Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is meant to be. Stubborn ignorance deserves ridicule.
ugh, didn't really think the "tough guy i am very smart" thing was on HN
To be fair, I didn't think evolution deniers were present on HN either.
America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous
91–96 of 96 posts
Re: America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
The way people live today is extremely unhealthy. Cooped up in cities like factory farms, eating mass produced "food" and becoming morbidly obese. The best way to improve your quality of life is not to look to science (Unless you're actually ill), it's to look to nature.
Nah. People living in cities are healthier and less obese than their counterparts living in the suburbs, rural areas, and small towns. The best way to improve your life is to look to science. Please stop spreading ignorance around. You're actively working to hold society's progress back.
Well, lets agree to disagree :) Have a fun life in the human factory farm.
Re: America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous
#93This coming from a man caught plagiarizing his work. People won't stop getting liberal arts degrees, but we need to make sure that more people (specifically, those who might not go to college or drop out) get into these types of programs. Some people don't like writing book reviews and are more technical in nature. They just don't think higher ed is for them because they don't want to go into these liberal arts classes.
Re: America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're being a little dramatic. "People who do not believe in evolution are holding back progress" ... Honestly... The cool thing about science is that whether you think gravity is real or not you will still fall. Progress will always be made in due time..
I present to you Texas science textbooks and their treatment of the theory of evolution. Or shall we teach our future engineers that Pi is exactly 3 too? Ignorant people with influence is a terrible thing.
Re: America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous
#95A broad general education helps foster critical thinking and creativity. Indeed. But critical thinking and creativity are the things second least prized in US classrooms, right after outright disobedience. So it's no real wonder that broad, general education has fallen out of favor.
> Indeed. But critical thinking and creativity are the things second least prized in US classrooms, right after outright disobedience. Really? I never got downgraded for giving an answer that the teacher disagreed with, rather I was given good marks for being able to clearly present my side of a discussion. For the classes I took that were subjective, History, English (in regards to literary critiques), etc, it was m…
* don't think there is any sort of nation wide conspiracy to undermine critical thinking!*
I don't happen to think so either. Sorry I gave that impression. I think that a bias against creativity and critical thinking exists as emergent behavior. Teachers and administrators have to get things done, there's tests to give and grade, forms to fill out, report cards to send out, and loads of standardized testing upon which schools and teachers are rated. Some random kid arguing against some question on a standardized test only disrupts the entire thing. There is a bias, I don't think you can deny it, and it's all emergent, a second order effect of other things.
Re: America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous
#96Can't really comment on America's obsession, but my business and real-life problem solving sense has definitely been empowered by the subjects I pursued in humanities & social sciences domain - rural development, organizational behavior, psychology, economics - apart from my Engineering major. I believe that technology is the backbone when it comes to large scale mobilization of a solution to a problem, but we do need the right perspectives to figure out the solution first.