Teach the controversy!


If you were ever wondering what the slogan “Teach the Controversy” really means, Patrick Henry College explains it for us:

Creation: Any biology, Bible, or other courses at PHC dealing with creation will
teach creation from the understanding of Scripture that God’s creative work,
as described in Genesis 1:1-31, was completed in six twenty-four hour days. All
faculty for such courses will be chosen on the basis of their personal adherence
to this view. PHC expects its faculty in these courses, as in all courses, to expose
students to alternate theories and the data, if any, which support those theories.
In this context, PHC in particular expects its biology faculty to provide a full
exposition of the claims of the theory of Darwinian evolution, intelligent design,
and other major theories while, in the end, teach creation as both biblically true
and as the best fit to observed data.

See, you are supposed to teach students these alternative theories, but in the end, you must conclude that Biblical literalism is correct. Teach the evidence, but ignore it so that you arrive at the theologically ‘correct’ answer.

Most interestingly, they are also advertising for new faculty in biology.

We are seeking a faculty member to teach Biology courses as part of a classical Christian core curriculum.

Candidates should be evangelical Christians, able to subscribe to the College’s Biblical Foundations Statement. They should hold an earned doctorate in an appropriate field (Biology, History and Philosophy of Science, or cognate fields), including training to appropriately teach lab courses. Rank is open and depends upon credentials and experience.

Patrick Henry College boasts high academic standards, exceptional students, and a rigorous 75-credit core curriculum.

The University of Minnesota Morris may* be looking to hire a new biologist or two in the next few years, too. I don’t think we’ll be fishing in the same candidate pool, though; we’re going to be looking in the clean, pure waters for well-trained biologists; PHC seems to be dropping their hook and worm somewhere downstream of the sewer outflow from the bible colleges.

*We will need to hire new faculty, but the vagaries of the university administration will determine whether we get to do so and when. Don’t stop your job search while breathlessly awaiting the announcements from UMM; don’t sink so low as to take the job at PHC, either.

Comments

  1. Dennis says

    In this context, PHC in particular expects its biology faculty to provide a full exposition of the claims of the theory of Darwinian evolution, intelligent design, and other major theories while, in the end, teach creation as both biblically true and as the best fit to observed data.

    AND

    Patrick Henry College boasts high academic standards, exceptional students, and a rigorous 75-credit core curriculum.

    I’m sure there’s a reductio ad absurdum in there somewhere, but I can’t be arsed to dig it out.

    Also, why is “a rigorous 75-credit core curriculum” a good thing? There’s barely room for a single major course of study alongside that, much less electives… and you can forget about double-majoring, or even a minor.

  2. Carlie says

    Well, now we know where what’s-his-name from a few months ago can go with his Ph.D. that he lied about.

  3. abeja says

    I like idea of “teaching the controversy”, as long as teaching the controversy is defined as saying, “Evolution, though it is indeed a fact, is controversial because religious, biblical fundy nutcase whackjobs don’t want people to know the truth.”

  4. Steve_C says

    Is that the same whackjob that was on here saying he was getting a degree in biology but was a YEC? What was his name?

  5. says

    The University of Minnesota Morris may* be looking to hire a new biologist or two in the next few years

    Good to know, thanks. I should be finished my PhD in early 2010 – what’s UMM’s history regarding hiring fresh PhDs without ‘benefit’ of years in the post-doc wilderness?

  6. says

    that’s a hilarious jumble of idiocies. do yourself a favor and don’t even try and read the PDF PZ linked to…pure pablum. i MEGO’d at the foreword.
    i’m still perusing “the republican war on science” and the conservatives’ reach-a-conclusion-then-fit-the-facts style is in full display. maybe we should stop calling them conservatives and start calling them irrationals or something more fitting. they don’t conserve a thing.

  7. jeffk says

    It could be a good or bad thing depending on the college in question. In the liberal arts tradition, a lot of very reputable colleges have very high core curriculum requirements (University of Chicago is famous for this, for example).

