I know I've been offline for most of the new year so far, but never fear, I'm still in touch with the outside world. Progress on the thesis is being made and my sanity is being maintained...so far...but that's not why I'm writing now. While keeping up with current events, especially those going on back home, I have been excitedly following the twists and turns of the presidential race. (Don't worry, I have no intentions of going political on this blog!) However, I came across a great post on the New York Times' Tierney Lab proposing the idea of a scientifically themed debate among the candidates, and this struck me as a GREAT idea for several reasons:1) There are an unprecedented number of policy issues in this campaign rely greatly on available scientific data and interpretation of said data. Think renewable energy, alternative fuel, climate change, stem cell research, etc. (Not sure if the 'unprecedented claim is true or not, but it got your attention, right? And besides, I'm way to tired and busy to do the research to back that up, so can we chalk it up to poetic license?)
2) Scientific and mathematical illiteracy is a huge problem in our nation. Fewer and fewer students are studying science and math in school and, as a result, those who don't may grow up to believe anything and everything someone in a while lab coat with glasses and a pocket protector tells them, never knowing how and why to question and investigate scientific claims for themselves.
3) We require our presidents to be fluent in areas such as law, foreign policy, economics, and the like, why not at least demand that they can pass Science & Math 101? Okay, of course they surround themselves with experts on everything under the sun, but I'll bet you that, on average, presidents have a firmer grasp of the basics and are more likely to hold their own with their advisers in every area save science (present individual in charge excluded, Oops! I just went political...).
I don't know about you, but I would feel a lot more comfortable about our future if the leader of our country had some scientific habits of mind. If you are at all inclined to feel the same, I encourage you to check out the group Science Debate 2008 that is making a serious push for having a presidential science debate. And check out this excellent piece from Salon.com, written by one of the members of the steering committee who explains why this is such an important issue much more eloquently than I ever could.
I'm now turning my attention back to my own scientific debate with my thesis and the relative (in)significance of my own data.
(Image credit: Science Debate 2008)
1 comment:
Thanks for bringing my attention to this topic. I just finished reading the article (and some of the related comments) and then listened to the program on NPR. After teaching 6th grade science for 4 years and recently teaching a humanities course focused on globalization and its effects on technology and the environment I feel so much more informed about our scientific world. The speaker was right, we are falling behind! I'm not sure I want to hear the candidates demonstrate their scientific knowledge but I would like to hear their planned scientific policies. This made me realize that the US is really getting stuck in a rut. We keep talking about the same things over and over because they are the topics presented by politicians as "hot". It really is time that the nerds in the group make some demands. How are we going to progress in this modern world if we are not innovative and take some risks?
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