guess I believe that it's an academic's duty not to teach misinformation, even as I also think it's important to present practically everything as having the potential to be proven (not just asserted) false. The analogue to working on creationism in my field would be something like presenting a bunch of fraudulent documents as having been written by Shakespeare. Much lower stakes,Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-53791436767790630992013-07-11T09:04:46.966-04:002013-07-11T09:04:46.966-04:00That's what I get for trusting Wikipedia. 1729...That's what I get for trusting Wikipedia. 1729 is the date they gave for stellar parallax. Thanks for the correction; I thought 1729 sounded a little early.introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-5152180700477171652013-07-11T08:27:50.018-04:002013-07-11T08:27:50.018-04:00You're right that those are different scenario...You're right that those are different scenarios. If I had to teach a course on ID or other topic, I would approach it as if I were teaching a class on religious doctrine that I didn't believe in. This is what experts in their field consider to be the facts and the interpretation of those facts. My opinions are irrelevant. I don't think it would be that hard, at least not at the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2740214312902464322013-07-11T08:23:57.107-04:002013-07-11T08:23:57.107-04:00I think PBS made a documentary about the Delaware ...I think PBS made a documentary about the Delaware trial. It was very informative and entertaining.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71032637348774529412013-07-11T02:59:43.682-04:002013-07-11T02:59:43.682-04:00It's sad, but the job situation in astronomy i...It's sad, but the job situation in astronomy is so bad, I'm sure they'd have no problem getting all the faculty they want, either high quality or any other quality they want. Just dangle the magic words, "tenure track," and they will come. <br /><br />Also, isn't Ball State the alma mater of David Letterman?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-16133127676242115042013-07-11T02:54:40.815-04:002013-07-11T02:54:40.815-04:00"...geocentrism ceased to be viable when stel..."...geocentrism ceased to be viable when stellar parallax was detected in 1729."<br /><br />You mean the aberration of starlight, not stellar parallax. Stellar parallax wouldn't be detected and measured until 1838, only three years after the books of Copernicus and Galileo were taken off the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. <br /><br />You are correct in that stellar parallax does Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-23608065111011659872013-07-11T00:05:47.307-04:002013-07-11T00:05:47.307-04:00We had an example in the radiocarbon lab where I d...We had an example in the radiocarbon lab where I did my graduate work. An ABD grad student trained me, the newbie, very patiently and with close supervision even after I'd learned the ropes. He wrote well and tackled a rigorous topic for his dissertation (refining and testing an improved method). He also was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist who observed the sabbath from sundown Friday to Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-69707694425514559362013-07-10T23:53:00.209-04:002013-07-10T23:53:00.209-04:00Took me a minute to get it! Very apropos.Took me a minute to get it! Very apropos.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-83007014668724133552013-07-10T23:49:11.296-04:002013-07-10T23:49:11.296-04:00I don't know about string theory, but I teach ...I don't know about string theory, but I teach human evolution to religiously conservative students. I've been a foot soldier on the front lines of this "debate" for 18 years. <br /><br />Short version: ID started as a substitute wording for creationism in a deliberate attempt to sneak it past a Supreme Court precedent. Then a couple of scientific ideas were added, but didn'tAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-20689119042383343272013-07-10T21:02:02.644-04:002013-07-10T21:02:02.644-04:00How much do you have to believe something before y...<i>How much do you have to believe something before you can competently teach it? </i><br /><br />I'm sometimes asked whether I 'really believe' when I teach students about the evolutionary history of hamsters. It always amazes me that people think I would directly lie to students. So yes, I do have to believe something before I teach it to students. <br /><br /><i> Proponents of Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-75123016514066590682013-07-10T20:58:07.422-04:002013-07-10T20:58:07.422-04:00Dave, I don't follow your last statement. Can...Dave, I don't follow your last statement. Can you elaborate?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-89659752448952904502013-07-10T17:24:02.587-04:002013-07-10T17:24:02.587-04:00When tenure-track positions are handed out like ca...When tenure-track positions are handed out like candy, then we can debate whether the odd crackpot should get a position.<br />In the real world, where academia wastes a fantastic amount of potential, the contrarian position is just ridiculous.Dave Kielpinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05137244695127182583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-13182535774769511382013-07-10T15:27:57.875-04:002013-07-10T15:27:57.875-04:00Point taken! So long as the belief in creationism...Point taken! So long as the belief in creationism doesn't interfere with the discipline.<br />StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-9612098270278500292013-07-10T15:07:05.926-04:002013-07-10T15:07:05.926-04:00This post made me think of this image: http://i.i...This post made me think of this image: http://i.imgur.com/4JQhw21.jpg<br />Emergency Mathematical Hologramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15873569623797587860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-51593557247660341622013-07-10T14:57:19.049-04:002013-07-10T14:57:19.049-04:00A historian who doesn't believe in evolution.....<i>A historian who doesn't believe in evolution...well that's also problematic, because that person would doubtless believe "history" began about six thousand years ago, when that is manifestly untrue. </i><br /><br />Point of information, Stella: there are a fair number of old-earth creationists around. That version of creationism wouldn't be crippling for an historian.introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-49532881634621106312013-07-10T14:47:33.733-04:002013-07-10T14:47:33.733-04:00Obviously, there are lots of crazy ideas out there...Obviously, there are lots of crazy ideas out there - faked moon landing, Holocaust denial, flat earth, creationism and more - which would not affect my ability to teach or research chemistry. This discussion makes me wonder what criteria we should use, if any, to keep crackpots out of our schools. What if a colleague had demonstrated him/herself to be a good professor but you discovered now Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-25221642326313649882013-07-10T12:56:05.653-04:002013-07-10T12:56:05.653-04:00The other problem with hiring a Holocaust denier (...The other problem with hiring a Holocaust denier (or similar conspiracy theorist) is that one has to embrace a belief in the widespread *faking* of evidence that borders on paranoia to embrace such belief. Leaving aside the possible underlying motives/prejudices, it's just not a logical position (any more than, for instance, thinking that the relatives of a biracial infant in 1960s Hawaii Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-45940538128951320022013-07-10T12:41:22.625-04:002013-07-10T12:41:22.625-04:00Well, that last part is mildly comforting.
And ...Well, that last part is mildly comforting. <br /><br />And yes, militant atheists -- like others who believe so strongly in their own worldview that they can't really understand the nuances of others' -- wouldn't make good scholars of religion. It takes an open mind as well as the ability to maintain analytical distance. Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-46917392833553861602013-07-10T12:37:22.831-04:002013-07-10T12:37:22.831-04:00A historian who doesn't believe in evolution.....A historian who doesn't believe in evolution...well that's also problematic, because that person would doubtless believe "history" began about six thousand years ago, when that is manifestly untrue. <br /><br />Now, a music professor who doesn't believe in evolution is another story. <br /><br />However, I would categorically be opposed to hiring a Holocaust denier in any StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-218490404660326102013-07-10T12:19:35.503-04:002013-07-10T12:19:35.503-04:00Let me make the case for hiring a creationist in a...Let me make the case for hiring a creationist in a biology department or a Holocaust denier in a history department.<br /><br />How much do you have to believe something before you can competently teach it? I think it's likely that a creationist could teach geology, biology, etc. in a way that covers all the facts and theories accepted by scientists. Proponents of one economic or political Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com