Darwin Trumps You, Mr. Freshwater
Meet John Freshwater, an eighth-grade school science teacher from Ohio who likes to play loose with the facts, use the Bible as a scientific resource, and, yes, torture children with electricity.
The New York Times reports that the school district started the procedure to fire Freshwater back on June 2008 because he burned crosses into the skin of two students with a Tesla coil and taught creationism in class. Freshwater says that the creationism accusation is “fabricated” because he failed to remove a Bible from his desk. He said the Bible in question was his “workplace bible, not his devotional bible”. Freshwater’s pastor said, “If he had ‘Origin of Species’ on his desk, they would celebrate that.” If by they, he means East Coast liberals like me, then he’d be correct.
Regarding the charge of teaching creationism (aka Intelligent Design), Freshwater used Legos to illustrate how difficult it would be to randomly put them together to build a Lego car or a Lego house . . . you know, “proving” that there was a hand behind evolution guiding it through its intricacies. When cross-examined the other day, Freshwater said that he did recall the exercise and that maybe his students initiated it reported The Columbus Dispatch. The school district lawyer also played a tape recording of Freshwater appearing on a radio show back in April discussing the Lego exercise:
If you mixed up the blocks for years, the likelihood that they would become something tangible is improbable, Freshwater told the show’s host, Dr. Patrick Johnson of Rightremedy.org. He compared the blocks to human cells and said that the chances that a random combination of cells could become an eyeball are “slim to none.”
But, even after hearing his own radio interview, Freshwater could not recall the exercise.
Freshwater also passed out handouts that said that the giraffe and the woodpecker could not have possible evolved reported The Columbus Dispatch. The students were not allowed to take the handouts out of class, because Freshwater said he was conserving paper.
In another round of questioning regarding a survey in which Freshwater allegedly asked incoming students about the importance of religion in their life, Freshwater said that he had never surveyed his students reported The Columbus Dispatch. The school district lawyer then presented Freshwater with two completed student surveys.
. . . he [Freshwater] studied them closely and, after a long pause, replied, “It appears like you have gone through my room and taken some stuff out.”
Apparently so, Mr. Freshwater, apparently so.
After Freshwater is finally fired, I hope that he enjoys teaching pseudo-science at some Christian private school at half the salary.
Wow, what a jerk. He sounds like a bully, and I feel sorry for his students.
Why do creationists pretend that evolution is random. It isn’t.
Oh, and for any creationist who want to argue – here you go: The Index of Creationist Claims. I read there’s now an iphone app the index!
I read a book over the Christmas break called Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne. I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. It lays out the evidence very clearly and refutes clearly some common creationist claims.
Nemski, I kept waiting to see what he had to say about burning crosses into the skin of two students. That was the first thing that jumped out at me.
I think if you mixed up blocks for years, you might end up with Mr. Freshwater’s brain.
Another Mike, in one of the articles he said he’s been doing it for years — not the burning. It only left a slight coloration that went away or so he said.
I was actually hoping Unstable Isotope would be able to give us some sort of scientific reason on why a teacher would apply electricity to a student. I don’t think there is any, but inquiring minds want to know.
I want the app. title?
I think it’s called “Index of Creationist Claims” Brooke. I’ll check further for you if you wish.
nemski,
My physics teacher actually did this in high school demonstrating circuits. He had us get in a circle and hold hands and he turned on the circuit. As soon as it started, we all dropped hands because we felt the shock. It was mild but very unpleasant. It’s not dangerous at very low voltages, but I doubt many teachers would do it today.