Cathy Young quotes epidemiologist Nicholas Christakis, who says a major failure in handling the pandemic was failure to “educate the public on the fluidity of science”: “When scientists change their mind because of new evidence, that’s a feature, not a bug; that’s what they’re supposed to do."
Christakis notes that many Americans see this reassessment process based on new data as flip-flopping.
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My question: why are we expected suddenly to educate Americans about this basic presuppostion of all scientific research only as a pandemic breaks out?
How is it that American schools are not inculcating this kind of critical thinking and awareness of what science is all about, throughout students' educational process?
How can so many Americans be so lamentably uneducated?
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@wdlindsy
American kids deserve so much better, I would guess the issue is, the size of the country and who controls the curriculum, what is taught at school. Schools are accountable to government. Surely US schools are at state level at least, what about employers surely they demand high standards of people leaving so those students have the skills needed, surely colleges also demand high standards.
@zleap Yes, I agree. I also think that one of our two major parties has deliberately impeded efforts to offer all citizens the best public educations possible, and has persistently attacked and tried to dismantle public education. I'd say that party wants and needs an undereducated populace to keep voting for it.
Indeed, it just seems worse in the US some states probably have a good education others less so.
You need a good 20 years of solid consistent good education, the odd tweak to keep up with things (e.g adding in computing to the curriculum) but colleges / employers need to know where they stand.
@zleap I very much agree. My own perspective on the nation's educational challenges may well be affected by the fact that I grew up in and live in the now very red state of Arkansas, where — I have to be honest — good education has never been a priority of many citizens. We make very bad, self-defeating political choices as a result.