Re: Hubris of physicists

["Michael N. Monce" <mnmon@conncoll.edu>]

On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, James W. Wheeler wrote:

> How many of you are at schools with more physicists on faculty than
> biologists?  (Do you have half as many?)  I have heard that 90% of high
> school students take biology, 50% chemistry, and 20% physics. (Does
> someone have a source for these numbers) Is this a result of our
> hubris or failure to respond to a market, or have we just lost the
> political battle of which should be taken first?  I do believe that
> physics is the fundamental science, why shouldn't it be taught first?


	Actually, there's a fellow in Farmington, CT who has convinced the
local board to try the sequence: physics, chem, and bio, starting in 10th
grade.  It's been running for three years, and surprise surprise, the
success rate of the students going on to chem and bio is much higher than
in the traditional system.  I trying to get my town's HS to do the same .

				Mike Monce
				Connecticut College