7 April 2021
The Secular Education Network, a group of parents and others who are passionate about ensuring the Education Act's promise of secular education in schools is realised, have just released a document reminding schools of their new obligations after the law was changed last year:
2 December 2018
The Ministry of Education are finally getting close to publishing guidelines for schools about allowing Religious Instruction classes.
21 February 2016
In the United States, the Texas board of education is very important because the state is so large. This means that the board has a large sway over which textbooks are used nationwide in schools. Historically Texas has been a battleground for creationism, with efforts to get as many fundamentalist Christians onto the board of education as possible.
1 November 2012
Government plans to establish charter schools look like providing a way for creationists to get their teachings into New Zealand's classrooms (Dominion Post, 19 August).
1 February 2011
Creationism is not a new problem in New Zealand schools, as this article excerpt from_ NZ Skeptic 18 _(December 1990) illustrates.
1 February 2009
In an initiative intended to encourage critical thinking among students, the NZ Skeptics have donated copies of Vicki Hyde's book, Oddzone, to schools around the country.
1 November 2007
Elizabeth Rata's article Ethnic Fundamentalism in New Zealand is a series of extraordinary assertions, supported not with reason and evidence but emotionalism and error.
1 August 2007
Rudolf Steiner kindergartens look set to cash in on free early childhood education initiatives.
1 February 2006
The decision by Judge John Jones ruling that the promotion of Intelligent Design (ID) in schools is a violation of the constitutional ban on teaching religion, is at least a temporary victory for scientific integrity (Newsfront, p10). Previous attempts to get creationism into the American classroom have been more ambitious, notably a Louisiana act which would have mandated for biblical literalism to be granted equal time alongside evolutionary theory, finally struck down in a majority Supreme Court decision in 1987. The proposal in Dover, Pennsylvania, was modest by comparison. It required that teachers read a 159-word statement declaring evolution "a theory ... [t]he theory is not a fact", and stating that ID is "an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view." The book, Of Pandas and People, was recommended for students who wished to understand what ID involves.
1 February 1998
Ten or twenty years ago, prominent overseas creationists once toured in a blaze of publicity. They spoke in public schools and received plenty of air time on National Radio and prime time TV. Some of us were out there fighting, and we felt we won most of the major battles.
1 May 1992
In reference to Ruth Walker's article "Absurdities of Creationism" [Skeptic 22], I would like to remind fellow Skeptics that it is not only "fundamentalist" Christian schools that teach creationism.
1 February 1992
The debate over how "dry" a skeptic should be in promoting skepticism does not appear to take into account the dangers of ridicule in hardening the very views we are attempting to counter. This is particularly so in schools, where both teachers and pupils have things to learn.
1 August 1991
An attempt at chiropractic consultancy in Southland schools didn't do too well after their dubious practices were debated by the local community.
1 August 1990
Ray Carr was a fine example of an active Skeptic.
1 August 1989
Several members have sent me cuttings which I am afraid we can not use but which I am always glad to get. Malcolm MacCleary especially has sent me some good stuff on how to be a winning punter, news from the Order of the Magical Rose, Nelson and some more remarkable extracts from the Melchizadek Manuscripts. See how many clangers you can find in this passage: