Now let us turn to Science. Science is about provable facts, observation, experimentation and the scientific method right? Yes and no. Yes, true science is about provable facts, observation, experimentation and what can be demonstrated through the scientific method. You follow the data wherever it leads you. Data can only be acquired via observation and measurement. To paraphrase Michael Crichton, a hypothesis that can’t be tested is meaningless. Makes sense right? No data means it is just another guess. A curriculum based on following the data using logical deduction and induction skills would make sense.
There was a good televised example of this on the Discovery Channel. On Sunday January 13, 2008, there was a 2 part show called JFK: Beyond the Magic Bullet. In that show, they recreated to the absolute finest detail they could the events of the bullet that supposedly made 7 wounds in JFK and the Governor on that fateful day. They were able to recreate 6 of the wounds with a single bullet but the bullet was far more disfigured than the ‘magic bullet.’ They took a written report to a forensic doctor with some information changed to remove potential bias. The doctor’s conclusion was the wounds were made with two bullets. He was amazed when he saw the actual event on videotape. The lesson to be taken is direct observation is always more accurate than opinion.
When it is taught that you have to follow the data but also believe in unsubstantiated, unverifiable hypotheses at the same time in the name of Science, you now have a paradox. Remember that test question in Part I? All of the Origins of Life stories can be construed as myths. But only in the science curriculum is one of the myths purported to be science even though it is the opposite of the core curriculum. Evolution is pushed in the public school curriculum with the requirement that you have to accept that an unobserved, unverifiable chain of hypothetical events with no data to substantiate it is on the same level as observable, verifiable events with data to back them up and call all of it ‘science’.
It doesn’t matter how good a story is in any subject. It is still just a story until there is verifiable evidence to back it up. We can never test the past as we are not there to observe the actual results as the Discovery Channel show demonstrated so well. (Just like the curriculum though, the same channel will do the exact same paradox and attempt to say the unobserved is just as good as the observed on a different show after they get done saying it isn’t.)
What about Math? Of all of the subjects, math is the most logical and straight forward. Either you select and calculate the proper equation correctly or you are wrong. When you teach paradoxes in the rest of the curriculum, math is undone. When you press the fuzzy math, kids will be lost. I’ll detail this in another entry.
In summary, you cannot expect children to become sound logical thinkers when they are taught to believe contradictions and paradoxes. Furthermore, the children are not fully aware the blame for the faulty curriculum rests on the Federal and State Departments of Education as well as the textbook authors and local Curriculum Directors.
Who gets the blame?
The teacher is viewed as the liar and their authority is undermined. When the paradox is exposed in a subject, the most common result is the child will lose interest in the field. In doing so, we are managing to cripple the entire country one child at a time.
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