This makes very depressing reading: A physics teacher begs for his subject back. I have a degree in physics (albeit not an impressive one, but hey, that's the effect that a very close and cheap bar had on me when I was that age...), and I thoroughly enjoyed the subject at school. It spoke a language that just made sense to me. The article says:
"The thing that attracts pupils to physics is its precision. Here, at last, is a discipline that gives real answers that apply to the physical world. But that precision is now gone. Calculations — the very soul of physics — are absent from the new GCSE. Physics is a subject unpolluted by a torrent of malleable words, but now everything must be described in words."
Given the sort of teaching that he describes, I just can't see that I would have given a damn. It would have bored me to tears. Hell, if I'd wanted that sort of a subject I'd have studied sociology or something (no insult intended to the sociologists out there!); what I loved about physics was the elegance of a mathematical proof being able to illustrate the reality of our universe.
I believe that the understanding of science is of vital importance. I'm not talking degree-level understanding, but the ability to grasp the basics. How else can you evaluate the constant barrage of competing claims, the latest health scares, the ridiculous uses of statistics, that we're all subjected to?
The author (Wellington Grey) is asking for help in making this issue better known. It certainly should be.
Update (2007-06-26): A petition has been created - please sign it.