Eddie Larry Wrote:
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>

Quote
Carol stated
> would you agree that their inability to separate
> science from religion is indicative of the general
> lack of education in logic and critical thinking
> that we see so much of nowadays?
>

>
> Science is very mathematical nowadays, people have
> to be really smart to be a scientist. Most folks
> are not so mathematical. That’s the problem.
> There is also social media which places being on
> Instagram or snap all the time as the height of
> human activity. So there are lots of things
> militating against knowledge and logic.
>
> I was at a Washington University dinner last night
> and the speaker was talking about science teaching
> in grade and middle schools. It was pretty
> optimistic; we can only hope it works.


Scientific education is vital, Eddie. Even without the heavy mathematics, the amount of ignorance and denial of the very basics about the earth itself and science's contribution to daily life is actually frightening. We've seen a spike in ignorance and denial of things like the importance of vaccination, of protecting the environment. We've seen denial of the actual existence of space, denial of the moon landings, and denial of even the very fact that the climate IS changing (never mind what's causing it) - to name but a few. What sort of country (I'm looking at you, USA) who has a leader and an administration that's actively degrading scientific education in favour of ridiculous conspiracy theories is going to be a leader in educating the next generation of innovators?

This very thread, and others like it in recent days - the pareidolia ones for example, on Paranormal, the trollish comments and the attempts to excuse them as examples of 'alternative thinking' - are excellent indicators of the abject stupidity that comes to light when education in critical thinking fails.

I hope the speaker you listened to, is successful in promoting science education from a young age.

Carol