Electricity is a mystery

[Jenn]

Comment: I've noticed this photo circulating through several websites around
the Internet. All the websites I've seen that circulate this photograph credit
a homeschool textbook produced by Bob Jones University .Specifically, it is
said to come from a textbook called Science 4 Students (a fourth grade science
textbook geared towards homeschooled children). After looking it up online, I
discovered that the textbook "Science 4 Students" (and the course that goes
with it) is real and is distributed by Bob Jones University. However, I am
seriously questioning whether or not this is actually part of that textbook.
One would think that if a university that sells homeschooling materials put
out such blatantly false information, that university could risk disciplinary
action on the part of federal authorities. At the very least, some news
organization would have found this kind of thing interesting if it were true.
So, I was wondering if this photo (and the description that goes with it) is
accurate.

[remarkgullabull]

There are so many comments I could make about that page, but I don't feel like wasting my breathe.

Note to self: My children will not be attending Bob Jones University...

[Troodon]

I have trouble believing that this is real. That said, ****ing magnets, how do they work?

[fitz1980]

Bob Jones University is an unaccredited institute that can't get an accreditation because they don't believe in the science behind, evolution, geology or probably even anthropology but even I don't think that's something that they would put in a science text book.

Most creationists try to draw a clear (if artificial) line of demarcation between the science that we use to understand things like electricity, physics & chemistry as opposed to things like paleontology & evolutionary biology. The reason is that the layman sees electronics, airplanes & combustion all of the time in our daily lives. The "jury" is most certainly not out on the fact that those are true; most of us don't know how they work, but we know that they do. On the other hand things like complex biological processes, carbon-14 dating & DNA are all things that you really have to understand a lot of hard science to understand why & how scientists know what we know about those things.

I'd say that page looks more like something out of some children's illustrated Sunday school reading material that was trying to make a point to children about having faith in something that you can't see and don't understand. It's basically just another version of that old fallacy about God & faith that compares him to the wind; because you can't see the wind either but you can only see it's effects. Of course the thing there is that I can measure the wind & talk to a climatologist or meteorologist about the exact scientific principles that cause the wind.

[Richard W]

This is the Bob Jones 4th Grade Science textbook:


4th Grade Bob Jones Science 4 3rd Ed

It isn't called "Science 4 Students" and doesn't look as though the pages above would match the style, although you can't see inside it on the page I've linked to. Like fitz1980 said, the picture looks like something from a pamphlet of some sort. (Searching for "Science 4 Students" on the web only seems to bring up this picture, rather than any references to possible previous editions.)

[DesertRat]

The ultimate frustrating irony of these is that the idiots that ascribe to this nonsense live their lives with the comforts and conveniences provided by those who actually do understand science and how the physical world works. If I was king (yes, it's one of those days ), I would ensure these people's quality of life would be exactly comensurate with their understanding of basic scientific principles. Welcome back to the Dark Ages... hope Jesus keeps you warm at night.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by Troodon

I have trouble believing that this is real. That said, ****ing magnets, how do they work?

Oh, man. I totally didn't expect that.

Lachry-"Insane Snopes Posse"-mose

[fitz1980]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

The ultimate frustrating irony of these is that the idiots that ascribe to this nonsense live their lives with the comforts and conveniences provided by those who actually do understand science and how the physical world works.

I pointed out something similar back when the Bush administration was talking about how "the jury was still out" on evolution in order to score cheap political points with evangelicals. How many oil men/women were in that administration & backing it?

What is the largest private employer of paleontologists? The answer is the oil industry; because that's how they know where to drill for oil. So those people knew what the real deal was; but also know what you say to get elected.

[One-Fang]

Well that answers that then ...

This was recently on Failblog, only she was holding a gun, not a hair dryer. Why would anyone go the extent of 'shopping a gun into it when the text is such a fail? Who knows.

