I once considered teaching Accounting courses at Baylor University in Waco, TX; so I emailed the chairman of Baylor’s Accounting department. He replied to my inquiry by saying, “Baylor University requires each of its faculty members to submit a statement of his/her Christian-faith commitment. Please submit yours to me.” I did not respond to his request. Suppose I had been Albert Einstein. Einstein was a Jew—not a Christian. Moreover, Einstein did not believe in what I call “holy-book religion”. For example, he did not believe that morality requires a religious basis. Nor did he believe in the power of prayer (Einstein did not pray!). He made those points and others crystal clear. I regard as stupid a university policy that denies its students a chance to have a scientific genius teach its students about physics and/or the philosophy of science.
Would someone please explain to me the logic of Baylor University’s Christian-faith-commitment policy?
I once considered teaching Accounting courses at Houston Baptist University (HBU); so I emailed that school and expressed my interest in teaching there. Soon the school’s Associate Dean called me. Her first 2 questions to me were:
To follow are my thoughts about each of those 2 queries.
Re query 1: Instead of asking about my age, she should have asked this question: “Have you any written evidence that you can share with me re your ability to teach Accounting courses?” I would have answered “Yes.” At the end of each course taught at UCLA’s graduate school of management, the students are asked to complete a 2-part course evaluation form. Part 1 asks specific questions, and the student answers each question with a rating on a 7-point scale, with 1 the worst and 7 the best. Part 2 asks the students to express in writing his/her opinion of the course and the instructor. Those student evaluations go directly to the school’s administrators and eventually to the student body and to the person who taught the course. I saved all of my course evaluations, and I gladly would have shared them with anyone who was contemplating hiring me to teach Accounting courses at his/her school.
My feeling about the age issue is simple: It’s irrelevant! It doesn’t matter whether one is 25 or 85. What matters is one’s ability to teach Accounting courses effectively. In 2 months, I will be 82 years old. I have lost nothing intellectually. I can teach an Accounting course today as well as I could when I was at UCLA in 1976, and my ratings at UCLA were superb.
Re query 2: Helen Keller was born with all 5 of her senses, but at age 19 months, an illness stole her sight and hearing. When Helen was 6.75 years old, Anne Sullivan (age 20) became Helen Keller’s teacher. If ever there was an educational genius, it was Anne Sullivan. That’s not just my opinion; it’s the opinion of many others who were intimately familiar with Helen Keller, her education, and her accomplishments. At age 24, Helen graduated with honors from Radcliffe College, which then was Harvard University’s school for females. Now re query 2: Anne Sullivan was an atheist who let Helen form her own religious views. Thank goodness that Helen’s parents were more interested in Anne Sullivan’s teaching ability than they were in her religious views!
Conclusion: The HBU lady’s God query is another instance of religious stupidity, and her “age” question misses the point.