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(b) have zero or less interest in "Attacks on Education,"
(c) have any other reason for trashing this post.
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In his POD post of 21 February 2005, titled "Re: Random Thought:
Leave Them Asking," Mike Theall (2005) wrote [bracketed by lines
"TTTTTT. . ."; my insertion of a,b,c] :
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a. For the majority, education does a pretty good job. . . .
b. . . . while all the critics scream for "reform" in education, we
don't hear much screaming about reforming anything else. Our business
& political critics need to do a lot of housecleaning before casting
any stones. Law, medicine, and other professions aren't perfect
either and rather than accepting any responsibility for their
mistakes, they simply point to education as a handy scapegoat.
Frankly, I'm tired of the hypocrisy. . . . .
c. . . . We all know and admire scores of teachers who are dedicated,
thoughtful, capable, and hard-working. Let's remember these people
in our
statements and let's fight for the recognition and credit they and
education deserve.. . . .
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In response, chemist Michael Chejlava (2005) wrote, in part:
"I see the majority of colleges graduating humanity and social
science majors who have had only one watered down science course and
who have little understanding of the technology and science that are
driving the changes in our world. The better science and engineering
schools years age started requiring their students to take as much as
a third of the courses in the humanities and social sciences. I have
yet to see the other culture make much of a move toward adding more
science and math to their curricula. I guess C.P. Snow. . .[1959].
. . is no longer read very much."
I enthusiastically agree with Mike Theall's points "b" and "c," and
with Mike Chejlava's comment regarding the reality of C.P. Snow's
"culture gap," so apparent in the posts of Theall (2005), Chejlava
(2005), and the POD discussion list generally.
However, I vehemently disagree with Mike Theall's point "a," that
"FOR THE MAJORITY, EDUCATION DOES A PRETTY GOOD JOB."
In Hake (2002) I listed a few examples of the science illiteracy of
the general population (and even the elite graduates of Harvard and
MIT) for whom education has NOT done a "pretty good job" [bracketed
by lines "HHHHHHH. . . . . .; see that article for the references]:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
III. EVIDENCE FOR SCIENTIFIC ILLITERACY (a few of many examples)
A. Science and Engineering Indicators (NSF, 1998), Chap. 7, "Science and
Technology"; on the web at <http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind98/start.htm>:
"..... it appears that only 11 percent of Americans can define the
term 'molecule.' . . . A large proportion of the population knows
that a molecule is a small piece of matter, but is unable to relate
it to an atom or a cell, which are also small pieces of matter. And,
despite substantial media attention to deep space probes and pictures
from the Hubble Space Telescope, only 48 percent of Americans know
that the earth goes around the sun once each year .. Only 27 percent
of Americans understand the nature of scientific inquiry well enough
to be able to make informed judgments about the scientific basis of
results reported in the media. Public understanding of the nature of
scientific inquiry was measured through questions about the meaning
of scientific study and the reasons for the use of control groups in
experiments."
B. Eugenie C. Scott, "Not (Just) in Kansas Anymore," Science 228,
813-815 (2000); on the web at
<http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/288/5467/813>:
"In August of 1999, after months of wrangling, the Kansas State Board
of Education passed its state science education standards. Against
the recommendations of a committee of 27 scientists and teachers, the
board voted to strip from the standards all mention of the Big Bang,
the age of the Earth, and any reference to organisms having descended
from the same
ancestors: in other words evolutionary astronomy, geology, and
biology. Teachers were informed that evolution would not be included
in the state high-school assessment exams, greatly decreasing the
likelihood that the subject would be taught . . . As the media probed
for more stories, the National Center for Science Education (where I
work. . . <http://www.natcenscied.org/> . . .) informed the
sometimes incredulous press that, yes, indeed, antievolutionism is a
widespread problem in American kindergarten through high school or
'K-12' education."
C. Jerome Epstein, "Cognitive Development in an Integrated
Mathematics and Science Program," J. of College Science Teaching,
12/97 & 1/98, pp. 194-201:
"While it is now well known that large numbers of students arrive at
college with large educational and cognitive deficits, many faculty
and administrative colleagues are not aware that many students lost
all sense of meaning or understanding in elementary school. . . .In
large numbers our students. . .[at Bloomfield College (NJ) and Lehman
(CUNY)]. . .cannot order a set of fractions and decimals and cannot
place them on a number line. Many do not comprehend division by a
fraction and have no concrete comprehension of the process of
division itself. Reading rulers where there are other than 10
subdivisions, basic operational meaning of area and volume, are
pervasive difficulties. Most cannot deal with proportional reasoning
nor any sort of problem that has to be translated from English. Our
diagnostic test, which has been given now at more than a dozen
institutions shows that there are such students everywhere. . .
.(even Wellesley! - see J. Epstein, "What is the Real Level of Our
Students," 1999, unpublished).
D. Woodie Flowers "Why change, Been doin' it this way for 4000 years!" ASME
Mechanical Engineering Education Conference: Drivers and Strategies
of Major Program Change, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, March 26-29, 2000;
on the web as PowerPoint plus video at
<http://hitchcock.dlt.asu.edu/media2/cresmet/flowers/>. (Download the
free RealPlayer.):
Slide 42, 43: BBC videotape Simple Minds showing MIT graduates having
trouble getting a flashlight bulb to light, given one bulb, one
battery, and one piece of wire. This is the MIT counterpart of
Harvard's A Private Universe, a videotape showing Harvard graduating
seniors confidently explaining that the seasons are caused by yearly
variation in the distance of the Earth from the Sun! And if such
occurs at MIT and Harvard, how about Podunk State?
For A Private Universe consult
<http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html>. For an equivalent
of the Simple Minds videotape go to Minds of Our Own at
<http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html>. The latter gives a
description of three Minds of Our Own videotapes available, including
the MIT footage: "Why is it that students can graduate from MIT and
Harvard, yet not know how to solve a simple third-grade problem in
science: lighting a light bulb with a battery and wire? Through the
example of an experienced teacher, the program takes a hard look at
why teaching fails, even when he uses all of the traditional tricks
of the trade. The program shows how new research, used by teachers
committed to finding solutions to problems, is reshaping what goes on
in the nation's schools."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
But why should one be concerned about the science illiteracy of the
general population? Because life-threatening science-related societal
problems [e.g., terrorism; overpopulation (doubles about every 35
years); threat of weapons of mass destruction; human welfare
(starvation, homelessness, unemployment,
drugs, epidemics, AIDS, etc.); pollution of air, water, land, food;
global warming; ozone depletion; deforestation; loss of biodiversity;
etc., etc., etc.] cannot be resolved when a scientifically illiterate
society elects scientifically illiterate leaders.
Hake, R.R. 2000. "The General Population's Ignorance of Science
Related Societal Issues: A Challenge for the University," AAPT
Announcer 30(2): 105; online as ref. 11 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake> or download directly by
clicking on
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/GuelphSocietyG.pdf> (2.1MB).
Based on an earlier libretto with the leitmotiv: "The road to U.S.
science literacy begins with effective university science courses for
pre-college teachers." The opera dramatizes the fact that the failure
of universities throughout the universe to properly educate
pre-college teachers is responsible for our failure to observe any
signs of either terrestrial or extraterrestrial intelligence.
Snow, C.P. 1959. "The two cultures and the scientific revolution."
Available in a 1993 "Canto" edition tiled "The Two Cultures,"
illustrated by Stefan Collini and published by Cambridge University
Press. The publisher states "This reissue of Snow's controversial
Rede lecture of 1959 and its successor piece 'A Second Look' has a
new introduction that charts the history and context of the famous
debate on the cultural split between the humanities and the sciences."