    I assume in the case of Patrick Henry it’s just more Jesus slush.

  8. Steve LaBonne says

    PHC is a major part of the bizarro parallel universe the wingnuts have created, with brain-dead simulacra of a full range of functions covered by reality-based colleges, news organization, etc. in our universe. (PHC’s teaching of American history, so I’ve heard, is every bit up to the standards of its biology offerings. No surprise that lots of Bush Admin. hacks have degrees from there.)

    Avoiding any and all contaminating contact with reality seems to have become the overriding concern of the denizens of Wingnuttia. Doesn’t that make one wonder how confident they really are in the soundness of their beliefs?

  9. ancientTechie says

    Y’know, I was wondering why my daughter, who will be attending DePauw next year as a Science Research Fellow and Rector Scholar, didn’t include Patrick Henry College on her list of institutions for consideration.

  10. says

    “PHC in particular expects its biology faculty to provide a full exposition…while, in the end, teach creation…”

    Apparently they don’t have any English majors around to proof their course directories.

  11. triviality says

    PHC is a major part of the bizarro parallel universe the wingnuts have created, with brain-dead simulacra of a full range of functions covered by reality-based colleges, news organization, etc. in our universe.

    I have no problem visualizing them
    sitting in their bamboo control towers wearing coconut headphones trying to call in the intelligent designer in for a landing
    .

    This has already been an issue for them:
    In March of 2006, five of the college’s sixteen faculty members resigned in protest claiming that the President’s interpretation of the college’s Biblical Worldview policy– which all faculty must sign — restricted academic freedom
    .

  12. says

    This course description caught my eye:
    SCI330 Neuroscience (3)
    This course covers the anatomy and molecular physiology of the human nervous system, as well as selected functions of the brain, including language, memory, learning, sensory perception, and emotion. It also covers the philosophy of the mind, language, and perception from a Christian perspective.

    What is philosophy of mind, language, and perception from a “Christian perspective”? Cartesian dualism? The assumption that there is only one defensible position on the mind, deducible from a two thousand year old collection of scripture, is astonishingly naive.

  13. James says

    Any biology, Bible, or other courses at PHC dealing with creation will teach creation from the understanding of Scripture that God’s creative work, as described in Genesis 1:1-31, was completed in six twenty-four hour days.

    So they won’t be teaching the version in Genesis 2?

  14. Johnny Vector says

    Whenever I see “PHC”, my brain automatically converts it to “Pointy-Headed College”. Not that even Scott Adams is loony enough to be welcomed there.

  15. sparc says

    Don’t miss the perverseness of PHC’s definition of academic freedom:

    But perhaps academic freedom should be understood in another sense. What if we define academic freedom as the freedom for scholars holding similar worldviews to associate and in so doing to form a community of scholars actively pursuing truth in a collegial and cooperative fashion? Academic freedom in this sense seeks to step back from the radically individualized conception in the first definition in favor of a view that emphasizes community and cooperation.

    http://www.phc.edu/academics/AcademicFreedom.asp
    Reminds me of the freedom people had in the USSR.

  16. says

    They had 16 faculty, and 5 resigned?

    ROFL! I’d guess the high-school my kids graduated from has more Ph.Ds on the faculty than that. But it’s really sad. Any small group of loons can set up and call themselves a ‘college’. I wonder how much these guys are grifting from each student.

    Calling this nonsense ‘conservative’ is a travesty. They have a collectivist statement on ‘academic freedom’. The Religious Right has very little to do with the libertarian-leaning intellectual mainstream of American conservatism, as personified by Barry Goldwater. They’re carpetbaggers, who have coopted the movement to pursue their own theocratic agenda.

  17. Cynthia says

    Rank is open and depends upon credentials and experience.

    I’m guessing that credentials and experience are optional criteria next to “able to fog a mirror while endorsing our dogma”.

