# Homeschooling biology FAILURE **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352 "2013-02-05T02:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/101 "2013-02-08T17:36:57Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > What pisses me off isn’t just that there are idiots out there who think this crap up, but there are even more idiots who listen to and believe them. Yet my idea for an UL that cell phone use during pregnancy causes autism gets no traction… ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/102 "2013-02-08T20:11:42Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Let’s just say that in many of the Bible colleges, you can also earn a degree, even a postgrad degree, without having to let any of that nasty, icky science knowledge contaminate your brain. I once worked with a mechanical engineer, home schooled, and _graduate of BYU_, who didn’t believe in planets. Jupiter, Mars, etc were all just common popular culture based on fiction and literature. Sci-fi novels, Star Trek, and the like. Stars were real, “you can see those”, but not planets. His wasn’t some sort of deliberate flat-earther denial either, he had literally never consumed anything factual while also understanding it as such. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/103 "2013-02-10T09:35:57Z")
> [@](#): > > I once worked with a mechanical engineer, home schooled, and _graduate of BYU_, who didn’t believe in planets. This makes me sad. I can believe it, mind you, but I am very sad about it. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/104 "2013-02-12T18:33:30Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Yet my idea for an UL that cell phone use during pregnancy causes autism gets no traction… [Wheel catches] Hey, I heard that too! I also happen to make a special case you can put your phone in to make it safe. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/105 "2013-02-13T00:54:49Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I once worked with a mechanical engineer, home schooled, and _graduate of BYU_, who didn’t believe in planets. [cheap Mormon joke] But without planets what will he have to rule over when he dies? I was going to convert so I’d get in on the planet prize, too. Or is that the Scientologists? [/cheap Mormon and Scientology joke] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/106 "2013-02-13T03:48:41Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I once worked with a mechanical engineer, home schooled, and _graduate of BYU_, who didn’t believe in planets. Jupiter, Mars, etc were all just common popular culture based on fiction and literature. Sci-fi novels, Star Trek, and the like. Stars were real, “you can see those”, but not planets. His wasn’t some sort of deliberate flat-earther denial either, he had literally never consumed anything factual while also understanding it as such. Those visible moving lights in the sky we call “planets” (distinguished from stars because we can see them move, which is where the word “planet” comes from – _astēr planētēs,_ “wandering star”) – what did he say they are? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/107 "2013-02-13T16:10:38Z")
Really slow aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/108 "2013-02-13T18:10:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Those visible moving lights in the sky we call “planets” (distinguished from stars because we can see them move, which is where the word “planet” comes from – _astēr planētēs,_ “wandering star”) – what did he say they are? My bet says he’d never watched the night sky consistently enough or long enough (if at all) to be able to detect planets changing position among the “fixed” stars. Of course, you can’t really see a planet moving noticeably over the course of a few minutes or even hours, so the only way to get a visual sense of its motion is to come back and look at it night after night, or more likely month after month. I imagine if you dragged this guy outside at night and showed him Mars or Jupiter, he’d just insist it was a star. How he would react if you made him look through binoculars or a telescope so he could see that the disk of a planet looks significantly different from a star, I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/109 "2013-02-13T18:48:24Z")
Heh. That’s pretty funny because in general that is the sort of person who’s going to inherit the USA, when the rest of you have stopped having children. The idiot. Not the tiny babies. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/110 "2013-02-13T19:44:11Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > My bet says he’d never watched the night sky consistently enough or long enough (if at all) to be able to detect planets changing position among the “fixed” stars. Yep. He knew about satellites and had no problem seeing them move across the sky. It isn’t that this guy was stupid, he had raw intelligence. He was just brought up spoon fed a dogmatic education and never had the impetus to question anything outside his little box. Example #2. This same guy thought that there was only one nuclear weapon on the planet, a doomsday bomb held by the USA, that was preventing another world war. I told him about the actual ‘nuclear club’ of countries, and the thousands of nukes in possession, and gave him a wikipedia link which, to his credit, he read enough to get gears in his head turning. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/111 "2013-02-13T22:13:44Z")
Did you point out the “random article” button on Wiki? Or were you taking it slowly? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/112 "2013-02-13T23:32:47Z")
I think I’ve told this story before. I had a friend who lived in Alaska for three and a half years while her husband was stationed in Fairbanks. When they moved on, to Texas, she went to the Texas DMV to get a Texas driver’s license. The clerk told her about all the tests she’d have to take, including a driving test, and she would have to provide all sorts of documentation on her ownership of the car, yadda yadda yadda. All she thought she’d have to to is provide proof of insurance, fill out a couple of forms, and so on. When she asked why she had so many hoops to jump through the clerk explained, “_We don’t take driver’s licences from foreign countries_.” She could not make the clerk believe Alaska was a US state. She got the supervisor, who also seemed suspicious of Alaska’s status as a state, but didn’t want any hassle, so let it go through with no more problems. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/113 "2013-02-13T23:38:00Z")
Well, Texas isn’t really a US state either. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/114 "2013-02-13T23:47:41Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > When she asked why she had so many hoops to jump through the clerk explained, “_We don’t take driver’s licences from foreign countries_.” She could not make the clerk believe Alaska was a US state. She got the supervisor, who also seemed suspicious of Alaska’s status as a state, but didn’t want any hassle, so let it go through with no more problems. Those people must’ve been confused when Sarah Palin rose to ascendency… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/115 "2013-02-14T00:34:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, Texas isn’t really a US state either. No, we are talking about _Texas_. It is the biggest state in the union, there is no “Alaska”, that place is just _el Dorado_, _Brigadoon_, _R’lyeh_ or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/116 "2013-02-14T04:37:13Z")
I’m a Texan, and yes, Texas really IS the biggest state in the union, because if Alaska had the heat of Texas, it would shrivel to the size of Rhode Island. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/117 "2013-02-14T04:41:18Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’m a Texan, and yes, Texas really IS the biggest state in the union, because if Alaska had the heat of Texas, it would shrivel to the size of Rhode Island. 😃 Except it’s really cold there. It’s already shriveled. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/118 "2013-02-14T04:42:23Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > How he would react if you made him look through binoculars or a telescope so he could see that the disk of a planet looks significantly different from a star, I’m not sure. “Satan made me see that.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/119 "2013-02-14T04:48:08Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Except it’s really cold there. It’s already shriveled. 😃 Water expands when it freezes. Body parts, on the other hand…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352/120 "2013-02-14T16:03:14Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > My bet says he’d never watched the night sky consistently enough or long enough (if at all) to be able to detect planets changing position among the “fixed” stars. Of course, you can’t really see a planet moving noticeably over the course of a few minutes or even hours, so the only way to get a visual sense of its motion is to come back and look at it night after night, or more likely month after month. > > I imagine if you dragged this guy outside at night and showed him Mars or Jupiter, he’d just insist it was a star. How he would react if you made him look through binoculars or a telescope so he could see that the disk of a planet looks significantly different from a star, I’m not sure. I’m actually wondering what the guy thinks he’s standing on. Is the Earth a star also? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeschooling-biology-failure/649352.md?page=5)