Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Vorkosigan · 04-07-2002, 12:53 AM

Plenty of Taiwanese are interested in science. But most of them are not. Whether this will change is anyone's guess. The university system here is terrible, and getting worse, not better, with the explosion of private universities in the last five years. Unless one is in a science track, science is almost nonexistent in most curricula. For example, my English majors at the junior college took one general science class.

Michael

Gurdur · 04-07-2002, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by brahma:
How is it then that such a large percentage of major scientific discoveries and innovation come from American universities and labs? Is it the genius of that 10% who are "scientifically literate" that is responsible for this? Or is it due to the non-North American immigrants who were schooled in another country and now work in America? What is the explaination for this disparity?

First reason: the huge gross amount and percentage of foreign post-grad students doing basic research in the USA.

Second reason: the economy of the USA - it can pay for a lot of research.

Answerer · 04-07-2002, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by turtonm:
Plenty of Taiwanese are interested in science. But most of them are not. Whether this will change is anyone's guess. The university system here is terrible, and getting worse, not better, with the explosion of private universities in the last five years. Unless one is in a science track, science is almost nonexistent in most curricula. For example, my English majors at the junior college took one general science class.

Michael

At least the university of Singapore is better than Tawian's and China's, haha.

Vorkosigan · 04-07-2002, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Answerer:


At least the university of Singapore is better than Tawian's and China's, haha.

No question there. Although National Taiwan University and a couple of others in the national system aren't bad.

Michael

JohnR · 04-07-2002, 12:14 PM

Could there be a religious reason for the lack of scientific interest? Those who I work with are mostly conservative christians and they show no interest in science at all. The don't like SETI or NASA or any space science. Waste of money. They want the missle shield but that is about it. If asked about medical research I get a vague answer about private sector doing it. So maybe their kids (certainly not the girls) don't get shown science as a option. Just a thought.

[ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: JohnR ]
DAMN!

[ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: JohnR ]

Brian63 · 04-07-2002, 12:23 PM

I learned more about science from reading Richard Carrier's article:

<a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/SciLit.html" target="_blank">Test Your Scientific Literacy!</a>

than I did in all my years of high school and college.

Brian

Lasseman · 04-07-2002, 02:32 PM

Quote:

o On the assessment of science general knowledge, the U.S. average score average was 480.<snip> The highest score was 559 in Sweden.

Makes me proud to be Swedish. There is a lot of complaining about how bad our schools are, but they must be doing something right.
(Just rubbing it in)

Nickolaus · 04-07-2002, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lasseman:


Makes me proud to be Swedish. There is a lot of complaining about how bad our schools are, but they must be doing something right.
(Just rubbing it in)

Are grades K-12 required for *everyone* in Sweden?

dimossi · 04-08-2002, 06:07 AM

Great feedback everyone. Here is an interesting piece on the topic, science literacy, by Gentry Lee (from August 2000) on :

<a href="http://www.space.com/opinionscolumns/gentrylee/science_literacy_gentry_000804.html" target="_blank">http://www.space.com/opinionscolumns/gentrylee/science_literacy_gentry_000804.html</a>

Quote:

Originally posted by Nickolaus:


Are grades K-12 required for *everyone* in Sweden?

My wife is Swedish and she answered this question:

K-9th grade is required. After that you can go to "gymnasiet" programs that are focused on subjects that interest that student.

Megatron · 04-08-2002, 07:40 AM

You think some of these examples are bad... there's a guy at my work that once argued with us over the chemical composition of water vapor.

He didn't believe (and actually ARGUED with myself and a co-worker) that steam from an iron, or a boiling pot of water, is just heated H2O in a different state.

It was quite difficult to argue with him, however, because I had such a tough time keeping a straight face.

Sometimes I do wonder what some schools are teaching...

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: Zero Angel ]

04-07-2002, 12:14 PM	#15
JohnR Senior Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Eastern PNW Posts: 572	Could there be a religious reason for the lack of scientific interest? Those who I work with are mostly conservative christians and they show no interest in science at all. The don't like SETI or NASA or any space science. Waste of money. They want the missle shield but that is about it. If asked about medical research I get a vague answer about private sector doing it. So maybe their kids (certainly not the girls) don't get shown science as a option. Just a thought. [ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: JohnR ] DAMN! [ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: JohnR ]</p>

04-08-2002, 07:40 AM	#20
Megatron Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: New York Posts: 5,441	You think some of these examples are bad... there's a guy at my work that once argued with us over the chemical composition of water vapor. He didn't believe (and actually ARGUED with myself and a co-worker) that steam from an iron, or a boiling pot of water, is just heated H2O in a different state. It was quite difficult to argue with him, however, because I had such a tough time keeping a straight face. Sometimes I do wonder what some schools are teaching... [ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: Zero Angel ]</p>

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04-07-2002, 12:53 AM	#11
Vorkosigan Contributor Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Barrayar Posts: 11,866	Plenty of Taiwanese are interested in science. But most of them are not. Whether this will change is anyone's guess. The university system here is terrible, and getting worse, not better, with the explosion of private universities in the last five years. Unless one is in a science track, science is almost nonexistent in most curricula. For example, my English majors at the junior college took one general science class. Michael

04-07-2002, 12:23 PM	#16
Brian63 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: My own little fantasy world Posts: 8,911	I learned more about science from reading Richard Carrier's article: <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/SciLit.html" target="_blank">Test Your Scientific Literacy!</a> than I did in all my years of high school and college. Brian

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