![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogSeeing as how in the last couple of days I’ve blogged about both Mythbusters and the sorry state of science in the US, here’s the best of both worlds: a Popular Mechanics column from Adam Savage of Mythbusters on how to save science education in the US.
Savage argues (correctly, IMO) that science education matters to economic competitiveness, because by 2010, Asia will have 90% of the world’s Ph.D. scientists and engineers. Savage lists three (3) things America can do to help:
Aaron Rowe of Wired has a fourth tip:
I have no idea how effective these tips would be, but they sound like good starts to me.
And of course, there’s a fifth course of action almost guaranteed to improve science ed in the US: not voting Republican.
Save our science,
This is dF
Savage argues (correctly, IMO) that science education matters to economic competitiveness, because by 2010, Asia will have 90% of the world’s Ph.D. scientists and engineers. Savage lists three (3) things America can do to help:
1. Let students get their hands dirty in class. Hands-on experiments are more effective teaching tools than just textbooks.
2. Increase budgets to help fund #1.
3. Celebrate mistakes. Let kids know that teachers and textbooks don’t have all the answers—and that’s okay.
2. Increase budgets to help fund #1.
3. Celebrate mistakes. Let kids know that teachers and textbooks don’t have all the answers—and that’s okay.
Aaron Rowe of Wired has a fourth tip:
We need more artists, inventors, and entrepreneurs -- creative people who are comfortable with science. Bullet proof vests were invented by a pizza delivery guy and some of the best rock climbing equipment of all time was made by a rebel with nothing but an anvil and a high school degree.
I have no idea how effective these tips would be, but they sound like good starts to me.
And of course, there’s a fifth course of action almost guaranteed to improve science ed in the US: not voting Republican.
Save our science,
This is dF
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2008-09-03 12:30 pm (UTC)Another topic near and dear to my heart--I've been watching my profession crumbling around me since I left college and it breaks my heart. I talk about this a lot on my techblog.
We need better funding at Universities, better teaching at all levels (starting in Grade 1), we need to stop this bullshit about outsourcing, we need high tech industries to mature a bit so that they can offer rewarding careers--I'm not just talking about money so much as job satisfaction (cuz, let's be real, most of us geeks are not in it for the glory or the riches). It's fucking horrible out there. There's a reason OFFICE SPACE is about an IT company.
The other thing we need to do is remove the stigma of being an engineer. With Science Fiction, comics, video games and the like becoming ore and more mainstream all the time, it's about time we shed this bullshit about sellotaped glasses and pocket protectors.
-- JF