Every
year the United States loses some of its competitive edge in science. Numerous
studies show that our education system is woefully inadequate in ensuring that
our nation’s citizens have a basic understanding of math, physics, chemistry,
and biology and therefore render the vast majority of citizens unable to enter
the scientific workforce. Such deficiencies make the United States increasingly
vulnerable both economically and militarily.
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Posts in Education
In previous entries
in Soapbox, on webcams and cyberbabies, the authors reflected on the challenges
that technologies pose to contemporary humans in their attempts to achieve good
– decent and/or happy – lives in common, for themselves and others. The proposed
ways to face those challenges were tied to education. A somehow shared idea was
that individuals should be, first, raised in specific ideas, values, and
practices, such as civility, respect for others, etc., and, second, that they
should be educated for thinking and approaching technologies in certain ways...
I am on the phone
with my younger daughter. She says she
does not want to talk about school today.
After much prodding I discover the source of her discontent; it is a
math assessment test given that morning.
When
I began my education at ASU, the school was, as many other schools still
are, a traditional university.
The
post-doctor’s dilemma at The New American
university is, how does one market a new and better way of thinking and solving
problems in an academic universe that has not yet caught up?
As
we walked through the relatively new and extremely inviting Yaku Museum of
Water
in Quito, Ecuador, we were struck by the lack of visitors, this late winter
morning in the middle of the week. Where
were all the school buses full of elementary age children with their teachers?
As
I sat this past January in my hotel room at the base of Tungurahua volcano,
listening to her active rumblings, I was both fascinated and apprehensive. It gave me a new perspective on the purpose of
our trip to Ecuador. What do children in
Tungurahua Province need to know about science?
We thought Tuesday would be free day at the Seymour
Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory in Santa Cruz, but that
policy, it turns out, does not apply in August. To be honest, I can’t blame
them, given California’s economic woes. Anyway, it felt good to pay my $4 to
gain entry into this UC Santa Cruz facility dedicated to teaching about the
sea, its inhabitants, and our relationship with them.
Displaying 7 posts. View all Soapbox entries! |
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