Is it real?

I heard a random snippet from a radio program explaining quantum physics: they were discussing the famous double-split experiment in which particles like electrons and photons behave as if they are waves but, if you try to observe the behaviour of an individual particle, its wave properties disappear. The very fact of observing it changes reality

One of the physicists on the programme said that when his science teacher explained this to him as a young teenager, he was outraged. For years he had learned the classical theories of physics, based on particles, forces, Newton's laws of motion - all things that we can understand intuitively from our observation of normal life. Now he was being told it was not true and that reality is counter-intuitive and weird. It felt like a betrayal

It rang a bell; I remember that emotion myself - arguing with my teacher that someone must be making a fundamental mistake, based on the absolute confidence in my case that only a teenager can muster. I wonder if physics teachers these days are warned to expect this reaction and coached how to deal with it 

Today our grandson took us to his storytime in a library - volunteers reading from books, surrounded by books, holding the attention of a group of nearly-1's to nearly-4's; respect! Then there were songs and nursery rhymes. One of these involved an owl going twit-twoo. One day, someone is going to teach these children that it is tawny owls (and only tawny owls!) that go twit-twoo - but it takes two owls: one calls 'twit' and the other replies 'twoo'. Will they feel they have been misled? It's probably not as bad as quantum physics