So had a fun and totally cliched experience today. One of my students, let's call him Joe Ostrich, came in with a note from his mother. Seems that now that we have spent the past two and a half weeks covering the HIV /AIDS history / epidemic / crisis and comparing it to other infectious diseases, AND we have covered the specific case of malaria in particular AND we have discussed international relief efforts, NOW Joe Ostrich is declaring his religious conflict with the subject matter. I am sure this completely co-(infix-effing)-incidentally occurs on the same day as a quiz on infectious diseases and their causes. Wild. Seems that Joe is a Christian Scientist - his note says as much - and his mom understands that we have been covering AIDS / disease in class. It is against his beliefs to study the causes of diseases, as well as their treatments.
Ah, ignorance, a surefire defense against any of life's harsh conditions. That's sweet. Only it's not entirely correct. Seems Christian Scientists have a long history of obeying secular medical conventions (i.e., they have historically not argued with immunizing their children in order to meet state requirements) . AND there is nothing in the tenets of Christian Science that strictly forbids even use of modern medicine - true, they often feel that the material path interferes with the spiritual and often opt for spiritual healing over the material, but it is entirely common for CS's to practice material medicine when the need becomes evident. Say what you will about the level of stick-to-it-ive-ness that this implies, but that is not what I am trying to emphasize - the fact is that use of material medicine is indeed justified within the tradition.
All of which dodges the point that no one is forcing Joe to treat himself with modern medicine, nor are we really even talking that much about modern medicine at all - this is really just a discussion of different aspects and characteristics of various infectious diseases, who they affect and how they affect them. You can argue that this defines diseases as a physical entity and not a manifest spiritual one, as is mandated by the CS belief system, and therefore "goes against beliefs." But is studying this information something that goes against beliefs? Is this information, how can I put this, so compelling that your 18 year old son can't stick to his guns and maintain his worldview? He needs a note from mom? Really? I find this entire attitude of not wanting to study the mechanical causes of diseases preposterous. It's one thing to say that you choose to believe a different explanation and act accordingly, but it's another to choose to remain ignorant of the model that the entire rest of the modern world happens to be using. How can you ever engage in any kind of realistic debate if you don't understand what an antibody is?
I admittedly find the belief system reckless and stupid (and endangering to others - if the student is so adamant about not practicing Western medicine, he very well may not be vaccinated, in which case he's posing a threat to me just by being in my vicinity) (and yes, I know that so long as I am vaccinated I *should* be okay, but the fact is that he is that much more likely to be carrying miscellaneous diseases because of his aberrant immunization status; I am being exposed to whatever the hell he has unnecessarily). But it is not the belief system that I am finding fault with here - I find fault with its application (ignorance as a worldview) in this instance and I find the timing dubious beyond belief. The idea that he did anticipate that a course entitled Science and Social Issues might, just might contain some information about disease processes is absurd. The fact that he waited for a quiz before introducing his weakly held and protection-needing faith is mighty convenient. So, in the future Joe Ostrich - fine, remain ignorant, but please be ignorant somewhere other than my classroom. Thanks for wasting my time AND making it so I have to write extra curriculum on account of your afraid-to-be-enlightened head.
(In other news, I have a student who has missed 23 classes whose parents would like me to arrange a meeting to discuss his options to make up for his absences. Options? How about time travel and attend the classes instead of skipping at every minor sniffle?!?!?!)
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