Students’ objection to curriculum should not cause job loss

August 1, 2023

The old-timers among us look around and are stunned, shocked, and in disbelief at some of what they see going on.

One of those things is the “cancel culture,” where people who don’t like or are offended by something or someone proceed to “cancel” it or them. That means having statues torn down or the name of a building changed, or ruining the life or career of a person.

Quite often, the subject of the “cancelation” is someone or something about which the cancelers only know enough to be upset about it or them. And quite often, the cancelers don’t know the whole story behind the subject.

Another one is the idea that if someone is born a male or a female, and they are uncomfortable with that, they can indulge in chemical and/or surgical processes and try to change their gender to the other one.

These ideas did not exist several decades ago, or if they did, they weren’t talked about very much.

Today, the meaning of the idea of “gender” is very broad and fluid among some folks. And there has become a sort of underground rule that these ideas must be accepted by everyone, regardless of what people know or believe.

A recent news item tells the story of a biology professor, Dr. Johnson Varkey. He has been an adjunct professor of biology at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas for 19 years. And during that time, he has taught Human Anatomy and Physiology to some 1,500 students.

On November 28, 2022, four of Varkey's students walked out of his class when he stated that sex was determined by X and Y chromosomes, just as he always had during his years teaching at the college. Shortly thereafter, he was fired.

However, the school allegedly fired him for teaching his students “that sex was determined by X and Y chromosomes and that reproduction must occur between a male and a female to continue the human species,” according to a report by Fox News Digital. “Despite the fact that Varkey taught from the school-approved and science-based curriculum, St. Philip's College claims his teaching was religious.”

In response to his being fired, Varkey wrote in a communiqué to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in which he said, "I also explained that when a sperm (which has 23 chromosomes) joins with an egg (which also has 23 chromosomes), a zygote (which has 46 chromosomes) is formed, and it begins to divide, and after 38 weeks a baby is born. Because no information is added or deleted in those 38 weeks, life starts when the zygote begins to divide, not when the baby is born."

The Fox report noted that “in his notice of termination letter, St. Philip’s College said the complaint against him contained several reports of ‘religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter.’ The college claims he violated ‘the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity,’ but provided no explanation or reasoning for its accusation.”

"It saddens me that we have come to the place where, in an institution of higher learning, the feelings and opinions of the students are allowed to usurp the facts of science," Varkey told Fox. 

Is there a sensible explanation for why, after 19 years of teaching the same biology course based upon a long-approved curriculum, the college suddenly accepts the allegation of four students that Varkey’s presentation of the course material is religious, discriminatory against some students, anti-abortion and misogynistic? 

In opposing his firing, Varkey’s First Liberty Institute (FLI) attorneys have argued that his classroom work is based upon his biological education and experience, and also his religious beliefs. They also state that "throughout his employment, he never discussed with any student his personal views — religious or otherwise — on human gender or sexuality."

Are college professors and others now expected to adjust the presentation of their subjects so that they don’t offend their students, even if that means abandoning long-held and scientifically sound principles?

“No college professor should be fired for teaching factual concepts that a handful of students don’t want to hear," Keisha Russel, Counsel for FLI and the lead attorney on Varkey’s case, told Fox News Digital. "When public universities silence their own professors from teaching true concepts to students, education has been turned on its head."

The Alamo Colleges District, of which St. Philip’s College is a part, told Fox News Digital it does not comment on personnel issues. 

Science is a process of investigation. At some point, a theory gains acceptance as a general truth, as no different evidence has been presented for a long time. But there is always a chance that something will come along. Therefore, “settled science” is not always settled.

However, the science of gender has not been challenged by new scientific evidence, and two genders reign as the general truth. Colleges and universities ought to be substantially more thoughtful about when they endorse ideas that are significantly different than what is considered the correct scientific position.

And certainly, this situation ought not to have cost a long-time professor his job.

Predictions from the past are coming true right before our eyes

In 1965, Paul Harvey delivered a commentary titled “If I Were the Devil” that predicted the future spiritual condition of the United States. In 2020, the Washington Examiner ran a commentary by Gary Bauer titled “How to destroy America from within” that also predicted the future of the country.

Both of them did a good job of describing the current disorder in the United States and its continued movement in that direction.

A recent TikTok video is going viral. In it an unidentified woman expresses her concerns about what is wrong with our country, and how it has changed from when she was younger.

Many may not agree with some things she says, or any of it. And it is certain to have been banned or earned a warning label on Twitter or Facebook for its “inappropriate” opinions. 

But the concept of free speech makes things like this important for distribution on social media platforms, despite its unpopularity with social media oligarchs. Having a broad array of ideas to consider is critical to our future.

“I never dreamed that I would have to face the prospect of not living in the United States of America,” she began. “At least not the one I’ve known all my life. I’ve never wished to live anywhere else. This is my home, and I was privileged to be born here. 

“But today I woke up and when I had my morning coffee I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what. Something evil has invaded our nation. Our lives are never going to be the same.”

She then began listing things that trouble her. The hostility of people, including family and friends, who now agree with opinions they never would have expressed as their own before.

The “insanity” of men pretending to be women and women pretending to be men, along with the requirement that everyone accept that.

Making 18 the legal voting age, but being 21 to buy alcohol. The idea that people who never went to college, or who managed to pay their acquired college loan debt, now having their tax dollars pay the huge debts of some college graduates who are not able, or don’t want to do it.

The crazy situation where people like doctors and engineers from other countries have to endure a long, arduous process to immigrate here. But literally anyone can walk or sneak across the southern border, and be welcomed with open arms, whether they be gang members, drug dealers, or infected with Covid, or other horrible diseases.

And yet, spending $5 billion dollars for border security is too expensive, but spending $1.5 trillion for free healthcare is good. And, as a few folks recently discovered, if you cheat to get your kid into college, you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country, you may go to college for free.

Suddenly, the rights of criminals are more important than those of law-abiding citizens. After being arrested for a crime, they must be released to commit more crimes. And if you complain about this, you are called a racist.

“People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female president,” she said. “We see other countries going socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us. Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.”

“Nothing makes sense anymore. No values, no morals, and no civility, “she said, as she began her conclusion. “We’re clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong, and wrong is right. Where moral is immoral, and immoral is moral. Where good is evil and evil is good. Where killing murderers is evil, but killing unborn babies is A-OK.

“Wake up, America. The great unsinkable ship, Titanic America, has hit an iceberg, is taking on water, and is sinking fast. Speak up.”

So much of what our Founders created and enabled America to do so well for so long, is crumbling beneath our feet. Those who don’t know that, don’t understand how good they have it, or just dislike what America is, are working so hard to transform the country into one more failed socialist state.

Harvey said that the Devil’s plan was to attack and destroy religion in the country as the first step in taking the nation down. While we still have several religions, the results of the anti-religion movement can be seen in the moral decay of our culture. 

Weakening the education system, changing how and what children are taught, is the way Bauer’s column begins. And today, many teachers, schools and school systems have been caught red-handed doing just that.

Defunding the police and the military were mentioned, as well as a news media that is largely ideologically driven, rather than honorably doing its vital job of presenting all the news without political or ideological bias.

Younger generations have not been taught why maintaining the “old ways” is important, and now the great country we grew up in is in peril.