Posted on 02/24/2008 6:30:57 AM PST by markomalley
Capital punishment, euthanasia and abortion are just a few of the hot topics that can spur a heated debate in any arena. And the classroom is no exception.
Abortion especially is a controversial issue. So much so that Dr. Chris Panza, assistant professor of philosophy, has stopped teaching it in his classroom.
"I don't even teach abortion any more. I stopped," said Panza. "And the reason was basically this: it's very difficult on some issues, abortion's probably at the top, where students come in thinking yes or no. And it doesn't matter what their arguments are, even if their arguments are shown to be completely false, they won't budge."
Since abortion poses such a dilemma in the classroom Dr. Teresa Hornsby, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, has decided to give the topic a closer look.
Recently Hornsby was given a grant from the Wabash foundation, which is funded by the Lilly Endowment, to discuss teaching the topic of abortion.
"My proposal specifically is that to be able to teach about abortion, you have to know about it. So that's one of the things I want to do, figure out how we can get real knowledge in the hands of the instructors, so they're not just repeating things they might have heard on the news, or they found on the internet or something like that. To figure out what sources are most realistic, that talk about everything, all aspects: medical, psychological, sociology, economic, everything."
Hornsby plans on gathering Drury faculty from various departments who in some way will teach abortion in their classroom. She then hopes to create a forum to discuss and examine different methods to teaching abortion in the classroom.
"I'm hoping to develop guidelines on how to teach difficult conversations. And you could plug in capital punishment, euthanasia, things that tend to be divisive," said Hornsby. "To introduce general principles or guidelines on how to teach difficult topics."
So far 17 Drury faculty have responded to Hornsby's call. The departments represented so far include: GP21, Education, Biology, History, Sociology, Religion and Philosophy.
Hornsby is planning six meetings with those faculty members during her grant period. Besides these meetings, Hornsby and her core faculty (Panza, Dr. Lisa Esposito, and Dr. Peter Browning) will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to gather more information about abortion.
"My poor colleagues didn't know I was doing this. I was like 'Surprise. We're going to Washington. Are you free?'" said Hornsby. "We're going to meet with national Right to Life folks. And we're going to meet with the national Coalition of Abortion Providers. So it's kind of both sides, and we're just gathering information."
Hornsby's grant is close to $18,000. She will have from March 1, 2008 until August 31, 2009 to complete her project.
But that's not her last step.
"I'm working on putting together a workbook for pastors, or future pastors, counselors, ministers on how to talk to pregnant teens about pregnancy options. Or to talk to women who have had an abortion and want to talk about feelings they are having about that or grief or sadness or something like that," said Hornsby.
She hopes the next step will include a grant to put together all the information she has gathered into a book that can be used at seminaries and theological schools.
"I would like to see a course in seminaries and in theological schools on counseling women on pregnancy options," said Hornsby. "[I'd like to see] a counseling course develop out of it. That's my goal, that's what I'm working toward… [because] nobody's being trained to do it."
Most schools, Hornsby explained, are afraid to teach topics like abortion.
"It's a very scary topic because people are afraid they'll get a reputation [if they offer courses like this. And] they won't get funding," said Hornsby. "But to me it's a real need in counseling, and especially religion because that's where women have those conflicts."
Hornsby plans to provide the results of her research to other professionals to use by publishing her findings in a religious studies pedagogical journal and the American Academy of Religion.
Hopefully with this information professors like Panza will begin to teach abortion in the classroom again, only in a more effective manner.
"I'd like to [teach abortion] again in the classroom, and not feel like a total failure when I do it," said Panza. "Because that's how I felt before, it was just such a failure that I just stopped. I thought 'what's the point?' So I'd like to be able to get it back in there."
ping
For a college prof, she speaks like a middle schooler.
One field trip to a clinic for a first hand look at an abortion and a side trip out to the dumpster should suffice.
Options?
We don't need no stinking options.
The choice was made when the seed was planted in the garden.
They had problems teaching their liberal pro-death agenda at Drury because the majority of students there had been conservative and were being solid in their defense of the rights of the unborn. Now the liberal professors want to learn how to sweeten the message of death. I’ve heard of liberal students actually sitting through a video of an abortion and at the end giving a standing ovation. THE TRUTH MUST BE TAUGHT AT HOME. Drury is in the same town as the headquarters of the Assemblies of God.
I believe it. What pro-lifers should realize is that those who self-identify as "pro-choice" know very well that abortion is the killing of an innocent baby...
...and they still do it.
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