Physics teacher Wellington Grey is fed up with the state of science education in the UK, and has written an open letter to the Board of Education expressing his concern at the lack of physics required to be taught in physics lessons.

On topics that are covered by the specification, the exam board has answers that indicate a lack of knowledge on the writer’s part. One questions asks `why would radio stations broadcast digital signals rather than analogue signals?’ An acceptable answer is:

* Can be processed by computer / ipod [sic]

Aside from the stupidity of the answer, (iPods, at the time of this writing, don’t have radio turners and computers can process analogue signals) writing the mark scheme in this way is thoughtless, as teachers can only give marks that exactly match its language. So does the pupil get the mark if they mention any other mp3 player? Technically, no. Wikipedia currently lists 63 different players. Is it safe to assume that the examiner will be familiar with all of them? Doubtful.

Read the whole letter here. (Via BoingBoing)

Well, that was chirpy for a Friday evening, wasn't it? Please, distract your attention to the enormous list of winners in this year's Webby Awards. You could lose a whole weekend in there.