| I don't know how you arrived at that interpretation of my post. I chose evolution merely because a substantial and politically important group of Americans earnestly disagree with the academic consensus; it's an area where there has been genuine public debate; it's foundational to some academic fields; and it would believably come up in first year compulsory classes. I might disagree with academics about whether mailing a survey to mentally competent adults counts as human experimentation that needs ethics board approval, as outside of academia people use surveys all the time. But that's hardly something an academic would refuse to discuss. I might disagree with academics about feminism or marxism or underwater basket weaving - but that stuff's all elective, why would I have taken an elective module from a teacher I thought was full of shit? I might disagree with the high tuition costs of universities, and the money wasted on sports, overpaid administrators, and overpriced journal subscriptions. But most academics would actively agree with me, they just can't change it. I might disagree with details of how a course is taught, like whether Java is a good language for an introductory CS class. Or whether we really need so much math in the CS curriculum. But that's not really a fundamental belief. I might disagree with academics because I think the moon is made of cheese, but that would be a straw man argument. |