In British schools all students have to follow the national curriculum, that is an outlay of certain topics in varying subjects that are considered essential to the development of knowledge in young minds. Now, not all the educationary bods in our society can always agree on what should be encompassed in this curriculum, and this has lead to some bizarre points of dispute in the past.

None is more contested than that of the issue of creationism. Charles Darwin has been both the bane and saviour of scientific and religious lives in the recent history of our world. Much like (and I’m making an abstract comparison here) Salman Rushdie, he has been both vilified, glorified and completely ignored, but to withdraw the theory of evolution and natural selection from the mandatory lessons in school, is surely a step backward to the dark days of humanity.

Now discussion of this issue has been directly addressed by Parliament and can be seen on the British Humanist website: http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentPrintArticle.asp?article=1385 There they discuss the relative merits of the curriculum: “The school curriculum as a whole should promote the “spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils””. If this is so, shouldn’t students have the right to decide for themselves whether they accept the theories of Darwinism?

The primary purpose of the British schooling system should be to foster such questioning principles in students. Students should be welcomed to challenge the theories and the facts they learn on the curriculum. In a world where facts and theories are constantly refuted, there should be careful emphasis on whether all that students learn should be solidly set in stone.