Critical thinking or just critical?

Wow. On the heels of some twisted information by public figures about the funding of private schools (front page, Saturday, Feb. 25), comes Mr. Nightingale’s letter to the editor on March 2, suggesting that Christian schools are teaching that the Earth is flat!

Mr. Janz, chairman of the Edmonton Public School Board, apparently thinks that $5,300 is 70 per cent of $13,000. And Ms. Hrynyk, the president of the Public School Boards Association of Alberta, suggests that funds going to the private schools are being taken away from children in our public schools. Where does she think these private school students live? And does she not realize that the parents of children in private schools pay the same school taxes as the parents of children in public schools?

In response to Mr. Nightingale’s letter, where do I begin? You write, sir, that a critical thinker must include all the facts and not simply those that seemingly agree with a point of view or indeed, ignore those that would be critical of an observation. I agree. Both today’s creationists and evolutionists were not around at the inception of the Earth. The facts we have at our disposal today are the same. It is only the interpretation of these facts that is different.

There are two opposing views, Mr. Nightingale. Either God made everything out of nothing, or nothing organized itself into everything. And finally, since you seem to believe that there is no modern science being taught in a Christian school, it’s obvious that your assertions were not based on observation but on a biased opinion. That makes you not a critical thinker — just critical.

Theresa Teerling

Lethbridge