Copy of a letter sent to my son's science teacher, this morning...
I was unimpressed to hear that you presented the film “An Inconvenient Truth” to my son’s class yesterday but failed to provide any opportunity for discussion or analysis of the claims made in the film. Perhaps if you had done so, the children may have been made aware of the fact that much of the film's scientific evidence has been widely discredited by actual scientists, that the scientific consensus on the gross generalizations represented in the film is far from settled, and that some of the scientific evidence presented in the film was simply falsified. The presentation of a contradicting argument would have been an appropriate way of balancing out the lesson n a more appropriate and effective way.
A scientific theory should be presented to students with both sides of the argument, and they should be allowed the opportunity to discuss the contradictions and come to their own conclusions. That is the process by which to teach them valuable critical thinking skills. And that is the task you have been charged with. Simply presenting them with a widely discredited account of questionable facts and verifiable inaccuracies is not the process by which they will learn those skills. It is a process more suited to the indoctrination of children in the new political/religious movement of environmentalism and thus, has no place in science class.
Please understand that I am not concerned that he saw the movie. I am concerned by the fact that you showed it, without making any attempt to make the presentation balanced. There is a widely available presentation of counter argument, specifically tailored to pointing out the inaccuracies and over inflations made by Al Gore. Why not show it as well? Why not initiate a discussion of the IPCC report on climate change, which Al Gore uses to bolster his argument, but which has also been denounced by a growing list of reputable scientists and climatologists who are listed as having authored that same report? Or perhaps even a discussion surrounding the drastic recession of the polar ice caps on Mars and the largely accepted view that it’s cause is not related to human generated carbon emissions, but by increased solar activity, and the possibility that it bears some responsibility for our predicament here...
Science is a study whose primary purpose revolves around the search for quantifiable facts. It is alarming to see children being encouraged to discard that ethic and take drastic restrictive measures to dramatically alter their daily life based on a theory which has yet to be proven and which still engages even the most knowledgeable experts in rigorous debate.
The responsibility for making the lesson valuable and accurate lies with you, and the presentation of political theory masked as environmental documentary represents a gross failure on your part, in what should be your primary function. I have confirmed with the board that their guidelines regarding this particular aspect of the curriculum are remarkably lax. In that spirit, I would encourage you to make an effort in future, to better tailor your lesson around the goal of educating the children. And I would hope that future lessons would bear some passing familiarity with facts and honesty and the search for truth. If you would like me to provide the resources I have at hand, to further this goal, I would be pleased to do so. All indications from the board and your principal are that the standards for the material for this lesson are at your discretion.
This, after I spent 3 weeks in correspondence with various parties at school and board level, to discuss this very issue.
Our tax dollars at work, folks.
