I spent some time this afternoon talking to a young person of whom I am very fond. He is handsome, smart, gregarious, charming, and slightly neurotic -- but what kid isn't? I asked him how he was doing in school.
"Well," he says, "You know I have some problems." Problems? No, I wasn't aware of this. "It's because of when I was born," he tried to explain. "Because of what time it was and how the stars looked." I was confused. "Because of when I was born and how the stars looked then means that I worry about things a lot. I'm scared and I worry." He then told me about his fears.
This lovely, smart kid's parents and I have some fundamental disagreements concerning the distinction between fact and fantasy, and science and pseudoscience. I was afraid to ask, but I did: "Are you talking about astrology?"
"Yes," he confirmed. "You know there are people who can tell from the time you were born and how the stars look what kind of person you will be and what your problems are. Astronomers, right?"
No, wrong. Very, very wrong. And very, very sad.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
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4 comments:
I gave my pre-service teachers an in-depth word problem about setting up a scale model of the solar system. (The problem was about proportions: where would you put everything to make it fit in the classroom.)
One student mentioned that she had learned about the planets and the solar system in an astronomy course.
Another student announced that her parents would be angry if she took an astronomy course.
Is it because they belong to an anti-science religion that rejects a heliocentric solar system? No, not at all, but rather my student didn't know the difference between the words "astronomy" and "astrology."
Thanks, both of you, for your comments. Becky, I shudder thinking about teachers unable to distinguish between astronomy and astrology. However, my young friend is only seven, so his slip is understandable.
Gus, I must disagree with you in the strongest possible way. Professional psychology already suffers from a great deal of pseudoscience traveling under its umbrella. Let's not even discuss problems of licensure, and the fact that almost anyone in almost any of the United States can claim to be a professional "therapist" on the basis of training in social work, nursing, nutrition, theology, chiropractic, dental hygiene, music, etc. etc. Psychology is a science, and good psychological practice is evidence-based. The last thing we need, while trying to clean up after "regression" therapists, neurolinguistic programming, thought field therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, (and oh my god the list is embarassingly long and it depresses me to go on) is a therapy based on astrological consultation.
No, you missed the point. I was making a statement about parents who torture their children with religion and pseudoscience. Not that seven-year-olds have trouble distinguishing between big words that begin with "astro."
New to your blog via Phantom Scribbler, and I've really enjoyed reading it.
I'm always flummoxed when I find myself in situations where people espouse quackery.
A number of years ago, a friend's child was diagnosed with celiac disease. She told me she was going to have to restrict his diet, which is understandable, and that she was going to take him to an allergist to find out what, exactly, he could eat. The allergist would give him foods to hold and see if she could push down on his arm to test for the allergy. I expressed my doubts about the whole situation, but I don't think I did any good. What can one do?
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