It seems that the MP-nagging activities of your friendly neighbourhood science bloggers has caught the attention of Truth In Science, although I was a little puzzled that they directed their readers to this post rather than the one with the letter from my MP. The one that quite clearly states that the Truth In Science packs are “not a suitable resource for the science curriculum”.
Ah. That’s because they’re trying to spin the Department of Education’s response. A pinch of selective quoting (‘not an appropriate resource to support the science curriculum.’ becomes ‘not “appropriate…to support the science curriculum.”’), and off we go!
The national curriculum is a minimum standard. It exists to guarantee that every young person receives a basic education. Teachers are free to go teach more than the minimum requirements of the national curriculum. Even if intelligent design is “not included in the science curriculum,” this simply means that it is not compulsory in all schools. It does not constitute a ban.
So a statement that a certain teaching pack can’t be used as part of the science curriculum really means that it’s ok to use it - you just don’t have to. How kind.
But, thanks to this sterling bit of reasoning, today I learnt that my irony meter can go ‘whee’. It’s a whole new setting that I wasn’t even aware of.
2 comments:
Your lucky it didn't explode. Most of us dont actually bother switching our meters on, especially since the manufacturers started including disclaimers against using them on creationist material.
Well spotted. Keep writing to anyone you need to, to help combat them.
guthrie
yes mine wees regularly. good one -that TiS page has lots of weird stuff on . Did you visit the anti-bcse blog by the crazy lover of genesis?
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