  18. stevekit says

    God’s creative work, as described in Genesis 1:1-31, was completed in six twenty-four hour days.
    God rules the universe but goes by our piddling little solar system earth’s rotation for his clock.
    When he created our sun, is that when he found out about 24/7?

  19. Gaurav says

    This sounds much nicer/benign (cough!) than the mullah hiring process at madarasas in Pakistan.

  20. says

    I find the choice of Patrick Henry to be a curious choice for a Christian college to begin with. Reading his Wikipedia biography indicates that Henry was a rather interesting sort, all over the map politically, but it doesn’t say anything about any particular faith affiliation.

  21. Carolyn says

    Is it normal to have 25 pages of really useless information in a course catalog before getting to the policies section? I just flipped through the dead-tree version of last year’s course catalog from my (actually accredited, unlike some colleges) school, and the only fluff is a letter from the President on the second page.

  22. Dennis says

    Don’t be ridiculous, stevekit. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. Since the earth is at the center (God stopped the SUN in Joshua, not the EARTH.), and God can tell if it’s spinning because he is the privileged frame of reference against which all things are judged (contra RelaSINity.) Since that was the first thing God did, all of creation occured within 24 hour days.

    Am I doin’ it rite?

  23. says

    See, you are supposed to teach students these alternative theories, but in the end, you must conclude that Biblical literalism is correct. Teach the evidence, but ignore it so that you arrive at the theologically ‘correct’ answer.

    Henry Ford:

    They can have any color they like, as long as they choose black.

  24. Tukla in Iowa says

    to teach Biology courses as part of a classical Christian core curriculum.

    Should be interesting learning about those cud-chewing rabbits, four-legged insects, herbivorous lions, talking donkeys, and snakes with legs.

  25. Ginger Yellow says

    “We are seeking a faculty member to teach Biology courses as part of a classical Christian core curriculum.

    Candidates should be evangelical Christians…”

    Wouldn’t a classical Christian be a Catholic?

  26. Steve LaBonne says

    Brian- see http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/HENRY.HTM

    After the war Henry’s influence in the legislature tended to be sporadic because of his habit of leaving before the end of the session. He astonished his contemporaries by advocating state support of religion and amnesty for Loyalists.

    Henry served as governor again from 1784 to 1786 but declined to attend the Constitutional Convention of 1787. An ardent supporter of state rights, he led the Virginia opposition to ratification of the federal Constitution, losing the vote by a small margin. His hostility to centralized government and to measures favoring commercial interests led him initially to protest the Federalist program of the Washington administration.

    A wingnut avant la lettre, I guess.

  27. Steve LaBonne says

    Ginger, seems to me a REALLY “classical” Christian would have to be Greek Orthodox. ;)

  28. says

    Uhhh… did anybody notice that theology is listed as “Queen of the sciences”?

    And they don’t have a problem with that? ;-)

  29. CalGeorge says

    My first thought:

    I hope this college is not accredited.

    It looks like they are not, based on the biology class. This is from a Christian forum (posted Aug. 2006):

    Patrick Henry College denied accreditation

    Patrick Henry College, the Purcellville-based Christian college founded primarily for formerly home-schooled students, has been denied accreditation.

    Schools must be accredited in order for their students to receive financial assistance from the federal government, and many graduate schools will not accept students unless they have degrees from accredited undergraduate schools.

    I wonder how fair this is. The students have to work just as hard as they do at any other university. The decision is not based on the quality of education they receive, but is based on the religious beliefs of the school.

    They were denied accreditation simply because they requires biology teachers to teach that Creation took place in six 24-hour days.

    Some of the best school in American started out as fanatic religious schools. But I can see how they soon were deluted down and forced into conforming to the common held belief. If that common belief was right or not.

