Since a teacher in the hamlet of Salluit on the north coast of Quebec said last week that his principal told him not to teach evolution, the regional school board has been in the media spotlight.  The Kativik School Board now says it wants students to learn to think for themselves, but teaching that man is descended from other species is “an issue of respect”.

"The Kativik School Board does not censor its teachers, nor do religious groups dictate to the School Board what can or cannot be taught in our schools," the board stated in a news release Monday.

However, the board says it expects teachers to "respect the culture of the people they are privileged to live with, and to teach."

If the teacher has been instructed not to teach this for whatever reason, then it is indeed censorship, according to my dictionary which defines the verb “censor” as “to ban or cut portions of (a film, letter, etc.)”.  In this case, portions of the provincial education curriculum have been cut.

The school board says it agrees students have the right to the same information as other students, and points out there are books with evolutionary theory in the library, and students have access to the internet.

We just don't want it taught in the classroom.

While saying the board wouldn't censor teachers, a member of the community's school committee told CBC that teachers would be told if they deal in matters sensitive to the community.

"If the town complains and says no, the committee can ask the principal or the director of teachers to approach the teacher and say, 'Look, this is not the subject to be taught here in this town, or in this place, because we know we have been humans from the beginning, '" said Molly Tayara.

"I don't personally accept my children being taught that they came from some species from Africa somewhere.

"Here in the North there is no such thing as monkeys."

Isn't this the kind of solipsistic perspective that public education is intended to overcome?  Broaden the students' horizons and all that.

What’s especially aggravating here is the media’s double standard.  Listen to this clip of the interview with Ms Tayara.  She even cites the biblical story of Adam and Eve in support of Inuit beliefs about the origin of the human race.  The CBC reporter handles her with kid gloves throughout.

I certainly have no objection to a reporter treating an interview subject with respect and deference—in fact, that happens so rarely that it’s rather refreshing to hear it in this case—but imagine what the attitude would be if a school board in, say, suburban Montreal tried to remove evolution from its classrooms, while appealing to cultural traditions and the Bible.  The CBC’s howls of execration would be heard all the way to Salluit.

Previous related post: Parents: Don’t teach evolution to our children.  School board: OK.