#religious stupidity

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Dyani Lewis

Published: May 31, 2023

In India, children under 16 returning to school this month at the start of the school year will no longer be taught about evolution, the periodic table of elements or sources of energy.

The news that evolution would be cut from the curriculum for students aged 15–16 was widely reported last month, when thousands of people signed a petition in protest. But official guidance has revealed that a chapter on the periodic table will be cut, too, along with other foundational topics such as sources of energy and environmental sustainability. Younger learners will no longer be taught certain pollution- and climate-related topics, and there are cuts to biology, chemistry, geography, mathematics and physics subjects for older school students.

Overall, the changes affect some 134 million 11–18-year-olds in India’s schools. The extent of what has changed became clearer last month when the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) — the public body that develops the Indian school curriculum and textbooks — released textbooks for the new academic year that started in May.

Researchers, including those who study science education, are shocked. “Anybody who’s trying to teach biology without dealing with evolution is not teaching biology as we currently understand it,” says Jonathan Osborne, a science-education researcher at Stanford University in California. “It’s that fundamental to biology.” The periodic table explains how life’s building blocks combine to generate substances with vastly different properties, he adds, and “is one of the great intellectual achievements of chemists”.

Mythili Ramchand, a science-teacher trainer at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India, says that “everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed. “I don’t see how conservation of water, and air [pollution], is not relevant for us. It’s all the more so currently,” she adds. A chapter on different sources of energy — from fossil fuels to renewables — has also been removed. “That’s a bit strange, quite honestly, given the relevance in today’s world,” says Osborne.

More than 4,500 scientists, teachers and science communicators have signed an appeal organized by Breakthrough Science Society, a campaign group based in Kolkata, India, to reinstate the axed content on evolution.

NCERT has not responded to the appeal. And although it relied on expert committees to oversee the changes, it has not yet engaged with parents and teachers to explain its rationale for making them. NCERT also did not reply to Nature’s request for comment.

Chapters closed

A chapter on the periodic table of elements has been removed from the syllabus for class-10 students, who are typically 15–16 years old. Whole chapters on sources of energy and the sustainable management of natural resources have also been removed.

A small section on Michael Faraday’s contributions to the understanding of electricity and magnetism in the nineteenth century has also been stripped from the class-10 syllabus. In non-science content, chapters on democracy and diversity; political parties; and challenges to democracy have been scrapped. And a chapter on the industrial revolution has been removed for older students.

In explaining its changes, NCERT states on its website that it considered whether content overlapped with similar content covered elsewhere, the difficulty of the content, and whether the content was irrelevant. It also aims to provide opportunities for experiential learning and creativity.

NCERT announced the cuts last year, saying that they would ease pressures on students studying online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amitabh Joshi, an evolutionary biologist at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru, India, says that science teachers and researchers expected that the content would be reinstated once students returned to classrooms. Instead, the NCERT shocked everyone by printing textbooks for the new academic year with a statement that the changes will remain for the next two academic years, in line with India’s revised education policy approved by government in July 2020.

“The idea [behind the new policy] is that you make students ask questions,” says Anindita Bhadra, an evolutionary biologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata. But she says that removing fundamental concepts is likely to stifle curiosity, rather than encourage it. “The way this is being done, by saying ‘drop content and teach less’”, she says, “that’s not the way you do it”.

Evolution axed

Science educators are particularly concerned about the removal of evolution. A chapter on diversity in living organisms and one called ‘Why do we fall ill’ has been removed from the syllabus for class-9 students, who are typically 14–15 years old. Darwin’s contributions to evolution, how fossils form and human evolution have all been removed from the chapter on heredity and evolution for class-10 pupils. That chapter is now called just ‘Heredity’. Evolution, says Joshi, is essential to understanding human diversity and “our place in the world”.

In India, class 10 is the last year in which science is taught to every student. Only students who elect to study biology in the final two years of education (before university) will learn about the topic.

Joshi says that the curriculum revision process has lacked transparency. But in the case of evolution, “more religious groups in India are beginning to take anti-evolution stances”, he says. Some members of the public also think that evolution lacks relevance outside academic institutions.

Aditya Mukherjee, a historian at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli, says that changes to the curriculum are being driven by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a mass-membership volunteer organization that has close ties to India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party. The RSS feels that Hinduism is under threat from India’s other religions and cultures.

“There is a movement away from rational thinking, against the enlightenment and Western ideas” in India, adds Sucheta Mahajan, a historian at Jawaharlal Nehru University who collaborates with Mukherjee on studies of RSS influence on school texts. Evolution conflicts with creation stories, adds Mukherjee. History is the main target, but “science is one of the victims”, she adds.

==

Well, at least it'll put them on par with the anti-science and biology-denial of US classrooms. China no longer has anything to worry about.

#India #hinduism #islam #science denial #evolution #evolution denial #science #anti science #biology denial #math #mathematics #physics #religion #religion is ignorance #religious stupidity #periodic table #periodic table of elements #religion is a mental illness

[digital-nihilism]

Hallelujah!

