Posted on 01/29/2015 8:10:28 PM PST by Morgana
EDMOND, Okla. – A local biology teacher’s multiple choice question about abortion is upsetting students’ parents.
Edmond Santa Fe High School officials confirmed Tuesday several biology teachers at the school gave their students a “non graded exercise” – a discussion starter – on human genetic disorders.
“You’ve found out that the child you (or your wife) carries has the gene for dwarfism. A new therapy exists that may repair this gene before the child is born. What do you do?” the first question on the exercise asks.
A. Allow the child to be born with the gene, and we will accept the child as is. B. Attempt the new therapy to repair the gene. C. Terminate Pregnancy.
On a Facebook page for Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education, reaction was mixed.
“This is not a subject I want my child discussing in class,” one person said. “Ethics and beliefs are for home, not school.”
“That’s not education but indoctrination. Don’t teach kids to be Democrats or Republicans,” another post said.
“Abortion is a subject many parents would rather discuss with their children,” wrote one person. “It is more than just an ethics question.”
(Excerpt) Read more at kfor.com ...
ARTH PING!!!
The Delphi Technique in action.
I read the test questions and I find them age appropriate for Senior High School student. The problem I see is if the instructor has a bias one way or the other on the “ethics” in question.
Was indoctrination in the 60’s, is indoctrination now.
"The Delphi method (/ˈdɛlfaɪ/ del-fy)
is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.[1][2][3][4] The experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ forecasts from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of their panel. It is believed that during this process the range of the answers will decrease and the group will converge towards the "correct" answer. Finally, the process is stopped after a pre-defined stop criterion (e.g. number of rounds, achievement of consensus, stability of results) and the mean or median scores of the final rounds determine the results.[5]
schools haven’t been about education for a while
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It's supposed to be a biology class, not a philosophy class.
The problem I see is if the instructor has a bias one way or the other on the “ethics” in question.
Are you suggesting that it's even possible that the instructor does not have a personal opinion ("bias") regarding these issues. Keep in mind that the idea that all the choices (in the question in the excerpt) are acceptable is a bias. Even phrasing the question with "Terminate the pregnancy," rather than, "Kill the unborn baby," expresses bias.
You’re welcome. The technique is used in the military to promote the sickest topics. Your definition is formal, but basically Delphi is this: facilitators present situations, with the politically correct answers known ahead of time. The group is divided by their responses. The ones who disagree with the PC answers are put down, ridiculed and mocked. The facilitators are guiding them to choose the PC answer by peer pressure, building consensus.
Hard to feel sorry for ANY PARENT that sends their kid to a public school...
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