A proposed bill here in Alberta will instruct teachers to warn parents in advance of teaching "controversial" subjects (to the religious right, anyway) such as sexuality and evolution. They would then be allowed to opt their children out of the class in question. Rather than going on a second rant I'm just going to post my letter to the Alberta Education Minister Dave Hancock, who wholeheartedly supports this tripe.
Dear sir,
Apples may float of their own accord someday, but this possibility does not bear mention in our children’s physics textbooks. That evolution is treated differently is a consequence of the intrusion of politics and religious interest into public education. This intrusion is an affront to the ideals of a free and multicultural society such as ours, and must be turned away from. I believe the abandonment of this ill-conceived bill will make a worthy first step.
Alan Byers
Dear sir,
This letter regards the recent bill that allows parents to opt their children out of classes teaching—amongst other things—the Theory of Evolution.
In writing this letter I run a great risk of echoing word-for-word those who would do the same, as I will be stating what can only be described as the obvious to those educated in the matter. Unfortunately, the obvious sometimes bears repeating: evolution is both a theory and a fact, making it as educationally valid as the Theory of Gravity or the composition of water as two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom.
“Facts,” to quote the eminent Harvard biologist, the late Stephen Jay Gould, “are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.” While Einsteinian and Newtonian Gravity have been debated, apples have not hung suspended in the air, and similarly our descent from apes remains no less factual while biologists debate the exactitudes of how this came to pass. Indeed, from the observed evolution of bacteria or fruit flies in the lab to the abundance of transitional fossils discovered to date, evolution is beautifully apparent to those who investigate the matter (I’m willing to bet the affronted parents have not!).
Apples may float of their own accord someday, but this possibility does not bear mention in our children’s physics textbooks. That evolution is treated differently is a consequence of the intrusion of politics and religious interest into public education. This intrusion is an affront to the ideals of a free and multicultural society such as ours, and must be turned away from. I believe the abandonment of this ill-conceived bill will make a worthy first step.
Alan Byers
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