Evolution and Recommendations

Evolution and Recommendations [Barry A. Palevitz] concludes that it is better not to burden society with graduates who, "despite their college education and our best efforts, will pass along personal biases instead of an accurate, objective reading of biology."1 To him, the theory of evolution is equal to "[the] germ theory of disease and the cell theory." Does it not occur to him that two people can look at the same "mountains of hard data" and apply valid but different patterns of logic

David Bump

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[Barry A. Palevitz] concludes that it is better not to burden society with graduates who, "despite their college education and our best efforts, will pass along personal biases instead of an accurate, objective reading of biology."¹ To him, the theory of evolution is equal to "[the] germ theory of disease and the cell theory."

Does it not occur to him that two people can look at the same "mountains of hard data" and apply valid but different patterns of logic to arrive at different conclusions? In other words, isn't it just possible that he has his own "personal biases" that color the significance of the data?

David L. Bump
Flushing, Mich.
davidbump@juno.com

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Barry A. Palevitz beautifully summarized the issues associated with the Dini case pertaining to faculty having to provide students with letters of recommendation.1 Unless the university incorporates it into the job description, the university cannot force faculty ...

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