Science communicators may be interested in an open letter from a young
physics teacher called Wellington Grey to the DoE and AQA - 'A physics
teacher begs for his subject back'.
He says: "Over the past year the UK Department for Education and the AQA
board changed the subject. They took the physics out of physics and replaced
it with… something else, something nebulous and ill defined."
Looks like the 'science communication' tail is now well and truly wagging
the education dog:
<http://www.wellingtongrey.net/articles/archive/2007-06-07--open-letter-aqa.html>
How did this come about? There is the 'let's save our subject and make
it more fun' argument but isn't this merely symptomatic of a much deeper
long term cultural shift in the UK?
On a science communication course back in the early nineties, we had a
session with a sociologist who patiently explained that science was nothing
but smoke and mirrors. He spoke as you might to a child who should know
better but insists on believing in Father Christmas. A lot of us thought he
was deluded and should get out more.
It seems that he did and took all his mates along to the DoE and AQA where
they are now completing the cultural devaluation in the UK of scientific
understanding, rigour and practical ability. They just don't get science. To
hear some of them you'd think it was a form of child cruelty. This hits not
just the economy and our sense of reality but also the prospects and
self-esteem of those individuals with the desire and potential to do science
and not just talk about it.
Perhaps science communication will become a sort of Cargo Cult of people
swapping fragmented shards of deconstructed science that no-one understands.
My I'm feeling grumpy.
There is a petition for what it's worth:
<http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/physicsedu/>
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