Atheism 2.0

There seems to be a new kid on the atheism block. First we had the Enlightenment atheists, then the Darwinian atheists, and the Communist atheists. Most recently, we saw the rise of the aptly named “New Atheists.” Until now.

Alain de Botton has presented “Atheism 2.0,” which now rightfully claims the title of the “Newest Atheists.” It seems, at least in terms of this list, that he has misnamed his programme, which should be “Atheism 5.0.” But that is the advantage of his naming scheme—he can version the previous incarnations any way he chooses, so the Communist atheists might be more properly dubbed “Atheism 1.9.17, build Oktobre” or somesuch.

This also reveals the embarrassing scenario Dawkins is facing when his New Atheism becomes the “Old Atheism,” or the “Newly Chronologically-Disadvantaged Atheism.” I’m sure Mr. Hitchens, were he still present, would have a sagely satirical witticism over his newfound obsolescence.

Fighting is Good for the Soul

In some ways, teaching is like parenting in that we are trying to shape human beings, sometimes against or in spite of their wills, and certainly against their fallen natures. If you’ve been reading TSR for any length of time, you know that it can easily frustrate me, and does many other educators from time to time.

I came across an article today called, “Midnight in the Bedroom of Good and Evil,” which is worth reading for the title alone, that dealt with how parents (and educators, by extension) not only struggle against the resistance of their children, but how that creates a sympathetic eruption of their own fallen natures—selfishness, anger, frustration, irritability, and so on.

The author tells an account I will repeat here about a monk living among the Desert Fathers.

Malaise

A cartoon from some magazine sometime back showed a classroom. On the chalkboard were two words, “ignorance” and “apathy.” Two stoners are in the back row and one looks up at the board with great effort, and with further strain reads the words slowly aloud, and asks his buddy, “what do those words mean?” His friend doesn’t even bother to look up when mumbling, “I dunno and don’t care.”

Malaise is just a cool sounding word, but if you have it, it’s hard to be excited about it.

Dad and I were talking tonight about how agitated so many Christians are about the state of our nation and all up in arms in Tea Party rallies and the like, yet, there are churches protesting “The Response” time of worship and prayer, and the stadium at best looks like it will be 20% full.

You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Make It Read the Syllabus

Today’s thought comes from a friend’s Facebook comment:  “help...students not reading the syllabus then getting burned at the end of the semester, it is so sad to see..”

One of her friends commented,: "Yeah...I give my (esl) students a syllabus activity on the first day and a syllabus quiz the next day during the first week of class. It helps a little, but not as much as you'd think.”

The Joy of Teaching

Sometimes I tutor on the side for a little extra cash. Tonight, I was helping the third and last child in a family with her high school chemistry. It is times like tonight that refresh my enthusiasm for teaching. She commented near the end that when the teacher was covering the subject, she just sat there with no clue what was happening, but now she understood. That is a good feeling.

Does she have a bad teacher? I don’t know—there’s no way to tell based on that. It helps to have the individual attention that a private tutor offers. Also, often we need to hear things several times before they sink in and make sense. A postdoc in my advisor’s research group told me when I joined to do my thesis research, “Quantum chemistry takes about 10 years to understand, and then it just ‘clicks.’”

This need for repetition is why God instituted the Passover and other festivals, communion and similar rituals. We need to remember what God has done for us and we forget, so we need to have reminders.

The disappointing thing for me is that I’m very patient being the second person to explain something the first time (as in the case of my tutoree), but tend to be less so the more I have to explain it over and over again to the same person or class. It is simply because >I< forget that people forget.

Where is the ritual to remember that? Oh, yeah—every time I need to repeat myself. I guess I’d better find a better way.

We humans are strange creatures!

SDG