[Pseudoscience-is-malarkey (OP)]

I don't know about the UK, but here in the U.S. and Canada measures are being discussed about allocating more time during school zoo trips to observe whales, superpods, etc. This is especially serious in landlocked states where kids have no means to see them live in their natural habitat. Adults and kids can only rely on videos uploaded to the internet and the briefs mentions of their habitat on the mainstream science channels such as NatGeo and Animal Planet... For the youtube videos, so many of the people that upload stuff on the orca world have an agenda, making it hard for us to know what information we can trust.

[alancalverd]

Surely nobody is advocating capturing wild migratory animals and imprisoning them for the amusement of teachers? I I think we must dismiss zoo trips as unethical and inefficient when we have the technology to allow a few experts to study whales and teach everyone by video how they actually live in their proper environment. So the question is "real life or film?"

There's a whole universe out there, which nobody will ever get to explore at first hand. Why get upset about kids not seeing whales in the flesh? There are thousands of other mammals:  some live in the sea, some are hunted for food, some are close to extinction, some are a threat to the environment. It is not clear why a kid needs to be flown 1000 miles and spend a day being seasick in the faint hope of seeing the tail of an animal that has no relevance to his future. Why not take kids from northern coastal areas to catch malaria and see the backside of a gorilla disappearing into the African mist? School trips to Mars?

Why not begin by teaching kids how not to vote for a cowardly, incompetent, dangerous idiot. And teach the whole text of the Second Amendment. The USA is currently running close behind 1930's Germany and Stalin's Russia in the National Disgrace and Shame stakes - why worry about exposing children to the Truth about Whales in Zoos?   

[Pseudoscience-is-malarkey (OP)]

Thanks for the reply. I think you're right on how awaful my country is.

[Bored chemist]

It's not just whales.
We should be teaching kids about sharks, .
Awesome top-level predators; Been around since before the dinosaurs.
Relatively immune to cancer too
Truly amazing creatures.

We need to teach the kids about them.

In particular, we need to teach them not to elect sharks into government.

[Colin2B]

It's not just whales.
We should be teaching kids about sharks, .

And what about cows? Maybe not a top level predator, but there are lots of kids who have never seen a live one.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

It's not just whales.
We should be teaching kids about sharks, .

And what about cows? Maybe not a top level predator, but there are lots of kids who have never seen a live one.

Just take them to the farm.

[Colin2B]

Just take them to the farm.

Not all kids live near farms or have parents interested enough to take a trip to see one.
Round here the schools arrange visits to a safe farm and we have always taken our kids out into the countryside, not everyone is that fortunate.

[Bored chemist]

And what about cows? Maybe not a top level predator, but there are lots of kids who have never seen a live one.

Or telephones...

[Janus]

Just take them to the farm.

Not all kids live near farms or have parents interested enough to take a trip to see one.
Round here the schools arrange visits to a safe farm and we have always taken our kids out into the countryside, not everyone is that fortunate.

On the other hand, I grew up in a rural community in Northern Minnesota, on a small farm.  Cows obviously were not a rarity. 
I was, however, the only kid in my class who had even seen an ocean in person.  On our vacations we tended make long road trips to the West Coast (Washington state), and once to Georgia ( to visit an uncle).   My best friend, as an example, had never even been out of the state.

[alancalverd]

I've never seen a live staphylococcus, though friends in the path lab see them every day. Not sure my life has been that much poorer than theirs.