Front Page London Times

Astronomy is on the front page of the Times this morning, but not the way
you would prefer. As my wife said when she brought the paper in and handed
it to me, "You'll love this!"

The story is about the dumbing down of science exams in schools. The
picture of V838 Mon is nice, but the question, stated in very small print to
be from Edexcel, is:
---------
Q
Chei and Jas visit an observatory with their class. The astronomers who
work there show them some instruments they use to find out about many
different types of stars

Many people observe the stars using

A a telescope
B a microscope
C an X-ray tube
D a synthesiser
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As an astronomer and observatory director who organises observatory school
tours and who gives some of the tours himself, all I can say is that Edexcel
has a negative view of the intelligence of today's youngsters completely at
odds with the impression I get.

Comments?

--
Mike Dworetsky

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