    It may only be a matter of time before Patrick Henry College will be forced to compromise what they believe in order to get approved for accreditation. It would only take a token effort on their part. But I wonder why they are required to bow down to the false God’s of darwinism in order to be accepted.

    http://www.christianforums.com/t3243951-patrick-henry-college-denied-accreditation.html

  30. Rey Fox says

    Funny how often raving stupidity comes with improper use of possessive apostrophe’s in pluralized word’s.

  31. stevekit says

    Dennis ,
    It looks like you have all the prerequisites to join our faculty in the astronomy dept.
    Please visit Patrick Henry U’s website to fill out an online application.

  32. arghous says

    Should be interesting learning about those cud-chewing rabbits, four-legged insects, herbivorous lions, talking donkeys, and snakes with legs.

    Not to mention the unicorns, dragons, satyrs, and cockatrices.

  33. says

    “(Biology, History and Philosophy of Science, or cognate fields)”

    Strangely enough, I wasn’t aware that science was a philosophy.

  34. says

    Wow. These people are pretty fanatical. It turns out that they actually lost 9 of the 18 faculty, plus 2 adjuncts and 4 college admins. They have to have a sort of impenetrable island to allow the necessary putrefaction of young minds, to hide the smell.

    Notice that all crazies have to shut themselves off from the light of criticism and exposure to competing ideas, because they know how weak their own really are.

    Look at the pathetic fear that oozes out of these people when even the resemblance of external reality shines in:

    “A common misconception among American evangelicals, and one that cannot be supported by the Scriptures themselves, is that the Bible is the only source of truth,” the article began. “We argue that this misconception amounts to a blasphemous denial of Christ’s words in Matthew 5 that ‘he sends rain on the just and the unjust.'”
    The 900-word article argued that “a Christian must refuse to view special and general revelation as hostile to one another. Nor should he hesitate to learn from a pagan. There is much wisdom to be gained from Parmenides and Plato, as well Machiavelli and Marx.”
    The article prompted a 2,600-word response by college chaplain Raymond Bouchoc, sent to students, faculty, and staff. The response, endorsed by Farris and Sanders, discussed seven “harmful implications” that could be drawn from the professors’ article and claimed the piece “diminishes the import of Scripture. [ibid]

  35. jimmiraybob says

    [poker face]But surely their biology research program must be competative & appealing[/poker face].

  36. Michael Vieths says

    On the accreditation question, it looks like they’re a candidate with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, which it claims is a recognized accrediting agency with the US Department of Education. Not accredited yet. Further news articles have vague statements about TRACS’ reports.

    They were denied accreditation by the American Academy for Liberal Education. Article here: http://www.phc.edu/news/docs/200205100.asp

    Some info here, and a few others if you search their site for accreditation.
    http://www.phc.edu/academics/accreditation.asp

  37. Dawn says

    I boggled at this part: “EQUALITY:….forbid discrimination in commerce, education and employment based upon ethnicity, national origin or skin color.” Seems to me there are a few things missing….sex, for one. But, of course, the fundies don’t think that women have the right to equality.

    I also liked the statements which followed that one, regarding sex, what’s allowed (only married, heterosexual sex). Everything else is a sin.

    Oh, well…I know MY kids won’t want to go there.

  38. Peter M. says

    They’re pretty much regarded as a laughingstock here in Virginia (except among our numerous fundies).

    It is so embarrassing sometimes to say you live in Virginia. Macaca, everyone.

  39. jimmiraybob says

    PHC’s definition of academic freedom: Academic freedom in this sense seeks to step back from the radically individualized conception in the first definition in favor of a view that emphasizes community and cooperation.
    sparc

    It’s no different than the kind of “freedom” that they envision for America. Belong to their single-minded, God-based (evangelical strict fundamentalist only – Catholics and other devil-affiliated “religions” go away) community and cooperate with its dictates and you are free to be an American – none of that heathen radical individualism with all it’s free thinking and empirical observation and science and other evils.

    How is it these people are always being conflated with absolute authoritarianism?

  40. Foggg says

    Since no one has yet mentioned it, the single most important thing about Patrick Henry U. is their target.
    http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/27/050627fa_fact
    As of the end of 2004, seven White House interns were from Patrick Henry, not including the one who worked for Karl Rove. Another intern worked for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, while another worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. 22 members of Congress had employed one or more Patrick Henry interns.
    Consider that the enrollment is ~300.

  41. says

    Looking through the PDF for statements about politics is downright scary. A combination of submission to authority, overthrow of illegitimate authority, and, in a different part of the document, a description of what makes a government legitimate. Put the three together and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they do, in fact, want to see an authoritarian theocracy in this country.

  42. Tukla in Iowa says

    Hmph! This place is worse than Bob Jones University. At least the latter has amusing initials.

  43. stogoe says

    Oh, you go ahead and laugh all you want at PHC. But they get to go on the Wingnut Welfare dole and run your government into the ground, while you sit here using your lungs like a sucker.

    …At least they don’t prohibit making Eye-Babies or accidentally running into the opposite gender while off-campus.

    Pensacola Christian is much worse.

  44. CalGeorge says

    Harvard for Homeschoolers!

    From their newsletter: Saturday, May 25, 2002 was an historic day for Patrick Henry College as we celebrated our first graduation. Fourteen graduates received their diplomas, and Don Hodel, a former Reagan cabinet official, delivered an inspiring commencement address on our campus.

    The must be up to 50-60 graduates by now, you think?

    By their commencement speakers shall you know them:

    2002: Don Hodel – served for eight years in the Reagan Administration, as Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Secretary of the Department of Energy. In January 1989, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Reagan.

    2003: George R. Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges

    2004: U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, a Republican, of Kansas

    2005: David Robinson, a former NBA star and founder of the Carver Academy

    2006 [oh, barf!]: Brit Hume, managing editor of the Fox News Network

  45. says

    Eh, why make “eye-babies” when you can poke logs in each other’s eyes?

    Shakeup at Patrick Henry College
    New president and academic dean announced after 5 of school’s 16 faculty quit in protest.

    A contentious debate at Patrick Henry College that began over theological differences, the interpretation of Scripture, and academic freedom has prompted 5 of the school’s 16 full-time faculty members to announce they will not be returning to the conservative, Christian college next year. The announcements bring the total number of departing professors to nine in the past year, not including two adjuncts, as well as four senior executives who left in the past 18 months, departing professors say.

  46. Leon says

    Any biology, Bible, or other courses at PHC dealing with creation will teach creation from the understanding of Scripture that God’s creative work, as described in Genesis 1:1-31, was completed in six twenty-four hour days.

    So they won’t be teaching the version in Genesis 2?

    James makes an important point here. According to this statement, they won’t be teaching that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, since God created man and woman together (Gen. 1:27), then blessed them together (1:28). That ought to rile up the folks who believe God created man first (Gen. 2:7), then created Eden and the rivers (2:8-17), then created the beasts of the field and fowl of the air (2:18-20) [even though chapter 1 says the animals were created before man (1:21,24)], and only then created Eve (2:21-22).

  47. twincats says

    Peter M. – At least you don’t have a branch of the creationist museum.

    Yet…

  48. Leon says

    Okay, I have to ask… “Eye-babies”???

    I don’t have the reference for this, but a while ago, one of these right-wing quasichristian nutjobs was going on about various sins perpetrated on campus, many of which amounted to things like holding hands. The money quote from him was when he said basically that kids looking at other kids with sexual or romantic desire was “making eye babies”. I kid you not.

  49. says

    ASCII and ye shall receive!

    Last March, the subject of Pensacola Christian College came up on Pharyngula. The following comes from a Chronicle of Higher Education article which said, in part,

    Even couples who are not talking or touching can be reprimanded. Sabrina Poirier, a student at Pensacola who withdrew in 1997, was disciplined for what is known on the campus as “optical intercourse” — staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as “making eye babies.” While the rule does not appear in written form, most students interviewed for this article were familiar with the concept.

