Teachers Should Teach the Facts
…Unless, of course, the facts might offend someone
Without getting into my own stance on the topic, I think it’s a fair summary of the “evolution in schools” debate to say that those who want evolution taught in school want a curriculum that teaches about something that scientists believe is a decent model of how the world works. None of these scientists were there, so they aren’t 100% certain, and there’s always the possibility that the evolutionary model will be modified based on future discoveries.
Now, teachers in England are dropping the Holocaust from their curriculum, because many Muslims don’t believe it happened.
Let’s contrast here: Teaching something that no one observed (and, therefore, that we can never be completely certain about), even if it offends people who don’t believe it in it? A-OK. Teaching something that we not only have documented in detailed historical records, but which people who are currently living observed? Nope.
What’s the difference? Well, my guess would be that in the first case, the offended party consists mostly of fundamentalist Christians, who, by and large, aren’t seen as particularly violent (a few nutballs who think bombing abortion clinics is okay notwithstanding). In the second case, the offended people are Muslims who, fairly or not, are tarred by the reputation that their fundamentalist/extremist brethren have garnered. Muslim extremists rioted because a newspaper in Denmark published “offensive” political cartoons. That teachers in England are nervous about teaching something that might cause a similar response is understandable, if disheartening. By removing this from the curriculum, they are sending a message that I’m sure most of them would hate to send — they’re telling these people that violence (or the threat of violence) is extremely effective in getting what they want.