Oh boy, I thought class was going to suck

August 29th, 2008 • 1 comment education
Tags: creationism, evolution

But I’m now assured that it will never be uninteresting. We actually had a new student today join us. In her defense, I don’t think she read the course description at all. She looked like a nice Jewish girl but has punctuality problems. But then she ended up leaving less than halfway through. I guess she didn’t think to READ the course description and realize that this probably wasn’t a class she’d like. Tough tits for her. This Evolution and Creationism class is going to be great. Not because it’s a discussion of a very pertinent and very current topical issue but because of the people in it. We’re all in school. We all got there somehow, hopefully retaining some intelligence on the way there, right? HA! Boy, am I wrong. Now, I’m not discounting the average IQ of the class at all. I know full well it’s right in the ball park of the average 7th grader. I’m not discounting the fact that this is a class mostly full of people who don’t know what Anthropology is although it is the first word of the proper course title. Hell, most probably don’t know what creationism is exactly. But they’re finding out.

Finding out real fast. Today Professor McCarthy trotted out a PowerPoint slide based on Eugenie Scott’s Creationism/Evolution continuum from the NCSE. Most people got lost right there. A simple slide outlining what she wrote, with pictures nonetheless. Many of my classmates couldn’t fathom the different types of creationism. Now, Professor McCarthy didn’t give the best descriptions but most of the names are self-explanatory. Flat Earthers? Well, that’s easy. Young Earth Creationist? Fairly easy too. Old Earth? Just as easy. But no, it was still difficult. This is further compounded by people who don’t know what evolution is or what creationism is (or was, now they do). I know Florida’s school system is a laughing joke but really, where were these kids in Physical Science or Biology? Just keeping quiet in class is an exercise all its own.

Then we leaped off on a groupthink about whether religion is ‘hard wired’ — meaning, in our DNA now — versus being nothing more than a behavioral or social construct or idea. First we were asked “what do you think religion is for?” and there was silence. My friends and myself were just waiting for answers, the most proper of which came about 15 minutes after the question was proposed and more people were suffering from footinmouthitis. One squeaky voiced guy, whose yet to hit puberty I believe, stated religion is hardwired into our DNA for social cohesion. I let this sink in for about 5 minutes before I said anything. At all. I was laughing inside but I stayed quiet. Then I valiantly raised my hand and simply stated “Well, if it’s hardwired for social cohesion, wouldn’t that mean that it would bounce back and forth between the two extremes [in our DNA versus behavioral adaptation]?” The teacher tried not to agree in order to stay non-biased but he did agree. I was accused of making the “chicken before the egg” argument which I’d made no allusions to doing so. I merely stated what I said I did, nothing more. I didn’t propose which came first or second, nor did I want to, purposefully. I pretty much got the reaction I was looking for. Mr. Balls-not-yet-dropped got huffy and defensive trying to back up his point. But does he not realize you cannot have a social construct without a pre-existing society? Religion could not have become part of our DNA without it first being socially introduced. For that, you need a society first. Societies develop just like humans do, in small stages. We don’t run before we walk and societies do not develop widely held beliefs of any kind on day one. According to this kid, they pretty much do and it’s in our genes. That was but one highlight of the day. We still had people positing the idea that if we evolved from Great Apes, they must have religion too because it’d serve monkeys and apes some great purpose for societal means, like keeping alpha males from killing each other (actually said by some girl today). Yep, religion keeps people from killing each other. Oh, hello Crusades. Hello, Inquisition. Hello, West Bank. I’m going to try and record this class just for the laughs.

And we’re not even close to getting into any material at all, today’s class was merely about defining the debate between evolution and creationism, and outlining why this is and has been an issue. We haven’t touched The God Delusion yet, haven’t read any nonsense from Behe, or struggled through The Wedge Document (that’s later in the class!). People got to hear about the Disco Institute but haven’t yet even begun to hear anything about that mess. I’d love to know that when we get to Joseph Campbell’s movie, it’d open some eyes but I know it won’t. Crazy wonks will always be crazy wonks.

So far, I love ANT4930-009 because I don’t have to take any notes or really even listen at all. I get to do some light reading, watch South Park and Expelled and The Power of Myth, and along down the road read excerpts from PZ Myers. In other words, I get to basically do everything I already do and get a grade for it. How sweet! A class where I get a grade for merely being a science-loving atheist.