SciFi on the Curriculum

Published by

Clarissa

April 23, 2013

We all know I lack a sense of humor, so I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a joke:

A bill calling for science fiction to be made compulsory reading in schools has been proposed by a politician in West Virginia in order to “stimulate interest in the fields of math and science”. Ray Canterbury, a Republican delegate, is appealing to the West Virginia board of education to include science fiction novels on the middle school and high school curriculums.

If it isn’t a joke, then I have a question: who votes for these clowns?

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15 responses to “SciFi on the Curriculum”

Elizabeth

April 23, 2013

Wow, I am the biggest proponent of sci -fi and its benefits, but that’s just goofy. And by the way? Completely uninterested in math and science

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  April 23, 2013
  
  I think it’s great when kids read good Sf. However, what bothers me is that this might become an excuse for cutting science funding more and more and more. “Yes, we cut all the NSF grants but we now make kids read Asimov, so our science and research will experience a boom as a result.”
  
  Yes, I’m getting very paranoid.
  
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David Gendron

April 23, 2013

Answer: Other clowns…

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David Gendron

April 23, 2013

Maybe he should push for a creationism ban…

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1. David Gendron
  
  April 23, 2013
  
  Or Creationism is a Sci-fi concept.
  
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  1. thevenerablecorvex
    
    April 23, 2013
    
    “Intelligent Design” certainly is: hyper-advanced intelligences screwing around with genetic evolution over the course of billions of years? Cool idea for a novel, absolutely failed as a scientific hypothesis.
    
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David Bellamy

April 23, 2013

I think science fiction is an important part of literature. For some people, it does indeed promote an otherwise unrealized interest in mathematics and science. But I am skeptical about any legislative mandate for academic requirements. Teachers need to make such decisions, so long as there is no religious propaganda, not labeled as such, taught in public schools.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  April 23, 2013
  
  What nobody seems to be noticing is that a Republican is promoting this idea. I believe this is very important. Republicans want to cut funding to public education and to science / research. This is how they propose to repair the damage they are doing with the funding cuts: put a couple of Sf books on the curriculum and pretend that this will save the sciences in the US.
  
  Also note how the Republican dislike of state-mandated curricula evaporates in this instance. I believe we will see a lot more of such things as the funding cuts become more severe.
  
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  1. David Gendron
    
    April 23, 2013
    
    If they were real science supporters, they would not promote Creationism.
    
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David Bellamy

April 23, 2013

BTW, sci-fi refers to movies and other non-print media. Sf is the abbreviation for science fiction literature; while sf&f refers to science fiction and fantasy literature lumped together. (They are often grouped together because there are many works which could be classified either way, even though many sf proponents say they have nothing in common.)

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1. thevenerablecorvex
  
  April 23, 2013
  
  This is not a hard-and-fast rule; SF sometimes is just used to mean “Speculative Fiction,” which includes Science Fiction, Fantasy, (supernatural) Horror and sometimes even Magic Realism.
  
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Andrea Harris

April 23, 2013

They’re trying to get kids to stop reading/watching science fiction by making it another dull school assignment. That’s already worked with history and other literature.

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1. cliff arroyo
  
  April 23, 2013
  
  I’m always grateful when someone says something that should be obvious but which would never would have occurred to me…
  
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  1. Andrea Harris
    
    April 25, 2013
    
    I was being somewhat facetious but not entirely. There’s definitely been a push to get kids more into “practical” areas of study like math and science and to edge them gently away from “impractical” areas like literature, history, and so on. They make math and science more attractive by turning them into competitive activities (just like sports, which subject still dominates the American school system), and literature, history, and related subjects seem dull in comparison because they aren’t as easily turned into simplistic games where you put concept A into formula B and pull out a winning score. Also literature and history make Americans uncomfortable, because they confront us with having to learn things about our psychologies and our country’s past actions that aren’t conducive to the feel-good, can-do, We’re Number One! mentality.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      April 25, 2013
      
      “Also literature and history make Americans uncomfortable, because they confront us with having to learn things about our psychologies and our country’s past actions that aren’t conducive to the feel-good, can-do, We’re Number One! mentality.”
      
      – Yes. This is absolutely true. And also very sad.
      
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