Senseless in Seattle

Well, technically, not Seattle, but the exurbian outpost of Federal Way, Wash., where the "School Board on Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film." The film in question is Laurie David's An Inconvenient Truth, with which I am sure we're all familiar. First, I have to declare a conflict of interest, being a member of Al Gore climate change troops. But really, what does this story say about how the Federal Way school board thinks of its students if those students can't be trusted to watch a movie about the science and social implications of climate change?

Apparently, the board members don't think much of their student's abilities to apply critical thinking in the classroom:

"Somebody could say you're killing free speech, and my retort to them would be we're encouraging free speech," said [board member David] Larson, a lawyer. "The beauty of our society is we allow debate."

Larson and the rest of the board were egged on by a creationist (a creationist?) whose arguments are beyond reason, and aren't really relevant here. PZ serves him his just desserts over at Pharyngula. But our outrage should be directly primarily at the school board.

I intend to take Al Gore's climate change slide show to local high schools as soon as I can (anyone want to donate a powerful laptop to replace my rapidly aging Dell Inspiron?), and see no problem with exposing children to an argument that doesn't pretend to present "both sides" of a scientific question on which 99.5 per cent of the researchers have reached agreement on the fundmantal issues involved. I trust high school students to know that they should always remain a little skeptical, ask questions and seek confirmation elsewhere. And I trust their teachers to provide appropriate direction to ensure they follow through on that intellectual process.

Call me crazy, but I have hope that students can actually think, and aren't blank slates vulnerable to corruption by any and all varieties of rhetoric. It's why I have no objection to the teaching of ancient Judeo-Christian myths of the Bible -- the ones that contradict everything science tells us about the origin of life and universe -- in the appropriate forum of religion and mythology classes.

If we as parents, and our schools and the teachers we hire to run them are not adequately preparing our students to tell the difference between propaganda and the genunine article, then slapping moratoria on documentaries isn't going to solve the problem. All that will do is keep them in the dark, breeding ignorance and suspicion.

Let's all let the Federal Way School Board what we think. It's email address schoolboard@fwps.org.