Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What Is Electricity? They Are Still Scratching Their Heads at Bob Jones U.

Posted by Will Moredock on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 4:08 AM

Electricity. What is it? Where does it come from? At Bob Jones University, the ultra-conservative Baptist institution of (higher?) education in Greenville, they are still pondering these questions in the 21st century. See for yourself in this page from a textbook prepared by BJU for use by Christian students. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/frickin_electricity_how_does_i.php

Think about it: These people vote. They want to make policy in science, education and other public matters. This is so scary it's funny.

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In the interest of fairness, this textbook is from 1990, was aimed at fourth graders and is apparently no longer available from BJU.

If you go to their website where you can order a hard drive preloaded with their educational material (http://www.bjupress.com/product/353862), all the links to the referenced volume have been removed. However, using a bit of old fashioned internet awesome, you can still manually enter the link and get this page: http://www.bjupress.com/about/electricity-… which goes to great lengths to tell you that the text in question is from 1990, that it is from a fourth-grade level textbook and, frankly, electricity is something of a mystery.

So, while this may put Bob Jones University and the Insane Clown Posse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-agl0pOQfs NSFW) in the same general category of People With Odd Notions, it certainly isn't the best way to prove a point. And it isn't funny, or even scary. It's just sad.

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Posted by mat catastrophe on July 27, 2010 at 6:28 AM

If electricity is a mystery to you Mat, it is because you went to Bob Jones University. Even in 1990, it was known that electricity was and how to make it and use it. This is misinformation ment to keep people ignorant. If everything is unknown then god must be the answer , right?

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Posted by charlestowne2 on July 27, 2010 at 8:14 AM

"That electricity was a f***ing miracle, and I want you to acknowledge it!"

Mat you have a good point about the sensationalist aspect of this story. That 4th-grader text is beyond the pale in terms of ignorance, no matter how redacted it has been. "We cannot even say where electricity comes from." What?

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Posted by factoryconnection on July 27, 2010 at 9:10 AM

Will Moredock could easily have called BJU, asked for a science professor, and found out whether or not this 4th grade textbook represents BJU's current scientific understanding (or whether it ever did—every word the BJU Press elementary authors produce cannot be policed by the University faculty).

Will, come to BJU for a visit. Talk to us. See if we're all as extreme as you say.

-mlwj
BJU Press Bible Curriculum Author

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Posted by mlward on July 27, 2010 at 11:28 AM

I, for one, see nothing wrong with the text. It's written in generalities for a 4th grade audience. The details given by the science blogger would overwhelm most high school students, so I don't think they're cheating 4th graders by speaking of electricity as a "mystery."

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Posted by Jason Usry on July 27, 2010 at 11:30 AM

Fucking magnets, how do they work?

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Posted by Sark on August 8, 2010 at 8:26 PM

ICP, FTW

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Posted by mat catastrophe on August 9, 2010 at 9:24 PM

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Posted by johnlennon370 on October 29, 2010 at 7:18 AM
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