Ed-biz Bandwagons. Was: Science Fair (fwd)

["Donald E. Simanek" <dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu>]

On Thu, 23 Apr 1998, brian whatcott wrote:

> Professor Simanek honors us with a commentary that draws something
> from his well-spring of life experience and glints with a 
> feature of the people who do great work in Science - they squeeze the 
> most out of the least, and they attack along an undefended avenue.
>  I am most glad to have read this piece - the honesty is apalling.
>
> Whatcott     Altus OK

With admirable brevity Brian challenges us to discern his meaning. Does he
agree or disagree with my comments? Hard to tell through the thick layer
of sarcasm. But I do appreciate respectful sarcasm, polite satire,
realistic parody, forthright innuendo and precise ambiguity, and I try to
practice these myself.

Also, I'm always glad to share things from the well-spring of life
experience. I'm still trying to decipher the phrase "glints with a feature
of..". A poetic allusion, perhaps? I never appreciated poetry, so I'm
ignorant of these things. And it's just good military strategy to attack
along undefended routes, so I guess that's a compliment of some sort to
those people who do great work in Science. But I never defended the idea
that science should be a battleground. In fact, I rather clearly said that
I am turned off by the competitive aspect of science fairs. 

But, I thank Brian for his kind words, which stimulated thoughts about
some of the other comments in this thread, and about other related
threads.  Since this takes us into other areas, I have renamed the subject
line. 

It's interesting how some things in society have become "sacred cows" for
which any, even slight, criticism is considered inappropriate and is
treated with knee-jerk hostility by the true believers. This is also true
in the ed-biz. Any criticism of so-called "conceptual physics", simplistic
analogies, egg-drop contests, amusement park physics days, and science
fairs is not politically correct, it seems, judging by reactions from
teachers on discussion groups.

If my critical comments about the way science fairs are conducted are
wrong, I hope someone will address my errors *specifically*. On the other
hand, if any of my criticisms are at least partly justified, I hope
someone will suggest ways that these problems may be corrected. So far
I've seen neither. 

To be "appallingly honest," whenever I see something in which nearly
everyone believes, or something nearly everyone thinks is "right" or
"good" my humbug detector alarm goes off and I say "Hmmm... If so many
people subscribe to this with such enthusiasm, there must be *something*
wrong with it." (Over-enthusiasm and "touchy" defensiveness are the best
clues that something is wrong.) It usually doesn't take much trouble for
someone not caught up in the enthusiasm to find the warts and flaws. Since
the proponents seem blind to these defects, I see it as my duty to point
them out, so they may be corrected.  There's no point in wasting time
praising the good parts of something, for there are plenty of gung-ho
evangelists riding the bandwagon who are loudly doing that already. One
must conserve one's critical powers and use them where they might do some
good. "Praise is nice, but criticism is what gets you an education," as
some wise pundit noted. 

My philosophy, "nourished by drinking from the well-spring of life
experience," is this: Avoid jumping on bandwagons. Bandwagons generally
go in the wrong direction, and are powered by hot air. But never fear if
one bandwagon goes astray and is lost forever, for another will come along
shortly, providing some transient excitement as it careens madly down the
wrong road accompanied by noisy hoopla and fanfare. (But don't stand in
their way, or they will run you over.)

And as for sacred cows, "Sacred cows make great hamburgers."

	-- Donald

......................................................................
Dr. Donald E. Simanek                            Office: 717-893-2079
Professor of Physics                                FAX: 717-893-2048
Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA. 17745
dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu                 http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek
......................................................................