Curriculum Becoming More Based on Religion not Science
Turkey is one of the popular secular countries in the world. A secular country is one whose government doesn’t support or favor ideals of religion and irreligion. This is why the government’s decision to drop evolution from the curriculum is seen as subverting the country’s secular foundations.
Evolution Will No Longer be Taught in Turkey[/tweetthis]
A representative of the teachers’ union in Turkey was quoted describing the move as a leap in the wrong direction for the country’s education system. The representative said that the move would also cut off future generations from indulging on their natural “curious” tendencies. The new school curriculum will exclude Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and introduce the concept of jihad.
In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall https://t.co/BLEdcxWxPs Turkey only country with less evolution acceptance than US pic.twitter.com/ChPK5oiBvw
— Kyle Hill (@Sci_Phile) August 22, 2017
Many Turkey natives believe that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is putting in structures to erode the secular foundations of the country. Another notable change to the curriculum is the removal of the ideals and values of the country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
A few people, however, support the government’s actions. They claim that the current regime is on a mission to attempt to open up public space and discourse to the hypocritical sections of the country’s population that for tens of years were marginalized by the secular and military elite groups of the population.
The move has also been criticized by the scientific community of Turkey. One of the reasons given by the government for this change was that evolution is too complex for teenagers to understand.
A representative of the union of secular teachers in Turkey laughed at the idea claiming with the right guidance even a preschool child could grasp the basic notions of evolution. The representative also noted that the government would be removing the few last crumbs of secular scientific education.
With this in mind, it is highly likely that the current regime will try and change Turkey into an Islamic country which is likely to be met with high civil opposition.