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Re: [Phys-l] Physics First Revisited



Rick wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l->bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Tarara

While we all see everything Marty notes in our own communities, can anybody
really say that it has not always been such?

Most of us, even the old-timers (I'm even older the Michael--but not as old
as Jack) don't really remember the days when the Colleges and Universities
were populated only by the talented and the rich. We don't remember the
days when Calculus was strictly a College subject--before AP courses, etc.
The majority has always been 'unwashed' so to speak--when it comes to
matters of higher education. It's just that we have a whole lot more people
today who nominally 'have' this higher education ....even if the don't!
This makes the ignorance and anti-intellectual attitudes more disturbing.

A parallel note, that even in the days when university and college were only for the elite, there was strong social pressure to become educated in high school, and respect for those who attained academic excellence. Now we hear from some that it's bad to be "elite" - i.e. intelligent, educated, and accomplished. Better to be an "average Joe" - whether plumber or otherwise.

*******************************************************
"Einstein said that if quantum mechanics is right, then the world is crazy.
Well, Einstein was right. The world is crazy"
- Daniel Greenberger
*******************************************************

Dr. George Spagna
Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505

phone: (804) 752-7344
fax: (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
http://faculty.rmc.edu/gspagna/public_html/index.html