Reasons to hate us

We work hard to be worthy of the trust families give us. There are at least six controversial stands we take, and we want to be transparent about them.

You’re looking for a class that tiptoes around darkness

The honest truth of the Universe is that Mother Nature loves us… she thinks we’re delicious.

Death? Dismemberment? We don’t shy away from the awfulness of nature. (Mosquitoes are vampires, mushrooms are baby-shooting towers, and cats are monsters, pure and simple.)

Nor do we shy away from the awfulness of everyday life: pain happens. Death happens. Of course we don’t wallow in negativity — but we don’t try to hide it, either.

For some kids, this is too much! For others, it’s just what they need. If you’d like to ask a specific question about what we might mention on a specific topic, please reach out to us, and we’ll give you an honest answer.

You’re looking for a class matches a particular political view

We’re an ideologically diverse group, and we work hard to pop our political bubbles.

The point of childhood is to explore — which includes exploring different ideas. We believe that, to raise adults, we need to help them explore many sides of issues, because the truth is that no party has a monopoly on science.

Our job isn’t to tell you our pet position on controversial topics — nor is it to float above the fight, trying to avoid causing any discomfort! Our job is to teach the scientific consensus whatever it may be.

So expect us to provide the strongest arguments from multiple sides in some controversial scientific topics.

You don’t want your kids exposed to evolution

Teaching about evolution can cause teachers so much anxiety! They can get pressured (from parents, from administrators, from students) whenever they do… so sometimes, they limit when they talk about it. This is a tragedy for everyone — especially people who don’t believe in evolution.

Physicists, chemists, biologists, geologists, and astronomers have been working for centuries to get a clear view of the world… and what’s emerged is Big History — the grand story of Life, the Universe, and Everything. It spans billions of years. It shows how everything connects to everything.

To become educated in science is to learn this big story. This is true especially if you disagree with it! Kids deserve the chance to learn it clearly so they can intelligently agree or disagree with it. (Many of our families do!)

We work hard to connect everything we learn about to the big story; most of our classes touch on it in one way or another.

You don’t want your kids exposed to religion or challenging philosophies

Take everything above about “evolution”, and swap it out with “religion” — it’s just as true.

A long time ago, schools decided to chop up the world and cram the pieces into boxes — it called them “science”, “math”, “literature”, “art”, ”world religions”, and so on. This was one of the biggest mistakes schools have ever made. Why? When subjects are separated, they lose their meaning.

Science is a messy, glorious, human thing! It grew out of religion and philosophy. In Science is WEIRD, we try to capture the human side of science. This means we sometimes mention philosophy and religion.

We discuss why the Catholic Church told Galileo to stop talking about the Earth’s position in the Universe. We discuss Rene Descartes’ idea that the pineal gland is the seat of the soul. We discuss whether corn is conscious!

We treat science as a wonderful path into exploring the one true topic of education — Life, the Universe, and Everything.

You don’t want your kids to know that sex is a thing

If evolution & religion cause teachers anxiety, sex can trigger full-on heartburn! And this is a problem, because sex ties biology together.

We don’t hide the fact that sex exists. When we talk about animals, we mention it — but we don’t go into detail.

Two of our lessons in our classes about plants (one in “Apples are Weird” and one in “Onions are Weird”) do, however, go into detail — because those details are the only way to understand flowers.

In those lessons (and only in those lessons) we use the clinical terms “penis” and “vagina” in place of the more typical words “stamen” and “pistil”. Why? Because that’s what they actually are! (Lots of people sit through biology lectures, never really understanding that flowers have sex, that pollen is sperm, and that seeds are babies.)

We think it’s important that kids hear adults using these words without blushing. We respect that your family might feel differently — so we always notify parents before these lessons.

Science is WEIRD was founded by parents; we know how difficult it can be to talk about sex with our own kids. If our lessons help parents open up conversations with their kids, we’re thrilled!

Email is terrible, and accidental rudeness happens all too often.

We’ll be polite even when it hurts — and we hold our families to the same high standard.

(See our politeness policy.)

Maybe that’s not your thing! That’s a legitimate stance.