[extropy-chat] unevolved Italians

[Alfio Puglisi]

This news is a bit old (as you can see on the article, dated april 28).
Thanks to the massive backslash, the no-evolution plan has been cancelled,
like almost everything proposed so far by Moratti since she become
minister of education. She's the most idiotic education minister ever
seen, and is widely disliked in ALL italian schools.

Alfio

On Sun, 5 Sep 2004, Damien Broderick wrote:

>
>http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040428/04
>
>Tens of thousands of Italians have expressed their disagreement with a plan
>by the minister of education, universities, and research, Letizia Moratti,
>to ban the teaching of evolutionary theory to young teenagers.
>
>Fearing the measure will pave the way for creationist teaching, more than
>40,000 citizens-and the number is still increasing-have subscribed a
>petition launched last week by some of the country's top scientists through
>the daily La Repubblica.
>
>The document, signed by Nobel laureates Rita Levi Montalcini and Renato
>Dulbecco, together with scientists including Luca Cavalli Sforza, Bruno
>Dallapiccola, and Alberto Piazza, urges Moratti to "review the secondary
>schools programs and to rectify an oversight which is detrimental to the
>scientific culture of future generations."
>
>"Ignoring the theory of evolution is a cultural limitation sacrificing the
>scientific curiosity of youth. It's unquestionably fair to point out that
>Darwinism and the theories that derived from it show gaps and unsolved
>problems, but the link between the past and the present of mankind shouldn't
>be completely ignored," write the scientists.
>
>The Italian school system, which Moratti aims to reform shortly, is divided
>into three levels: primary school ("scuola elementare"), which lasts 5
>years, from 6 to 11 years of age, secondary school ("scuola media"), which
>lasts 3 years, and high school ("scuola superiore"), which lasts 5 years.
>
>Established by legislative decree on February 19, the new teaching programs
>for secondary schools make no mention of the history of human evolution, nor
>of the relationship between mankind and other species.
>
>As a result, boys and girls aged 12 to 14 will have no idea of subjects such
>as "Structure, Function, and Evolution of Living Organisms" and "The
>Biological and Cultural Evolution of Mankind," said the scientists who
>launched the petition.
>
>
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