[Avril]

Originally Posted by Richard W

It isn't called "Science 4 Students" and doesn't look as though the pages above would match the style, although you can't see inside it on the page I've linked to. Like fitz1980 said, the picture looks like something from a pamphlet of some sort. (Searching for "Science 4 Students" on the web only seems to bring up this picture, rather than any references to possible previous editions.)

I'm guessing the "Science 4 Students" thing came from the title--Technically, this is "Science 4," Student text. I can see how that could morph into "Science 4 Students."

For comparison's sake, here are some sample pages from the previous edition. This is from an online store's link, not a blog or anything.

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by Richard W

This is the Bob Jones 4th Grade Science textbook:


4th Grade Bob Jones Science 4 3rd Ed

It isn't called "Science 4 Students" and doesn't look as though the pages above would match the style, although you can't see inside it on the page I've linked to. Like fitz1980 said, the picture looks like something from a pamphlet of some sort. (Searching for "Science 4 Students" on the web only seems to bring up this picture, rather than any references to possible previous editions.)

I wonder if your find, Richard W, might be related to what Bob Jones University Press has on its website,

http://www.bjupress.com/product/2391...h=70806&spot=1

(I'm betting the actual title is missing some element of punctuation and that it should read something like, Science 4, Student Text.)

Sadly, though not surprisingly, this isn't available to me via interlibrary loan. WorldCat.org doesn't show any libraries that have this volume in their collections. (I've been searching by ISBN numbers.)

The second edition might be this one, also, ahem, not available via interlibrary loan.

http://books.google.com/books?id=a0D...ed=0CDMQ6AEwAA

(Note the "review," however.)

Bonnie "I'll wait for the CliffsNotes version" Taylor

[ETA: Oops, sorry, Avril, for stepping on your toes!]

[Richard W]

That's odd, I searched the Bob Jones University site first and couldn't find anything about it...

Ugh, Avril's link is even worse than the OP, even if not as evidently stupid to most people! That's not a "science textbook" by any definition - it's an "anti-science textbook". "Here is a misrepresentation of what scientists say. Isn't it silly? Why, you're only 10, and even you can see how silly it is! What are these scientists thinking?"...

After seeing that, I have far less trouble believing that the OP page might come from the book.

Not being able to tell if it's a parody or actual fundamentalist belief. Poe's Law lives!


Steve S

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by StevenAS

Not being able to tell if it's a parody or actual fundamentalist belief. Poe's Law lives!


Steve S

Actually, I've heard this view expressed by fundamentalists before.

[TheLazenby]

Dammit, troodon! I clicked on this topic specifically to post an ICP reference...

But that said - why do Ass Dan's kids look just like Ass Dan?

[nonnieyrissa]

Originally Posted by Troodon

I have trouble believing that this is real. That said, ****ing magnets, how do they work?

Originally Posted by TheLazenby

Dammit, troodon! I clicked on this topic specifically to post an ICP reference...

But that said - why do Ass Dan's kids look just like Ass Dan?

Me 2nd. I honestly thought it was a new ICP song.

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

The ultimate frustrating irony of these is that the idiots that ascribe to this nonsense live their lives with the comforts and conveniences provided by those who actually do understand science and how the physical world works.

Hmm, so maybe if they can all get cast out into the desert, literal or metaphorical, and we'll see if their deity provides electricity and all the modern comforts they probably take for granted. If they refuse to believe the science behind it, maybe they should be refused access to it! We might then see evolution - or at least the extinction aspect of it - in action.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

Shakes head and walks away.

[Malruhn]

It looks remarkably like the text we tried to use when we used the Calvert curriculum for our kidlets in a short-lived attempt to home-school. In the end, we figured that having to correct English usage and grammar as taught by horrible English teachers was a smaller price to pay than reeducating the kids after reading crap like this.

My goodness!

"I've never seen electricity, that's why I don't pay for it. I write right on the bill, "I'm sorry, I haven't seen it all month.""

Steven Wright