I was born and raised in Calgary, spent a great 16 years there. I still have a soft spot for the province and defend it from people’s belief that it is filled with right wing conservatives. I always felt the province had a special sort of “conservative” view that was for smaller government and business, but pretty much middle of the road on everything else. Above all I always thought people in the province looked out for each other. I started having some doubts about this view when the tar sands projects were allowed to run rampant with a lack of concern about the future of these areas and the people living downstream.
Well my doubts have been sadly bolstered this week with the announcement of a new bill with a section allowing parents to remove their kids from classes when certain topics are discussed. I can understand that some parents may want to take care of sex education at home. I however can’t fathom why the law of evolution would be a possible topic to miss. Sure I understand that some people’s religious beliefs don’t jive well with parts of evolution but the science of evolution is a fact. What about gravity or geology, I can only imagine the young earth people lining up to remove kids for these topics as well.
Our government and education are supposed to be secular. Science classes should be taught on the basis of scientific knowledge and not pandering to religious groups. If they are really this insecure with their beliefs then I suggest home schooling. This way the kids can blame the parents when they are older and ask them why they missed out on the fundamentals of their education, while they try to find a career in which this knowledge doesn’t matter.
For a province rich in field of natural science, think the Royal Tyrrell Museum, it seems strange to still be having these debates.
I hope the people of Alberta tell the government to get back on track.
