It’s That Pesky Thing Called Science

Here we go again.

In a Massachusetts school, Fifth grade students of a science class were shown slides of human organs, such a spleen, a kidney, and somesuch things. The guest speaker was a pathologist assistant, so the kiddies were given an excellent opportunity to ask questions and learn stuff from a real person of science.

So far, so good.

Problems arose, however, when the fifth-graders were shown images of human embryos, and zygotes – fertilized female eggs that develop into embryos.

Despite the kids themselves liking the class, something we’d all like to see them proclaim more often, parents have been angered by their children “being exposed” to pictures of embryos.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what the objection is.

Is it the fear that these kids might, upon seeing pictures of embryos, ask their parents questions about how those embryos came to be?

Or is it the mental link that a lot of people seem to have between embryos and abortions?

Perhaps it’s the fact that the embryos, although devoid of any distinguishable sex organs, are not wearing any pants?

You can’t teach them about evolution, because it’s not supported by the Bible. You can’t teach them about God, because you can’t bring religion into school. You can’t teach them about sex, although 99.9% of them are going to start having it soon, because it makes the parents uncomfortable. Lastly, you can’t teach them about science, because it might make kids think about evolution, it might make them think about God, and it might also have a little something, somehow, to do with procreation.

It’s becoming clear to me that the real challenge of education isn’t getting kids to absorb knowledge; it’s getting past the barricades of ignorant adults.

Tagged as: education, Society, Stupidity