#jesus #god #religious stupidity #atheism #religion #nihilism

[ex-muslim-dude]

allah’s logic: it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand arabic, you must worship me in arabic language only. in any other language your worship becomes invalid and i’ll burn you in hell.

#Islam #Isam’s logic #allah’s logic #religious stupidity #ex muslim

[jsheios]

learning more about inkling culture

#this is so stupid but I think it’s hilarious #splatoon #agent 4 splatoon #agent 8 splatoon #i don’t headcanon four as religious but i think it’s funny if they were #my art #also my file corrupted so I had to fix some messed up parts on my phones photo editing

[crazycatsiren]

"I don't have a religion therefore you can't either" isn't any less colonialist than "my religion is valid and yours is not", by the way, people.

#witches of color #people of color #religious people of color #religions #antitheists dni #antitheists are fucking stupid #colonialism #fundamentalism

[nando161mando]

#atheist #atheism #science #proscience #religion #dogma #bible nonsense #religious #religious trauma #religious art #religious imagery #religión #ex religious #tw religious themes #religion is a mental illness #religion is bullshit #religion is toxic #anti religion #religion is a scam #religion is stupid #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov #taspol #australia #fuck neoliberals #neoliberal capitalism #anthony albanese #albanese government

[nonascoldcoffee]

early stage solaneglo,,,will calling nico “tesoro” and nico thinks its cute/cheesy will’s picking up italian for him. but one day will calls him “mi amor” and is so confused on why nico keeps correcting him. they go back and forth “AMOR” “AMORE” until it finally clicks and its just,,,

“OH you’ve been speaking Italian?”

“What else would I be speaking?”

“Spanish.”

“Wait. You know spanish?”

“Well, no, not really- you just need to know some to order good carne asada tacos in texas”

“Asa- what?”

“YOU’VE NEVER HAD CARNE ASADA TACOS?”

#this is stupid ik just listen #listen #i think about texan will solace religiously #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

I disagree. I think that every bible story should be depicted in art. Not being confronted with the visual reality of their idiot stories is a luxury believers should no longer be afforded.

If all editions of the bible were fully illustrated, Xianity would rapidly collapse.

#christianity #circumcision #The Circumcision of Abraham #Abraham #bible #bible study #religion #religious stupidity #stupid bible #Abrahamism #fiction #terrible fiction #religion is a mental illness

[digital-nihilism]

Accurate AF

#bible nonsense #religious stupidity #god #religion #atheism #nihilism

[wolfythewitch]

#wolfy religious tedtalks #this is so stupid im sorry #im doing homework and i want out

[onyx-got-clowned]

neurotypicals are weird, like wdym i can’t sit on the floor??? Because it’s ’disrespectful’ or ‘distracting’ ??? How??? Literally so confused wtf. It’s the church floor, i am sitting next to the chair with my attention on you, it’s NOT that deep 😭 Mormons are literally sooooo annoying oh my godddd

#“You need to sit in a chair we are starting the lesson” #Bro. How does that change anything #I can literally ignore you if i wanted to #Sitting on a chair is no different than sitting on the floor #Yall just soft #and force stupid ass social standards on me #Onyx rants⭐️ #Autistic #actually autistic #actually autism #Autism #neurodivergent #audhd #Exmo #exmormon #ex religious

[incelq]

I hope you can forgive me, my darling brother

#yeah i’m back #elquackity qalex twins make me crazyyyyy crazy stupid #btw loving all the elquackity religious art OH BROTHER #purgatory did things for annoying gay people like me #alex #doodles #elquackity #qsmp #quackity #elquackity fanart #quackity fanart #qsmp fanart #qsmp purgatory #when the religious twins pull up to the function and pull some shit like this oh hell nah 💀

[apostate-in-an-alcove]

Religious conditioning is such a trip because even now I still get thoughts that my life is hard right now and I'm struggling because I left the Church, denounced the faith and therefore left the protection of God. Then I just spiral down this train of thought for what feels like hours until the rational part of my brain suddenly steps in with the reminder: "I don't believe in God" and then I snap out of it.

#its so stupid like why #ex catholic #ex christian #deconversion #religious trauma #apostate #no fr its like my OWN brain causes itself all this stress and then abruptly stops

[pizzpizzapizzo]

world pillar

#pizza tower #peppino spaghetti #john pillar #presumably? #sorry this looks like crap i don't often try painterly style #btw if you are reading the tags: hello #also #would you be interested in hearing my stupid unnecessary PT worldbuilding theories? #just a warning they veer into pseudo religious themes more often than not #uhhhh #would you like to read the words “pizza antichrist” with full context

[nando161mando]

#god #religion #atheist #dogma #suffering #earth #humans #animals #ecology #religious #religious trauma #religious art #religious imagery #ex religious #religion is a mental illness #religion is bullshit #religion is toxic #religions #religion is a scam #religion is stupid #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov #taspol #australia #fuck neoliberals #neoliberal capitalism #anthony albanese #albanese government