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Dear Scientists:
The Hong Kong Education Bureau recently issued a new biology syllabus guideline containing the following statement concerning teaching evolution: "In addition to Darwin's theory, students are encouraged to explore other explanations for evolution and the origins of life, to help illustrate the dynamic nature of scientific knowledge".
So far, the Education Bureau refuses to review its guidance statement regarding teaching evolution. A letter of support dated May 5, 2009 and signed by 62 people (including principals of schools, teachers, professors, and scientists; among them is a known Intelligent Design advocate) has been submitted to Hong Kong Education Panel of Legislative Council, claiming that there is no problem with the wording in the current biology curriculum guidelines.
The arguments presented in the letter are mostly distortions and misunderstandings of evolution. The letter uses the List of Signers from the Scientific Dissent From Darwinism as evidence of scientific authority supporting "alternative explanations to Darwinian macro-evolution", saying that
"a growing list of over 750 highly qualified scientists, many from some of the world's most respected academic institutions, have signed a statement which says: "We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged". [http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org/index.php]
A petition is currently being organized by the Concern Group for Hong Kong Science Education [https://sites.google.com/site/hkscienceeducation/petition-statement], asking the Education Bureau to clarify the problematic statement in
the upcoming Biology Curriculum for Hong Kong secondary schools.
The website http://www.gopetition.com/online/28149.html has more background details. The site contains both Chinese and English versions of the
petition. [Sign the Petition] box is located at the bottom of the English version.
Your signature support is very important for promoting evolution education in Hong Kong and preventing creationists from taking over Hong
Kong secondary schools.
Please help me forward this email to your fellow scientists for their attention.
The petition signing is open until 6/30/2009.
Dr. Mei Sun
Associate Professor
School of Biological Sciences?University of Hong Kong
E-mail: meisun@hku.hk, meihk@yahoo.com
Web site: http://www.hku.hk/biosch/staff/ms/index.htm
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