I am listening to NPR’s Science Friday. The panel of experts is discussing and bemoaning how few of today’s youth pursue science in high school, college, and beyond.
This is nothing new. The experts were discussing and bemoaning the same thing in 1957. How well I remember! The more things change…
I’m no expert (on much of anything, let alone science), but I think I know the reason(s).
- Science is poorly taught in grade school. Most teachers at this level have little background in science or how to teach it. I am sure many are terrified of it. It would be surprising if such attitudes were not transmitted to the kids. And, increasingly, due to fiscal difficulties, it is not taught at all in the grades. It is better in junior high and high school. More science teachers, if not all, have at least some preparation. But this may be too late; the seeds of science apathy and sciencephobia have been planted.
- The farther you move up the science ladder, the more math-intensive it becomes. This seems to be truer than it used to be. At my little school, Physics must be taken following or in conjunction with Calculus. In high school, yet! The experts never seem to get it: much of the problem is primarily a math gap and only secondarily a science gap. As we move from one math course to another, a de-selection takes place. Therefore, science becomes less and less accessible. Perhaps this is inevitable, the iron law of the bell curve. I have heard math teachers say straight out that not everyone has the mental horsepower to do math.
This brings us to a fundamental philosophical question that educational policymakers keep dancing around and Politicians are probably blissfully unaware of. Do we make it our priority to teach more math to more kids, push as many kids as we can as high as we can up the mathematical hierarchy? Calculus (and physics) for the hoi polloi? Being one of the h-p, my stomach does flip-flops and my head hurts at the very idea. But would this be feasible, and if so, would it be desirable? Or, do we select out the brightest and best, the elite, and concentrate on them?
The latter would certainly seem the more efficient, especially in this time of dwindling resources. Play to your strength. Triage. Identify your first-string team, and don’t worry overmuch about the bench-warmers. It was certainly the prevailing paradigm in the post-Sputnik era, the best strategy for competing in the space race. Perhaps it is the best for the technology race. Does your school track? If so, it’s easy to tell their philosophy in this matter.
But the former has its political and practical points. What does it matter whether we unwashed know much science? Too many Americans (perhaps including our Politicians) know little science and care less. Isn’t science just another opinion, no better or worse than any other? Too many Americans (perhaps including our Politicians) are not just indifferent toward science, but are actually fearful of it and hostile toward scientists. Egg-headed elitists, you know. But these are the people who vote for the Politicians, and you can bet that Politicians are quick to pick up on the attitudes and prejudices of their electorate and play to them. And these Politicians vote on science-related bills. Guess how they will vote.
Perhaps science and the requisite math are not just for the cream of the class after all. In Payette, come time to register for next year’s classes, I did a little counseling without a license. I particularly remember John, who I had in one class or another all four years. One year, it was “I don’t see you signed up for Geometry.” “Why should I? I’m not going to college; I’m going to be a welder.” The next year, Chemistry; same answer. And then Physics; same answer yet again. The year after he graduated, he enrolled at the local community college to study welding, what else? He stopped by my room one day after school to visit me. I inquired about how he was doing at TVCC. “God! It’s so hard! The first quarter we didn’t even get into the shop; it was all classroom theory. Plans and set-ups.” (Geometry, I thought.) “Oxidation and reduction and metallurgy.” (Chemistry.) “Electricity and heat transfer.” (Physics.) He blamed the school for not teaching him what he needed to know, and perhaps rightly so. Perhaps our education system is broken, although not in the way our critics would like you to believe.
You can lead a horse to water. The hard part is getting him to drink.