It’s not often you see a biology teacher fired for claiming evolution is a crock. But that’s what happened to Kris Helphinstine, in Sisters, Oregon. I think it was a good decision; I’m tired of people complaining about inadequate public high school math and science education, and in the same breath allowing religion into the science curriculum. “Teach the controversy,” my gluteus maximus.
We now have access to actual Powerpoint presentations (“Eugenics (pdf)” and “Human History (pdf)”) used by Helphinstine through the Bend Bulletin; an IE-only slide viewer is available as a link from the Bend Weekly article linked above. In addition to the usual tenuous anti-Darwin junk (it wasn’t Darwin’s fault that Galton was his cousin – don’t you have any cousins that embarrass you?) the Eugenics presentation relies heavily on clumsy but suggestive juxtaposition of images – putting holocaust scenes next to evolutionary trees, and Darwin next to a swastika. It is April Fools’ Day, and I started to wonder if these were fake, because they’re just so amateurish, inaccurate, and inflammatory:
From “Eugenics”
Kris Helphinstine
Incidentally, this begs the question: is it common to use Powerpoint to teach high school freshman/sophomore biology? Even professional adults can barely stay awake through slide shows, let alone absorb information effectively. I’m sure you could design a good Powerpoint lecture for a high school audience – but the typical Microsoft templates won’t do.
The Human History Powerpoint can be paraphrased thus: “biologists don’t agree on every detail of the human evolutionary tree, so the science is completely wrong.” Whatever. The Eugenics presentation is a little better; it covers an important historical topic that gets too little exposure. I also cover the eugenics movement and forced sterilization in my college genetics classes. But I stay away from it in basic biology courses, because it’s not a fundamental part of biology. These kids should be learning what cells are and naming the bones in their legs, not veering off into complex social history.
And I’d never present anything as horrible as these Holocaust visuals to 14-year-olds, because it would cause a predictable knee-jerk negative reaction to any other topics presented along with it. Like Darwin. Unlike Helphinstine, I see that as a problem, not a teaching strategy. But the Sisters teacher was eager to imply the Holocaust was Darwin’s (evolution’s) fault:
From “Eugenics”
Kris Helphinstine
And after tarring evolution with the Nazi brush, he throws in Planned Parenthood, birth control, and abortion too. Why not?
The worst part about this whole thing is that Sisters (and before them, Puyallup, a city in Washington State) had a biology teacher who, as much as it is possible to judge by the two presentations and the actions the got him fired, hated and distrusted science. You wonder how this person ended up in biology, or education, in the first place. He definitely shouldn’t have been teaching children.
It should go without saying that Hitler’s actions weren’t Darwin’s fault, any more than this appalling Powerpoint presentation is Microsoft’s fault. Science is just a tool. Helphinstine’s suggestion that science is somehow to blame for Hitler’s atrocities is a specific case of the principle that knowledge is evil, because it could potentially justify or enable evil actions. This is hardly a position compatible with education at all, much less science education. What is this position compatible with? I can think of something:
The Fall
Hugo van der Goes, 1470
Via Pharyngula
Have you ever been to puyallup? I’m surprised they managed to find someone who had even heard of Darwin.
Here’s some more fun with powerpoint
http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/sld001.htm
Of course I’ve been to Puyallup! I haven’t spent a lot of time there, but I know it well enough to pronounce it right. I saw a newscaster once call it “Pew-ee-ah-loop.” But given the rarity with which Puyallup makes it into national news, it’s probably ok if people can’t say it.