Let's Not Repeat the Teacher "Shortage" Crisis with Science
Lots of folks (including me) have commented on the logistics, costs, and politics of the President's science and math initiative, but few have questioned the underlying assumptions surrounding it. That's exactly what USNews does in a piece titled Do we really need more science students?
The answer? No. According to the piece, the current supply of scientific workers is fine and reports of other nation's scientific training programs are inflated and misleading.
The answer? No. According to the piece, the current supply of scientific workers is fine and reports of other nation's scientific training programs are inflated and misleading.
posted by Alexander Russo at 2/05/2006 11:21:00 AM
1 Comments:
I don't even think we need more students. However, there is a sense that we need more science literate people. People who can tell whether or not dihydrogen oxide should be banned because when people drink too much of it, then die. People who can tell whether the newspaper report of "2000 rapes occur every five minutes" was obviously false.
Even though I'd love a mathematically and scientifically cognizant populace, is it really necessary? I used to think so, but I'm questioning the assumption. What does it matter? Does it improve society? At what point?
I'd prefer a society where people liked science, liked discovery, like analytic reasoning. But is there more to it than that or not?
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