The Debunking of a Missouri Teacher/Principal

[xocet]

John Nail teaches at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Sedalia, MO: http://www.sedaliastpauls.org/staff.php?staffID=25639&

Creationism certainly does undermine education!
Creationism, Kooks
by PZ Myers

Tina Dupuy had a good op-ed published in the Sedalia, Missouri newspaper, titled “Teaching creationism hurts kids, undermines educational system“. Yeah, it does: it prompted some rebuttals that made her case even more strongly. John Nail has some complaints:

Writer had it dead wrong on debate over teaching creationism

In response to Tina Dupuy column in the April 15 paper entitled “Teaching creationism hurts kids, undermines education system,” I’d like to say, “Phooey!”

From the article it sounds like she has some real issues with her mother. [Cheap shot. Dupuy's article had issues with her mother's fundamentalist dogmatism…just like Nail's] It may be good therapy for her to vent in the column, however she submits NO scientific evidence of the evolution theory [The piece is about how creationism kept her ignorant of science; it's not a scientific treatise]. The only item she mentioned was when she wrote, “There’s plenty of self-evident evidence (see: the flu virus). …”. A virus is not even a living organism. [And yet…they evolve!]

From the Answers in Genesis website (answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v1/n1/has-it-evolved) [Uh-oh. Not a trustworthy source at all]: “So what should one say if asked, “Is the ‘bird flu’ evolving”? It could be said that the avian influenza genome is evolving only in the sense that it’s continually changing and modifying [Uh, yes? That's evolution!], and not in the sense that it will someday be something other than an influenza virus [It will become a different kind of virus, with different properties. It will not become a chicken, nor does evolution predict that it will]. Yes, influenza viruses do possess a certain degree of variability; however, the amount of genetic information which a virus can carry is vastly limited[So? So's the amount of information in your genome, John Nail -- that we don't have infinite genomes is not an argument against evolution], and so are the changes which can be made to its genome before it can no longer function[Again, limits are what we expect in the real world; show me a system with an absence of limitations on its behavior and maybe I'll start believing in your god].”
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http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/04/25/creationism-certainly-does-undermine-education/

[tanyev]

1. (Nail writes) "The government schools only look at one side"

The government schools? That's a very disingenuous way to describe your local public school district which is supported by local tax dollars and overseen by school board members elected from the community.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. They've been using that label for years.

And it's insulting.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Once again, they state a falsehood and claim it's a fact

without offering ANY evidence to prove their so-called "fact".

A typical trick from the RWNJs.

[mbperrin]

4. Amazing that in the 21st century this form of child abuse is still perfectly legal.

I know. We live in the town of Zion Academy, where after speaking with several "graduates" I conclude:

the marijuana the principal sells there is great;
if you don't learn by reading, you don't have to read there;
DWIs aren't "real crimes".

Too bad I teach in the evil government school, where you do have to read, and DWI is a crime, and I don't sell marijuana at all.

[HiPointDem]

5. the principal sells marijuana? seriously? what do the parents at zion academy think about that?

[mbperrin]

6. They've been in business 30 years. "Brother" Dewey performs miracles, doncha know?

Your child, who kept getting suspended for fighting with teachers or throwing furniture or dealing on campus or any other myriad of other antisocial behaviors that adolescents sometimes commit, is suddenly an "A" student at Zion!

And you know, that marijuana thing is just a rumor.

OTOH my brother is a probation officer, and Brother D has been convicted 3 times in 10 years for selling to a student, so what do I know?

And the whole thing is uncertified by anyone, but you do get a piece of paper indicating you graduated! So for $50 a month, you get an educated kid, not some hoodlum, and college? Heck, everyone knows that TOO much book learning interferes with your common sense anyway.

[HiPointDem]

7. how can he possible be allowed to keep running a school, even a 'school,' if he's been convicted

of selling drugs to students?

what state is this again?

[mbperrin]

8. This is Texas, and he has never applied for any sort of certification. So it's a school in name only

The pieces of paper he gives at "graduation" are just that. He has no actual educator-student relationship, so just like any other minor league drug dealer, he is free to work at any particular business.

Homeschoolers also do not have to meet any oversight or certification requirements, and it's very sad when the parents tire of doing it about the 6th grade, and they enter public school completely unprepared, either scholastically nor socially.