    Yeah.

  50. Keanus says

    “Eye-babies” is starring for a long time into the eyes of one of the opposite sex. A synomym is “optical-intercourse.” Anything else you’d like to know?

  51. says

    Oddly enough, I didn’t make any wisecracks in the thread where “optical intercourse” first showed up, but here is what Torbjörn Larsson said about it:

    Oooh, that’s hot! I love eyes, among other things. Nothing like a long foreplay with near glances and some coy blinking. Until the real action begins with my stare threatening to go deeply into the womans eye, of course. Enough said.

    Of course, some protection is warranted if it’s a causal encounter. Glasses are too clunky, while thin contacts feels so much better! If you had laser correction as I have, you may use lightly colored light weight sun glasses, or colored contacts. They come in all colors and sizes nowadays. If not for other reasons, remember that unwanted “eye babies” are a serious matter!

    On the short list for the next Molly, that’s for damn sure.

  52. viggen says

    that’s a hilarious jumble of idiocies. do yourself a favor and don’t even try and read the PDF PZ linked to…pure pablum. i MEGO’d at the foreword.
    i’m still perusing “the republican war on science” and the conservatives’ reach-a-conclusion-then-fit-the-facts style is in full display. maybe we should stop calling them conservatives and start calling them irrationals or something more fitting. they don’t conserve a thing.

    Forgive me for saying so, but this statement is logically flawed: not all conservatives are religious fundamentalists or anti-scientific.

  53. Charlie says

    It’s interesting how the creationists always cry about how they are discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, yet they are the ones who REQUIRE the professors to sign a statement of faith!

    PZ- did you have to sign any such statement of faith before you could be hired for your current position?

  54. says

    Yes. I had to curse god while crushing a communion wafer beneath my heel. I think that’s pretty much standard for biology professorships everywhere.

    (in case it needs to be spelled out, the honest answer is no.)

  55. Leon says

    viggen said:

    Forgive me for saying so, but this statement is logically flawed: not all conservatives are religious fundamentalists or anti-scientific.

    That’s quite true. By “conservatives” he seems to be referring to those on the far right who have coopted the term for themselves and are currently overruning our political system. I may be running the risk of putting words in his mouth, but I think what he was getting at was that these people shouldn’t be called “conservative”, because true conservatives don’t think and act like that.

  56. Keanus says

    Were the PHC (the PDF PZ referenced) catalog to have appeared on the my news stand with a National Lampoon cover, I would have bought it. It’s not to be believed as serious. It’s got at least a laugh a page–all unintended, of course–but it’s so good as to be a self-parody. At one point it describes the appearance of the Patrick Henry student as “winsome!” Can you imagine that flying in any other college’s handbook or catalog. I also loved the description of two of the three math courses as being from a Christian perspective. That math I’ve got to see. I guess what’s taught elsewhere is either heathen math or atheistic math.

  57. Scott Nunez says

    I am in the job market and came across this ad in the “Chronicle” the other day and almost fell out of my chair. Then my brother sent me this article to a bunch of us nutty scientist types, and we were thinking it might be a good idea to apply to this position after all. This would at least make them sort through folks who are qualified to teach biology, and maybe give the PHC faculty a reason to take a stand. Anyone else up for applying for the job?

  58. Steve_C says

    http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleid=9952573C-E7F2-99DF-32F2928046329479&chanId=sa027

    Talk about controversey.

    ada discovered that the reactions were producing chemicals called nitrites, which destroy amino acids as quickly as they form. They were also turning the water acidic–which prevents amino acids from forming. Yet primitive Earth would have contained iron and carbonate minerals that neutralized nitrites and acids. So Bada added chemicals to the experiment to duplicate these functions. When he reran it, he still got the same watery liquid as Miller did in 1983, but this time it was chock-full of amino acids. Bada presented his results this week at the American Chemical Society annual meeting in Chicago.

