In brief video published by Big Think on Monday, physics professor Lawrence Krauss said that teaching school children incorrect facts about the age of the planet was a form of abuse.

Krauss noted that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently declined to say how old the Earth was, insisting it was “one of the great mysteries.” Krauss blasted the idea of teaching the Earth was 6,000 years old — as some Christians believe — rather than 4.55 billion years old.

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“If you think about that, somehow saying that, well, anything goes, we shouldn’t offend religious beliefs by requiring kids to know – to understand reality; that’s child abuse,” he said. “And if you think about it, teaching kids – or allowing the notion that the earth is 6,000 years old to be promulgated in schools is like teaching kids that the distance across the United States is 17 feet. That’s how big an error it is.”

Krauss added the “purpose of education is not to validate ignorance, but to overcome it.”

Bill Nye “the Science Guy” made similar comments last year in another video published by Big Think. Nye implored parents not to teach creationism to their children because the country needed “scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.”

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below: