Pandering to other cultures beliefs through some guilt

Apologies in advance as this might be too long an OP.

Long story short. Our current annoyingly touchy feely govt, led by every other countries poster child leader Jacinda has decided that the Maori view of the world should have equal footing with a concept they call "Western science" in school teachings, in some kind of pandering patronising to the group they are doing it with way.

Putting aside the stupidity of making up the dumb **** term "Western science", like science isn't fricken global.

And putting aside they also want to lift numbers of Maori in STEM fields and they can't see this just makes it stupidly complicated for actually getting a job. We now have this.

Apologies for the rant but geez this govt gets on my tits. And I fully have respect for others choice to believe in stupid stuff, which is why I don't care if others are religious etc, but there are limits.

Quote:

Auckland University professor resigns over letter claiming Māori knowledge isn't science A University of Auckland professor has stepped down as acting dean of science after backlash to a letter he co-authored claiming Māori knowledge "is not science". Professor of Psychology Douglas Elliffe emailed the science faculty to say his role in writing the letter meant his leadership had the potential to "increase division" among the university's scientific community. Elliffe was one of seven professors to sign the letter published in the Listener magazine last week in response to proposed changes to the Māori school curriculum. Those changes are meant to put mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) on a par with other types of knowledge, particularly Western knowledge. However, the academics - drawn from biological sciences, psychology, philosophy and education - claimed that although indigenous knowledge contributes to our understanding of the world, "it falls far short of what we can define as science". The letter met widespread backlash, with the New Zealand Association of Scientists saying they were "dismayed" by it. Elliffe subsequently emailed the science faculty to say that he had decided to step down. "I now think that my leadership of the faculty has the potential to increase division and divert attention from the real issues that face us," he said. "The future of the faculty is more important to me than my own ambitions, although I will greatly miss the opportunity to make more faculty-level contributions." He said the decision to step down was his and that he hadn't been pressured by the university's leadership. "I also want to express my deep gratitude for the messages of support that I've had, including pleas for me not to step down, from so many of you." He said society needed to ensure it fostered robust debate. "I think there is a journey that society, and the university as its critic and conscience, needs to take towards robust discussion and debate within a culture that doesn't assume disagreement must imply disrespect," he said..........

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3f4wmHi