by Pafoua Yang
For years, “Bill Nye the Science Guy” has entered classrooms to teach students about everything from chemistry and biology to physics and earth science. But now it’s apparent Nye’s show is less about science and more about “force feeding a flawed ideology over reality,” according to Minnesota parents.
Concerned Buffalo High School parents forwarded an email to Alpha News regarding what 10th-grade students can expect to learn from their sex education class beginning June 1.
In part, the email states that students will be taught “the terminology for sexual orientation.”
“We will NOT be discussing people’s own personal views. Just informing the class of the correct terminology to use. We will show this video and talk about the terms used in the video,” it continues.
The video referenced is titled “Bill Nye On Sexuality and Gender Spectrum.” The email states that the topics being taught are recommended by the “state and national health curriculum,” but it is unclear if the video itself is also part of that curriculum.
In this “educational video,” the bow-tie wearing celebrity scientist is seen talking to an audience with four mannequins illuminated in multi-color lights standing next to him.
“One thing is clear about sexuality, there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye,” Nye begins his message. “What makes someone male or female isn’t so clear-cut.”
He then jumps to the topic of sexuality, stating that “some people are gay, some are bi, some are asexual and some will take whatever they can get.” Nye refers to this as a “sexy sliding-scale.”
Nye claims that by three or four-years-old, most kids identify with a gender and “it doesn’t always match the sex they were assigned at birth.” He notes that a person’s gender identity is fluid and may change over their lifetime.
The “science educator” says that culture is coming up with new ways to express a person’s identity. This includes the way people dress, act, talk and present themselves to the world because “it should be up to you.”
Nye calls on people to “listen to the science and the science says we’re all on a spectrum.”
The educator says sexuality is more complicated this way but it’s also more “honest” and “interesting.”
“Science is the process by which we understand nature, by which we understand our place in the world, how we all fit in. So every one of these insights is just so exciting for me,” Nye concludes.
Parents who wish to take their child out for any portion of the curriculum had to notify the teacher by Friday, May 27. A lengthy alternative assignment or project to these lessons will be provided instead.
Alpha News reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education and Buffalo High School and did not hear back.
– – –
Pafoua Yang is a reporter for Alpha News. She has worked as an on-air reporter for stations across the Twin Cities.
Photo “Buffalo High School” by Buffalo High School.
