— Still no sign of Senator Wise’s intelligent design creationism bill. But keep in mind that last legislative session’s bills didn’t pop up until the last week of February and first week of March.
— It’s great to see Scripps Florida taking an interest in our state’s science education. Things are looking gloomy for America’s future as a scientific leader unless we get our heads out of our butts.
Q: If bioscience is the future, how are American kids doing in the field?
A: Not well. Compared with the rest of the world, American kids start out in the top 10 percent in fourth-grade science, but fall to the bottom 10 percent by the time they graduate from high school.
Q: What are we doing wrong?
A: Not enough focus on the core sciences: math, biology, physics and chemistry. We tell them about Earth science, astronomy, plant science and marine science. But what we don’t do is explain what the four basic sciences are and what the building blocks are. We go too broad too early. We don’t go in depth enough. . . . You’ve got to understand the big picture of what science is and how all the sciences relate to one another. If you don’t do that, you’ll never get it and you’ll never get a real interest in science.
— The St. Augustine Record carried a story about Oklahoma’s creationism bill biting the dust. Interesting how it’s in the Religious Life section of the paper.
— A columnist for the Daytona Beach News-Journal writes about how irresponsible and short-sighted the next state legislative session is shaping up to be.
A long-held dream of Florida’s more farsighted policymakers from Gov. LeRoy Collins to Gov. Jeb Bush has been to nurture a more stable, high-tech economic sector. With the kind of workers who give a lot back to an economy and get us out of our endless boom-and-bust real estate cycle.
Knowledge industries don’t depend that much on cheap real estate, rock-bottom tax rates and freshly paved wetlands. They do depend on good universities, a culture that is not hostile to science, inquiry and education, and a generalized pleasant quality of life.
So what are we doing? Slashing education. Tearing down the university system gains of the past years. Dismantling environmental protection. And encouraging congestion.
Plus, as a bonus, we’re likely to see legislation that threatens to put the teaching of creationism into biology classes. Yessiree, just the thing to make us a world center of biotech.
— In tough budget times, it’s nice to see some people still see science education as a priority.
The School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee a received a $3,000 grant to go towards the Real Life Science Program.
In addition to that, when parents learned the program was to be cut, they stepped in and found extra money to make sure it lasts until April.
“We know that there’s nothing more critical to the future of our economy and our country than the future generations become grounded in the sciences. It’s critical,” said Leon County Commissioner Cliff Thaell, whose grandson is also enrolled in the school.
