By CONCERN GROUP FOR HONG KONG SCIENCE EDUCATION
Added: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Adrian for the link.

Links to the site have both Chinese and English - part of the English translation from the site is below. You do not have to be a Chinese citizen to sign the petition. Please note that this is a translation so please think about the intended meaning of the below rather than any specific grammar. /Mike

I am writing on behalf of "Concern Group for Hong Kong Science Education", a group of Hong Kong citizens who are concerned about the science education in Hong Kong. I would like to draw your attention to a recent incidence that may threaten the Biology education in Hong Kong.

Background

The new senior secondary school biology and combined science curriculum effective from September 2009 contain a statement in the part of evolution that may encourage unscientific theories to be propagated in science classes. The related passage reads:

"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."

On February 7, 2009, South China Morning Post reported that the dean of science faculty of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Professor Sun Kwok, science faculty board chairman David Dudgeon, former manager of its Genome Research Centre William Mak and geologist Jason Ali, have made complaints to Education Bureau about the new biology syllabus. Professor Kwok pointed out in the news that scientific knowledge is based upon observation and verification, and not all explanations should be discussed during science classes, guidelines of Education Bureau have misinterpreted the definition of science. But the Education Bureau turned their back to the worried scientists, planning no

So far news media reported that at least 31 secondary schools in Hong Kong have already admitted to teach Creationism and/or Intelligent Design as an alternative to the theory of evolution during science lessons. Our group showed our concern by submitting two letters to legislative council to reflect the concerns from Hong Kong citizens, but the Education Bureau has not responded publicly to us for two months.

In early May 2009, a group of 62 people, including educators and scientists, signed a statement calling for controversial guidelines to be retained because it is "stimulating, balanced, non-biased and has worked well". These people, including the Open University's dean of science and technology Ho Kin-chung, St Paul's Co-educational College principal Anissa Chan Wong Lai-kuen and HKU physicist Chris Beling, claims there is no universally accepted definition of science, while there is still controversy over Darwinian theory.

Timeline/History
To know more about the event, and find out evidences, please visit our website:
http://sites.google.com/site/hkscienceeducation/timeline

Calling for help (see the bottom of page at this link to sign the petition)

We think that the situation is very bad, and Education Bureau may once again tend not to listen to the request from citizens, and refuse to change the problematic sentences in the new syllabus. So we elevated our action and launched a petition signing campaign early this month. On behalf of the Group, I would like to invite you join our action and help us by:

1. Promoting and signing on our online petition: http://www.gopetition.com/online/28149.html. The deadline is the end of this month. Professors who have signed the petition including: Prof. Daniel Dennett, Prof. David Dudgeon, Dr. Chong-Fuk Lau, Dr. Richard SAUNDERS, Dr Gavin SMITH, Dr. Jason ALI and Prof. Wung-Wai TSO. At least 60 international scholars have already signed on the petition.
2. Please tell you friends, especially those who serves in the academia, about this event, and ask them to spread this message. You are welcome to forward this email.

We would be grateful if you can offer us help in any form. You are most welcome to contact us to know more about the issue. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,
Adrian Mok
Officer of Concern Group for Hong Kong Science Education

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Concern Group for Hong Kong Science Education
http://sites.google.com/site/hkscienceeducation/

TAGGED: EVOLUTION, RELIGION