BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. —
Paul Teverow’s guest column (Globe, Aug. 2) mentioned the inadvisability of allowing a student’s religious sensibilities to guide his classroom work. This is an important principle. A school should present an objective study of a subject. A student’s intellectual development demands that he face and tolerate beliefs other than his own. The ancient Greeks believed that Zeus resides on Mount Olympus. But recent archaeological studies have revealed no traces of Zeus. The student must be willing to consider this fact.
Banning the teaching of intelligent design because it might offend the religious sensibilities of atheists is a case in point. When education is driven by a particular creed, it is no longer education. Students have a right to receive knowledge of a subject and not be indoctrinated by the teacher. But they should learn to tolerate beliefs other than their own.
The concept of intelligent design deserves objective consideration, with the teacher giving the pros and cons. To brush it off as unscientific is a quibble. Much of what is taught in schools is unscientific.
Donald E. Corder
Baxter Springs, Kan.
Opinion
Your View: Objective consideration
- Opinion
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Our View: Safer schools
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Marilyn Beasley, guest columnist: Claiming responsibility for abuse of power
Over the past few months we’ve witnessed the abuse of power by President Barack Obama and his administration.
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Our View: ‘Why?’ has no answer
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Our View: Absent from House
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Your View: Terrorism is terrorism
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Your View: Terrible injustice
I see this Jasper County nuisance law as a terrible injustice on the rights of the residents of Jasper County.
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Your View: Should we be outraged?
Were there effusive apologies following the lockdown of Boston as most of the continent indulged vicariously in the ongoing manhunt?
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Phill Brooks, columnist: Missouri Senate did what Founding Fathers had in mind
George Washington once described the Senate as being like a saucer in which you pour coffee or tea.
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Other Views: Conflicts in SEC
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Our View: Fixing failure
Some 1,200 injured workers will finally get the payments they are owed. In its final week in session, Missouri’s General Assembly, through bipartisan efforts, passed a solution to address the insolvency of the state’s Second Injury Fund.
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