Apologia Qualms

I didn’t read the full article on that link but I will say one thing. The author for the Exploring Creation Through….. books were written by Jeannie Fulbright. I am a part of her yahoo group and have read coming straight from her what she believes and what she writes about in her series’. However, the upper level science books (the general science book sited in the article included) are written by Jay Wile. My children are still young so I have a while to worry about this but I read a few things about him via the internet awhile back that red flagged him for me. I will have to do more research when the time comes. That being said, each family has to pray and make the best decision for them. I love and have no problem with Jeannie’s books that are published by Apologia. We have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak. However, when the time comes for high school levels, I will likely switch to a different curriculum. Researching writers and publishers for the curriculum we use to teach our kids is something I have always done and will continue to do. However, what we decide as a family is good for us but may not work for others.

I would agree with the blog poster that we should teach our children what the Bible says and how to be discerning in what they read, hear, and see. All of the books, excepting the Bible, that we use for school and enjoyment are written by sinful, fallible man. 

Classification is used by scientists to group like organisms together. These groupings show common features, but don’t make a statement as to who we are as persons. Remember that if your child is going on to college, even a Christian college, he will most likely need to take a science course no matter what his degree will be in. He will need to have a good understanding of classification according to the world of science.

Dr. Jay Wile, author of Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Biology, addresses this issue directly:

Although you might object to being classified with monkeys, apes, and the like, you actually have several characteristics in common with these mammals. All primates have good depth perception. In addition, the size of a primate’s brain is large compared to its body size. Most primates are omnivorous, although the vast majority of primates concentrate on eating vegetation and only occasionally meat. All primates have nails on their fingers and toes, and all but one type (spider monkeys) have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. Most have opposable thumbs. Primates have long gestation periods for aniimals of their size, and they are highly social.

Now, even though we have many characterisitics in common with apes and monkeys, there is no reason to think that we are related to them. That is the mistake that evolutionists make. They see similarities between animals and immediately think that these similarities come from common genes in a common ancestor. As we learned in Module #9, however, all genetic information that we have been able to acquire indicates that this simply isn’t the case. The similarities among animals are the result of a common Designer, not a common ancestor.

Some people not only object to the fact that humans are classified in order Primates, but they also object that we are in kingdom Animalia. Instead, these people want a sixth kingdom solely for human beings. However, this just does not make sense. Humans share all of the characteristics of mammals. Why, then, would you not put them in Mammalia in the kingdom Animalia? Some would say that this implies that human beings are “animals” and that this demeans the status of human beings, who are made in the image of God. However, that’s only true if you are referring to the common usage of the term “animal.” The fact is, scientific terminology is much more precise than common terminology, and when a scientist says “animal,” it means something quite different from when a nonscientist uses the term. By putting human beings in kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, and order Primates, we are simply stating the obvious fact that human beings have features in common with other organisms classified the same way. This does not imply anything about how human beings were created. Human beings were created in the image of God, and that makes us unique. Of course, this is why we have our own genus species, Homo sapiens. (2nd edition, pp. 525-526)

Cyndi, have you READ the Apologia texts?  I have, and there certainly seems like plenty of good basic Creation viewpoint.  The point of the entire course is to enable students, including the college-bound, to understand BOTH the normal and the Biblical view so that they can with confidence discuss these issues in college and in life.  There is not a ton of scripture in the actual science chapters it’s true, but I think the clear expectation is that a high school student will already KNOW what the scripture says.  What they need now is the scientific information.  That’s what the books have.  They need to understand the details and how the actual scientific evidence points to the truth and not to the world’s ideas.  If the kids don’t know the scripture by then I would certainly expect that you ought to teach that.  Do you have any idea what the size of the books is?  They are huge.  They  need that college-prep material in them. I have a Bible.  I can point out Bible verses without it being in the text of the science book.  My son who is here says they talk about the Flood and other events, as if the student already knew about them.  They aren’t  Biblical primers, they are college-prep science texts.  I know that what we did before we began the Apologia high school level books included the basics, we’ve been over them many  many times, from the Bible, from other sources intended for children from publishers such as AIG.  What I want for high school is the high school level science info, not another Bible course.  The courses aren’t so much LACKING in Biblical truth as they are already ASSUMING it.  If you’ve never taught a single word about creation to your kids, I do think it possible that Apologia science books alone would not be enough; but my assumption is that most of us are not going to be INTRODUCING creationism in the ninth grade. 

Dr. Jay Wile had to “approve” Jeannie’s books; so they were approve of by him, which also reveals to you much of his view point.

BTW, he has separated from publishing or involving himself with the company he sold Apologia to due their different doctrine/theology vision and direction for the company.

I do believe he (Wile) is about equipping young adults with the information to successfully manuever through the science world. I think Michelle put it beautifully and accurately. Dr. Wile doesn’t want young adults to be ignorant of the secular/evolutionist views that surround them, but to be able to think through all sides, engage others and stand firm on Biblical ground. By HS, children should be able to enter into to that world while stilll livng in the security of home instead of waiting until college to enter that world and being thrown off kilter as another statistic (even Christian colleges aren’t safe from secularism spewing from the professors ).

Rachel

Cyndi, I have to agree with Bookworm and some of the others – the Apologia texts even though we have only used a couple of them are outstanding if your teen is hoping to go on to college. I always found Jay Wile to be fair in explaining both points of view, and that is one reason I liked the books. My girls know the Creation Biblical points, they don’t need that in a textbook – they need to know the science that will be expected in further education should they go. I have always believed that it is very hard to defend faith when you don’t know the other side of the argument, so we taught evoloution secondary to our Biblical views and then we could teach the girls how to discern the truth. To be honest the books are so thorough, and big, that if every point was also given space to explain the Biblical viewpoint, not only would it take forever to complete, but it would detract from the science within the pages. If the book is not to someone’s liking that is fair enough, but I certainly would not say it is a book that ignores the Bible and Creation – I think it does a fine job in the context of what the book is supposed to be about. In the high school years, teens should know the Biblical truths and if they don’t they should be taught pronto, but I would teach that as a Biblical course. I think I will beg to differ with the lady who found the book problematic, as I do not think Jay Wile has done anything wrong – but that is ok – we all need to discern what is right for our families, and you have brought something to the forum and put forth a differing opinion which is great – so don’t apologise – that is what we are about, learning about things from each other and choosing in the end what is good for our own situations. Bless you – Linda:)))

The Apologia Science books by Fulbright are excellent. We have used Rod and Staff Textbooks and find them to be economical and Scripture enriched. Bob Jones (BJU) science textbooks in the upper grades are rigorous and very Biblical. We have their Life, Earth, and Biology texts. They take more prep work and supplies than Apologia, but we like them here. I also recommend Signs and Seasons by Jay Ryan for astronomy. This book discusses the origins of the calendar and seasonal patterns in the night sky…from a Christian worldview.

Janell