  59. says

    “It’s interesting how the creationists always cry about how they are discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, yet they are the ones who REQUIRE the professors to sign a statement of faith!”

    Two comments:
    1. They have understood the lesson of Islam — To the victim belong the spoils.

    2. They are in the forefront of abolishing that most pernicious form of prejudice — discrimination against the incompetent.

  60. Matt Lovern says

    Scott, I think that applying to PHC could be a GREAT idea if enough of us were to do it! I have to smile at the possibility of them receiving 100’s (heck, hopefully 1000’s) of applications to have to sort through to find the couple (dozen? please not more than that) that sincerely would take a job as a “scientist” at their “college”. Defending science by diluting quackery, or something like that. I’m definitely curious as to what others think about this?

  61. says

    There are 108 uses of the word “history” in that document, and reading all of them, I get the idea that Patrick Henry graduates in history should be able to score pretty well on the AP exams in U.S. history and world history.

    But enough about fuzzy course descriptions and general lack of high academic standards: What in the hell is this major in spying all about? “Strategic intelligence?” Has anyone tracked to see if the CIA has been suckered in by this degree nomenclature? This could be the sole cause of our nation’s intelligence difficulties, if so.

  62. kmarissa says

    Peter M., luckily I don’t have to deal with that as I now live in the state of Northern Virginia, having recently moved from Charlottesville, which I believe is also in the midst of seceding from the Old Dominion. I mean, it would SURE be embarrassing to live in the same state as PHC…

  63. Peter M. says

    KMarissa: I live in Northern Virginia and I’m still embarrassed. Speaking of optical sex, PHC used to have a rule (and may still) that if you were courting (dating per se was not allowed) you could hold hands IF YOU WERE WALKING. I am not making this up. http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/26/83129/0021
    I figured that if you could manage a sprint together you might be allowed to pet heavily.

    Courting only was allowed. The male was obligated to write a letter to the girl’s parents and state his honorable intentions, and could only proceed with permission. I remember one couple being interviewed saying that they hadn’t even kissed and were waiting for their wedding day.

    Tragic.

    But also funny.

  64. says

    Why, that reflects a commendable concern for the health of the student body. Think of all the couples who would be running marathons! They’d have to ban triathlons, though, to curb the possibility of pregnancy.

  65. says

    I just had to look. I’ve been working in VA for quite a while now as a software contractor and just had to see if what I suspected was true. Yes… PH “college” is in VA. Why am I so not surprised.

  66. holomorph says

    To the commenter who called PHC “Harvard for Homeschoolers”: the funny thing is that they aim to be just that. I was homeschooled, and my parents went to all kinds of homeschooling conferences where the purveyors of different curricula hawk their wares. The president of PHC, Michael Farris, is also the president of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, and his organization had a booth at one of these conferences.

    My parents bought his book, “The Joshua Generation”. Most of it is a typical screed about twisted college professors (that’s a chapter title) and how they’re ignoring the “Christian foundations” of America, and so on. But near the end he talks about PHC at length, and his point is that there ought to be a “Christian Ivy League” since yucky places like Harvard and Yale are no place for a good Christian student. So he compares SAT scores between his school and the Ivies and comes out concluding that his institution is a good start to the Christian Ivy League.

    There’s also a lot of bragging about their Moot Court team and how they’ve beaten Oxford before and stuff like that, which is carried out further in their newsletter. So the saddest thing is that they really have a lot of bright students. Some really smart and motivated people I know are going there, to be brainwashed with this sort of crap.

    Eighteen years of being taught creationism was washed away with astonishing rapidity when I took freshman biology at the University of Minnesota. I needed to hear the theory of evolution explained just once to realize that everything I’d read and been taught about creationism was a crock. So it’s depressing to see that all these students are going to be deprived of that experience. What a place like PHC calls “the theory of evolution” does a ghastly disservice to the real, beautiful thing.

