| Jun 17 @ 4:01 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
Thor1960303
Posts: 1,887
|
Anybody remember SRA's?I don't remember what the letters stood for,but they were really cool packets of educational material on science,reading,math,literature and a host of other subjects.I loved them as a kid,they always had a way of clarifying subjects I was having trouble with.They got me through long division and fractions in the third grade.
It was in one of those packets that I first saw the ascent of man chart that showed man evolving from ape like hominids (I think it started with Australopithecus and went through to Cro Magnon and modern man) to a fully erect walking man.I was fascinated and wanted to know more about it when the teachers quickly put that particular SRA packet away and told me that it "was not for our school and was sent by mistake".Yet to me, it made sense.Get this,we were allowed to study dinosaurs and the different era's,but anything that suggested man and ape came from a common ancestor was strictly verboten.Go figure.
I remember that night I mentioned that incident to my sister,who is 5 years older than me.I told her that it made sense to me that man and ape had a common ancestor and how disappointed I was that they wouldn't allow us to learn about it.She immediately got up and went into mom's bedroom to tell her about it.About 10 minutes later,she came back,and in a very monotone,stern voice,she told me that that SRA packet was wrong.That it went "against the Bible and made a mockery of God,saying that man just happened by accident and was not created in His image".I didn't even try to debate the issue because her monotone and ashen look on her face scared the crap out of me.I went back to watching the then new comedy show on TV,Get Smart.
Religious indoctrination is something else,isn't it.My sister,btw,is not a fundamentalist today,but instead embraces a form a Christianity called Unity.Unlike me,she never had,to my knowledge a period of unbelief,or if she ever did it was very brief.I will add here that over the years,I have seen her fall victim to "visions" and "voices".It's a scary thing to behold.
|
|
  |
|
| Jun 17 @ 4:08 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
eastham
Posts: 6,354
|
I went to Catholic school and we used the SRAs and were taught evolution. I think that my first exposure was in the 1st grade, when we learned about dinosaurs, but the big science modules were probably in 4th and 5th; however, as my parents subscribed to both Life and National Geographic, I was always reading about fossils, dinosaurs and human evolution. My parents also took us to Dinosaur State Park, the Peabody and other museums with loads of dinosaur/evolution exhibits.
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 7:29 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
Heaveninawildflower
Posts: 15,360
|
SRA's were probably after my time, but my stomping ground was the American Museum of Natural History. I can't remember the time that I was first introduced to the concept of evolution, and never thought about it as anything other than how life unfolded. But while I wanted to be a nun, I finally realized it was because I loved the music and liturgy rather than believed in the religion.
|
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 8:38 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
Jankia
Posts: 9,171
|
The same as being exposed to anything else in life...curiosity.
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 9:49 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
SunBabe
Posts: 12,251
|
OMG, I loved those SRA cards!!  I absolutely devoured them and reached purple (I think it was) before most of the class got through the first half of the box.  ...so I started from the beginning ~grin~ ...several times.
As far as evolution, I learned about it WAY before I ever realized that people took the Adam and Eve story literally. I guess I had enlightenment in reverse to yours, Thor.
Seriously, it was only a few years ago that I became aware that people take creationism to heart and don't believe in evolution. I've always been interested to know how thinks work and why -- and science/evolution simply makes sense, more and more every year with all the new discoveries: it's exciting, actually 
|
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 9:51 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
|
I'm trying to pull the memory of SRA cards out of my brain. I know it's there someplace. 
As I was probably a fundy when I first heard about evolution, I'm sure I was appalled and disgusted.
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 10:01 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
16knots
Posts: 3,627
|
Evolution was never a problem in the UK.
It made sense and evidences are abound. 
|
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 10:05 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
|
Even in the State of Nevada when I was a child, evolution and those who believed in it were looked on as something evil and disgusting
Sad.
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 10:09 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
16knots
Posts: 3,627
|
Very sad mom. I was raised and educated in "Oxford" a seat of learning. I had never heard of religion and evolution in conflict..... until I came to "MD". (Truthfully, as always) Maybe I just didnt know....
|
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 10:20 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
|
Isn't it funny how different things are across the world.
Religion has always been such a conflict here in the US.
|
| |
|
| Jun 17 @ 10:47 PM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
eastham
Posts: 6,354
|
Very sad mom. I was raised and educated in "Oxford" a seat of learning. I had never heard of religion and evolution in conflict..... until I came to "MD". (Truthfully, as always) Maybe I just didnt know....
I was born in a working/middle class neighborhood in Waterbury, Connecticut...The Brass City...If you watched the Ken Burns' special on WWII, you've heard of it.
Never did I know about a conflict between religion and evolution. Waterbury is predominantly Catholic, a faith which has no conflict between faith and evolution. The majority of Protestant denominations were Lutherans, Episcopals and Methodists, who also didn't see a conflict between their faith and science.
It was only after we moved to the suburbs that I learned that this kind of conflict existed. My English teacher was on an advisory panel for anthology textbooks. When she returned to class on Monday after a rash of weekend meetings, she told us of efforts in Texas to remove all references and stories by Katherine Mansfield, a New Zealander, from The British Tradition anthology. In Texas, they were concerned not only with the fact that Mansfield was bisexual (never discussed in the short stories in the anthology) but also because she liked to skewer religious hypocrites (those stories were in).
This story from Mrs. Farber peaked my interest in the forces behind textbook purchasing in Texas. It was a frightening lesson to learn that there were people so anxious to quell intellectual curiousity, etc. Very sad.
|
|
| |
|
| Jun 18 @ 9:39 AM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
Thor1960303
Posts: 1,887
|
Glad to hear others loved the SRA's as much as I did.What did SRA stand for anyone know?And what ever happened to them,is anyone still using them?
|
| |
|
| Jun 18 @ 9:44 AM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction?
|
|
SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 4,565
|
Are these them?
(Warning: Commercial site. I do not endorse, simply first site I found.)
|
|
| |
|
| Jun 18 @ 9:47 AM |
When were you first exposed to evolution?What was your reaction? |
|
Thor1960303
Posts: 1,887
|
Yep,looks like them to me.
|
| |
|
|