Quebec's Ministry of Education champions critical thinking as a goal across the secondary school curriculum. However, teachers are not trained in what critical thinking looks like, nor how to teach it. Furthermore, the current curriculum does not encourage it. This thesis  seeks to address this problem in 3 parts. First, using theorists such as Freire, Hall, hooks, Gramsci, and Lewontin, I summarize a critical approach to science. I discuss how science can be used as a tool of social legitimization that upholds ideological hegemony through harmful discourse. I then demonstrate how this is happening in Quebec by performing a content analysis on two secondary school Science and Technology textbooks, using a modified Chiappetta, 
Fillman, and Sethna scheme. Finally, I offer alternative frameworks to science education by looking at a variety of approaches throughout the history of science education and feminist theory.