Dr. Tyson:<\/p>\n
(I find the faux-familiar thing people do with “open letters” really grating, so I’m not going to presume to call you “Neil” through the following…)<\/p>\n
First of all, I should probably say “Thanks,” because I’m using some of your material in my class this term– I had them read Stick in the Mud Astronomy<\/a>, and contrast it with wacky Ancient Alien stuff, and gave them a second assignment based on Manhattanhenge<\/a>, so that stuff’s great. And I’m psyched to hear you’ve gotten your own talk show<\/a>. So, you know, that stuff’s awesome. Thanks.<\/p>\n And I should also note that while I haven’t always agreed with you about stuff you say in public, even that has been pretty productive. My new book, Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist<\/a> has a complex origin, but one of the big starting points was when I disagreed with your comments about scientific thinking back in 2011<\/a>. So, um, thanks for being interestingly wrong.<\/p>\n But, you know, the last little while has been kind of rough. I wasn’t all that distressed<\/a> about the whole “misquoting George Bush” thing, and while I did tweet<\/a> Thony C.’s rant<\/a> about your infamous Newton tweet<\/a>, I wasn’t that bothered by it. It was kind of amusing, and God knows I’ve done my own “Newton’s Birthday” jokes about Christmas.<\/p>\n I have to say, though, that this one kind of crossed a line:<\/p>\n Students who earn straight "A"s in school do so not because of good Teachers but in spite of bad Teachers.<\/p>\n — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 10, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n