stephanie
10-07-2007, 01:42 AM
:eek:We need to pass that here...:cheers2:
A high court judge in Great Britain plans to rule that schools in that country must issue a warning before showing Al Gore's controversial film, "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming.
School districts in the Lewis County area, while obviously not subject to a British court ruling, ought to take a cue from it if they are presenting the film as a fact without putting it in the proper context.
Earlier this year, Britain's education secretary at the time decreed that the film be distributed to all secondary schools (students age 11 and older) and it was sent out to 3,500 of them.
According to a story in The Daily Mail this week, Stewart Dimmock, a Dover truck driver with children age 11 and 14, strongly objected to showing of the movie by the schools. In a legal challenge, he contended the former vice president's film is unfit for the schools because of its political bias, serious scientific inaccuracies and what he called "sentimental mush."
At a three-day High Court hearing, Dimmock said, "I wish my children to have the best education possible, free from bias and political spin and Mr. Gore's film falls far short of the standard required."
Many in this country share the same opinion about the film, which has been showed to students in schools in the Lewis County area.
Dimmock asked the High Court to ban the film from being shown at the schools.
The High Court won't prohibit schools from showing it, but plans to issue a ruling next week in which it says Gore's film promotes "partisan political views." As a result, the court will require that teachers warn students before showing "An Inconvenient Truth" that there are other opinions on global warming and that they shouldn't necessarily accept the views presented in the film.
A ban would be unwarranted censorship, but at the very least schools in this country should present the movie in the context it is not all fact, includes some political opinion and that there are other, differing scientific opinions about global warming which, while they may represent a minority view, may be just as valid.
Schools have a responsibility when showing "An Inconvenient Truth" to expose students to some of the other views where scientific fact is not settled.
In fact, a strong case has been made that the film contains a number of inaccuracies, exaggerations and statements about global warming and speculation about its effects in the future that lack sufficient scientific evidence to support.
The debate about climate change is not over, as some contend.
The degree of global warming (if not whether it is occurring) and what is causing it - man-made greenhouse gas emissions, natural climate change or a combination of both - are still open to debate. Some very credible scientists have a different point of view than Gore and the scientists he relies on.
http://www.chronline.com/main.asp?SectionID=16&SubSectionID=101&ArticleID=41956&TM=44199.62
A high court judge in Great Britain plans to rule that schools in that country must issue a warning before showing Al Gore's controversial film, "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming.
School districts in the Lewis County area, while obviously not subject to a British court ruling, ought to take a cue from it if they are presenting the film as a fact without putting it in the proper context.
Earlier this year, Britain's education secretary at the time decreed that the film be distributed to all secondary schools (students age 11 and older) and it was sent out to 3,500 of them.
According to a story in The Daily Mail this week, Stewart Dimmock, a Dover truck driver with children age 11 and 14, strongly objected to showing of the movie by the schools. In a legal challenge, he contended the former vice president's film is unfit for the schools because of its political bias, serious scientific inaccuracies and what he called "sentimental mush."
At a three-day High Court hearing, Dimmock said, "I wish my children to have the best education possible, free from bias and political spin and Mr. Gore's film falls far short of the standard required."
Many in this country share the same opinion about the film, which has been showed to students in schools in the Lewis County area.
Dimmock asked the High Court to ban the film from being shown at the schools.
The High Court won't prohibit schools from showing it, but plans to issue a ruling next week in which it says Gore's film promotes "partisan political views." As a result, the court will require that teachers warn students before showing "An Inconvenient Truth" that there are other opinions on global warming and that they shouldn't necessarily accept the views presented in the film.
A ban would be unwarranted censorship, but at the very least schools in this country should present the movie in the context it is not all fact, includes some political opinion and that there are other, differing scientific opinions about global warming which, while they may represent a minority view, may be just as valid.
Schools have a responsibility when showing "An Inconvenient Truth" to expose students to some of the other views where scientific fact is not settled.
In fact, a strong case has been made that the film contains a number of inaccuracies, exaggerations and statements about global warming and speculation about its effects in the future that lack sufficient scientific evidence to support.
The debate about climate change is not over, as some contend.
The degree of global warming (if not whether it is occurring) and what is causing it - man-made greenhouse gas emissions, natural climate change or a combination of both - are still open to debate. Some very credible scientists have a different point of view than Gore and the scientists he relies on.
http://www.chronline.com/main.asp?SectionID=16&SubSectionID=101&ArticleID=41956&TM=44199.62