Philosophy
When people decide that they want to have a baby, I like to imagine that the thing they look forward to the most is that pesky question they'll hear in a few years: "mommy/daddy, where do babies come from?"
Then I imagine heart palpitations, profuse sweating and an incontrollable sense of nervousness. Comedian Julia Sweeney was recently faced with this eternal parental dilemma, and being the super cool, progressive person that she is, she decided it was time to teach her kid a bit of a science lesson on reproduction, and to be honest about it... except for one tiny white lie :)
Everything will change the day the kid finds out that porn can teach children that sex can be enjoyable...
.
- Plurals
An old classic -- A town had undergone a bitter fight over sex-ed in the schools when a woman's daughter comes home from first grade and announces proudly, "In school today, we learned how to make babies." The woman had been in favor of teaching reproduction,...
- What Can Be Taught?
Strange that we don't ask this question before we begin to teach, but what is it that can be taught? Skills can be taught. That seems uncontroversial. But what else? As a teacher of critical thinking, can people be taught to be rational? As an ethics...
- Why I Teach
I generally don't respond to memes, but (1) I was tagged on this one by someone whose blog I love, Dr. Free Ride of Adventures in Ethics and Science and (2) it's an interesting question: "Why do you teach and why is academic freedom critical to...
- Feminist Family Values
It is nothing short of despicable to hide bigotry behind the fig leaf of the language of morality. "Feminism is destroying the family." "We oppose gay adoption because we care about children." The worst part of it is that the stance has been universally...
- What Will We Teach The Children?: Raising Kids With (or Without) Religion
In a previous post, I promised to address the issue of how to raise children with respect to religion. I now make good on that promise. The general principle I will be defending in this post is this: Children should be raised such that they are put...
Philosophy
Julia Sweeney has "The Talk"
When people decide that they want to have a baby, I like to imagine that the thing they look forward to the most is that pesky question they'll hear in a few years: "mommy/daddy, where do babies come from?"Then I imagine heart palpitations, profuse sweating and an incontrollable sense of nervousness. Comedian Julia Sweeney was recently faced with this eternal parental dilemma, and being the super cool, progressive person that she is, she decided it was time to teach her kid a bit of a science lesson on reproduction, and to be honest about it... except for one tiny white lie :)
Everything will change the day the kid finds out that porn can teach children that sex can be enjoyable...
.
- Plurals
An old classic -- A town had undergone a bitter fight over sex-ed in the schools when a woman's daughter comes home from first grade and announces proudly, "In school today, we learned how to make babies." The woman had been in favor of teaching reproduction,...
- What Can Be Taught?
Strange that we don't ask this question before we begin to teach, but what is it that can be taught? Skills can be taught. That seems uncontroversial. But what else? As a teacher of critical thinking, can people be taught to be rational? As an ethics...
- Why I Teach
I generally don't respond to memes, but (1) I was tagged on this one by someone whose blog I love, Dr. Free Ride of Adventures in Ethics and Science and (2) it's an interesting question: "Why do you teach and why is academic freedom critical to...
- Feminist Family Values
It is nothing short of despicable to hide bigotry behind the fig leaf of the language of morality. "Feminism is destroying the family." "We oppose gay adoption because we care about children." The worst part of it is that the stance has been universally...
- What Will We Teach The Children?: Raising Kids With (or Without) Religion
In a previous post, I promised to address the issue of how to raise children with respect to religion. I now make good on that promise. The general principle I will be defending in this post is this: Children should be raised such that they are put...