There’s an interesting report at Inside Higher Ed today on a study of religiosity and college. Some of the results will probably come as a surprise to many people around ScienceBlogs: # The odds of going to college increase for high school students who attend religious services more frequently or who view religion as more… Continue reading Religion Leads to Education
Category: Politics
Dispatches from the Class War: Educational Consultant Edition
The New York Times has a habit of publishing these loathsome little profile articles that either belie the paper’s liberal reputation, or are a stealthy attempt to bring about the Red Revolution by stoking class hatred. These generally take the form of profile stories about wealthy suburbanites in Westchester County or Connecticut, who have more… Continue reading Dispatches from the Class War: Educational Consultant Edition
Unscientific America: The Pluto Thing
I’ve been really surprised at the number of people writing about Unscientific America who are confused by the discussion of the Pluto incident (Mad Mike is the latest, but it’s not hard to find more). For those who haven’t read the book, the first chapter opens with a description of the public reaction to the… Continue reading Unscientific America: The Pluto Thing
Unscientific America on Jobs in Science
The most unfortunate thing about the furor over Unscientific America is that the vast majority of the shouting concerns a relatively small portion of the actual argument of the book. Far too much attention is being spent on the question of whether Chris and Sheril are fair to Myers and Dawkins, and not nearly enough… Continue reading Unscientific America on Jobs in Science
Rationality Stops on Sunday
I am a fan of the New York Giants. I believe that they can win every game they play. I hope that they will win every game that they play. I get emotionally involved in their games to such a degree that my heart pounds and I get short of breath when they face a… Continue reading Rationality Stops on Sunday
The Loud Bigotry of Blog Conversations
I’ve sometimes seen it said that in order to have a productive discussion, people on both sides need to be willing to change their minds. I think that’s probably slightly overdetermined– you can find examples of cases in which neither side was going to change, but they managed to sustain a mutually beneficial dialogue all… Continue reading The Loud Bigotry of Blog Conversations
Stolen Question: Who’s Coming to Dinner?
I’m running way behind this morning for a variety of reasons, so I’m going to swipe another easy question and throw it back to the audience. this one’s from Eric Lund, who asked: If you could attend a dinner with any major political figure in the world, who would it be, and why? The answer… Continue reading Stolen Question: Who’s Coming to Dinner?
What People Think About Scientists
Just in time to feed into the discussion surrounding Unscientific America, there’s a new Pew Research Poll about public attitudes toward science. As is usually the case with social-science data, there’s something in here to bolster every opinion. The most striking of the summary findings, to me, is the second table down, in which the… Continue reading What People Think About Scientists
This Is My Job
I got a weirdly hostile comment to my popularization post last night: You have some chutzpah. You are being paid, probably quite well, to do research! Journalists are paid, not nearly so well, to popularize research. It takes some nerve to take an extra year’s salary, and to take time away from your real job—and… Continue reading This Is My Job
Scientist PACs and Judges
One of the most interesting suggestions made by Chris and Sheril in Unscientific America is the idea that science needs to play political hardball (page 158, in the endnotes): Why not form a nonpartisan science political action committee, or PAC, devoted to funding candidates who are either scientists themselves or who make science a strong… Continue reading Scientist PACs and Judges