And where do the parents fit in in all of this? Ya know I was told it takes a village to raise a child but what happens when all the flowers of that village are a bunch of blooming idiots?
This is really a nonpartisan issue. Do ya'll have any idea how hostile our culture is towards those with higher educations, particularly those with science back grounds? They love the products of our minds and hands but hold us in contempt as people.
All through my academic carreer I was discouraged from just about everyone. Peers, adults, educators, my elders, in pursuing my passion for science. I was called every thing in the book, nerd, geek, Mr. Know it all, Webster, Poindextor, etc, etc. The only consistant approval I received for my passion was from my parents.
If we produce a bunch of dimwitted scientifically illiterate morons in our society it is because our society does not value people with scientific skills. Look at the morons we hold up to our kids as role models. Brittney Spears? Barrry Bonds? Hanna Montana? Give me a break! When I was an adolescent my heros were Armstrong and Feinman. I bet 99 out of 100 9th graders today have no idea who either one is. (My guess is that they would think Armstrong is a cyclist and Feinman a comedian, certainly not an astronaut or a physicist.).
This isn't political it's cultural. America just does not value those people who are learned in science. When I've traveled abroad I have been held in high esteem as a man of letters with a graduate education in science, particularly in Asia. Here in the US. I'm just a fuckin geek. And in the contempt for which people of science are held in this nation, the left and right are equally as bad.
If we want more scientifically literate children we need to start out by valuing the scientifically literate people we all ready have and until we start doing that, we'll remain a nation of dummies.
