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Published online 21 November 2007 | Nature 450, 467 (2007) | doi:10.1038/450467a
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UK 'terrorist' fights science-course ban
Iraqi national challenges British government for right to study biology and chemistry.
A British resident who is under surveillance for suspected terrorist activities is being prohibited from taking secondary-school-level science courses by the government, Nature has learned.
The man, referred to as A.
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This is just absurd. 1) Why let him remain in the UK if they feel he's a threat. The country, along with the US claim they are spreading democracy and freedom to the East, and, they themselves, are unable to practice what they preach. 2) Even if the theory they learn in high school (secondary school) may be related to pathogens and chemical warfare, the necessary techniques and methods to develop such items are not provided... Lastly, if he is under such scrutiny, I'm sure they'd notice if he purchased necessary materials or developed a makeshift lab in his home... this is just plain stupid!
I too think this is absurd and paranoid. Such discrimination and banning education or professional development alone can turn an innocent person into a terrorist!
This is absurd, how can the state control education? There is nothing he can possibly learn from these courses that is not freely available in any textbook. One does not take these sorts of courses to gain unavailable information, one takes these sorts of courses to get a qualification. If the guy wanted the information to conduct "terrorism" he could find it at the local library. Besides he seems to be already educated well past AS level in both chemistry and biology, which just highlights the fact that he is looking to get a qualification that is more readily accepted in the UK. If there is any solid evidence against the guy, then charge him with a crime and try him. If there is not then the state should stop hounding the man, as I UK citizen I was brought up to believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty. This looks like a case of persecuting an innocent person because of their origin, the correct term for this is racism.
Nature reported a couple of weeks ago that the government was allowing the vetting of potential graduate students by the UK security service. This went relatively unnoticed in the press. To now try and stop a man getting a basic scientific education based on his potential as a terrorist is botherline insane. How dare the government choose who gets what education? just because I read a Physics textbook does not mean I can build a nuclear weapon. Scientists, the general public and those in charge of education should not sit back and let us walk into a police state. We have allowed control orders to happen and are now seeing the manifestation of its absurdity. The education establishment should fight the interference of politics in academia.
very absurd,everyone,if he is a good england civil ,should have a free right
While it is probably innocent, surely it is rational to question why a person who has a medical degree would want to take high-school-level science courses? The real concern might be that doing the course-work would involve his interacting with young, possibly impressionable, people?
UK, like many other places, collaboratively chose that nobody's medical science standards are better than theirs. This poor man has to endure High School that would allow him to enter University and eventually would allow him to enter Medical School where he can obtain an M.D. that would make him a certified doctor in UK. Granted that this article is absolutely correct and does not omit any details (highly unlikely), I agree with many of you that it is absurd. However I am sure there is a good reason behind the government's actions that the public is unaware of, but we'll see what unravels.
If he is a apotential danger to U. K then the best way to treat it is through education and integrating him in the society making him care about the place where he lives. Preventing him from getting education will increase his isolation and will only result in him getting worese and not solving his problem.
Seems absurd. He could simply go to the library or bookstores for this level of information if he were bent on evil. If he is a real threat, bring evidence...Surely some protections for secure info (ie, protecting the jihad-screaming acquaintance who is actually an government security agent) exist...and try him. If the evidence is skimpy, let him do his entry-level courses. However, the country will have to decide what to do about such categories of persons in terms of higher level courses or access to medical facilities, etc.
I am pretty sure that owning a blockbuster card would be more of a threat. However, we don't know the background circumstances to this so we should be careful in passing judgement - he is trained in medicine so why on earth does he need to study an AS human biology course in the first place?
This is just absurd. It makes me afraid that science is really going "down the tubes" in the normal world. Pardon my slippery-slope theory. This really does seem as if higher powers are really waging a war against science. Once a suspected terrorist (why he's not in jail, I do not know) wants to take science courses he is turned down. Are we next? Will this turn out to be "only terrorists want to learn science to destroy our liberty?" I think it is safe to say that many people in power want to hinder critical thinking so they can get away with much more, but this is above and beyond the call of duty. This could very well lead to a link between science and terrorism amongst the general population.
Some questions: 1) Why does a doctor already with a medical education need to study AS level Biology and Chemistry? 2) Does anybody seriously think AS levels have sufficient information to allow people to become terrorists? 3) "The human-biology course includes a detailed examination of neurotoxins" - may be their physiological mechanisms. But you don't need to know what a toxin does to be able to use it to kill somebody. 4) What's really the point of prohibiting A.E. doing A-levels, has the government denied A.E. access to the internet? Anybody can find information on toxins or 'dangerous compounds' using Google. Nice and simple. 5) As if A.E. can't buy A-level revision guides in WHSmith. Oops - imbeciles. This is stupidity to the extreme.