  67. gramsci411 says

    we need to start “following the money” with these so called colleges. donors aside (though they shouldn’t be), its probably worth examining the relationships between student body, tuition, and the student loan industry. Pointy Headed College may not have a problem along these lines (they have what? 100 studets), but with the number of “for profit/McDonaldized” colleges opening up all over and the much larger than PHC “Christian” colleges that exist…well I sometimes think that something fishy is going on as these schools tend to have higher tuitions than state and community colleges. As in, a college is set up with a high tuition and presented as “Christian” or “real teachers with real experience”. Students are attracted and are able to get in since admission standards…well, standards? whats a standard? But in order to pay for school, they must take out loans from the government. Government funds funneled to a private institution that provides no actual education…it is fairly consistent with the current administration.

  68. says

    > Wingnuttia

    so is that Wing-nut-ee-uh or Wing-noosha?

    dunno why that stuck with me reading all the way down the comments…

    …go figure.

  69. NickDanger says

    I did have to take a loyalty oath to teach in Colorado and at each institution at which I was an adjunct, then full-time. Evidently one wasn’t enough. I don’t mind all that much, though I resent the implied questioning of my loyalty. Not as nutty as the oath at PHC, fortunately.

  70. says

    Dennis: I have heard about some places which are really into giving everyone the same education, for whatever that’s worth. A sort of generic liberal arts degree, or I guess in this case, conservative arts …

    ck: Probably close, though I assume they are not going to read the objections even available to Descartes from his contemporaries. (Or Descartes’ materialist half, either. Descartes discovered reflexes, after all.)

    James: Or the third one, in John.

    sparc: Not surprising, since Stalinism (for example) is basically an atheistic religion.

    Steve Sutton: It isn’t, but there are some philosophers of science who could (and have) taught intro courses in the science in question. (I’m thinking for example of Sahotra Sarkar, who taught two philosophy and a intro biology course while visiting McGill while I was there.) Of course, at PHC who knows … no way would they get someone like Sarkar.

    stogoe: If I were a believer I think the answer to that would be “thank heaven for small mercies”.

    Keanus: Bishop Berkeley would be proud. I wonder about that too. I mean, the usual corruption of biology and philosophy and (I assume) physics is par for the course. But what IS the Christian perspective on math, and why is it needed in some and not all courses?

    NickDanger: If I may ask, when was that?

  71. says

    misterbowen:

    > Wingnuttia

    so is that Wing-nut-ee-uh or Wing-noosha?

    There are two tees, so it shouldn’t rhyme with “minutia”. That is, your first guess is the right one.

    arensb, giving serious answers to silly questions for years.

  72. John Vinci says

    For all of the supposing and assuming I’ve heard in this thread, I would think that I went to a very different college than the one that is described.

    There’s a lot that I could say, but let me just say this, I am one of many PHC graduates who went in thinking I understood the world and came out with a better understanding of how complex the world really is.

    At Patrick Henry, I learned that just because I disagree with someone doesn’t mean they are stupid–the reverse is often the case. (From the posts I’ve read here, some of you could benefit from this sort of education.)

    Isn’t this part of what a liberal arts education is supposed to accomplish?

    I encourage each of you to suspend judgment until you’ve met a PHC graduate or two. Look at the product and then decide.

  73. Azkyroth says

    John: so, when a university’s own policies seem to be going out of their way to paint them as world-class morons, we shouldn’t take them at their word?

    PZ:

    We will need to hire new faculty, but the vagaries of the university administration will determine whether we get to do so and when. Don’t stop your job search while breathlessly awaiting the announcements from UMM; don’t sink so low as to take the job at PHC, either.

    Wait; these things are in university administrations?! …wow, that explains a lot…

    He’s right. Don’t hold your breath. ;/

  74. says

    A few people mistakenly referred to PHC as PHU. The funny thing about that is that PHU is where Ayn Rand’s heroes in Atlas Shrugged went to school — the four “strikers”.