Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

[UK] Parents Baffled By Science Questions [What do they teach in schools these days?" CS Lewis]
Slashdot ^ | 8/13/9 | samzenpus

Posted on 08/13/2009 5:12:05 PM PDT by Clint Williams

Pickens writes

"The BBC reports that four out of five parents living in the UK have been stumped by a science question posed by their children with the top three most-asked questions: 'Where do babies come from?', 'What makes a rainbow?' and 'Why is the sky blue?'. The survey was carried out to mark the launch of a new website by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills called Science: So what? So everything."


TOPICS: United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: scienceeducation; skool
Incredible, and more than sad. C.S. Lewis' professor's question in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is worse than poignant -- how could anyone have foreseen such a fall in only a few decades?

One gets the impression that government-run "services" to the general public should be at least largely, if not completely (there may be counter-examples) shunned and rejected. Not necessarily out-of-hand, but at least after analysis of "what could go wrong?" (Which appears to be the total opposite of Congress' approach these days.)

1 posted on 08/13/2009 5:12:05 PM PDT by Clint Williams
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams
'Why is the sky blue?'

In-credible! Who doesn't know what color the sky is?

Oops, sorry...the question is "why" it's blue?

Well, duh. Everybody knows its Rayleigh scattering.

2 posted on 08/13/2009 5:22:10 PM PDT by thulldud (It HAS happened here!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams

Maybe the government is, in effect, running a breeding and education program to create the Eloi and Morlocks.


3 posted on 08/13/2009 5:22:40 PM PDT by Truth29
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams

Storks, Jesse Jackson, and shutup, kid.


4 posted on 08/13/2009 5:26:18 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham ("Baldrick, to you the Renaissance was just something that happened to other people, wasn't it?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: metmom; Tired of Taxes; wintertime

News like this coming out of Great Britain almost makes one feel good about American schools. But not quite.


5 posted on 08/13/2009 6:02:09 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Liberal sacred cows make great hamburger)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams

They don’t know where babies come from but they have children, where’d they get them?


6 posted on 08/13/2009 6:07:57 PM PDT by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thulldud
Yeah, but to really comprehend Rayleigh scattering, you have to be proficient in Maxwell's equations. That might take another afternoon of study.

BTW, did you hear last week that science is actually unsure of the origins of clouds and new theory suggests they originate from Cosmic rays, not entirely from dust nucleation sites in the atmosphere? I thought that science was "settled" long ago.

7 posted on 08/13/2009 6:23:00 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams

Well, normally I tend to stick up for the British on certain things. But in this I have to concur. People here know very little about science. And they don’t care to know. Sort of an alien concept for me but... There it is. We can thank our space race for having a large swathe of our population literate in the sciences.


8 posted on 08/13/2009 6:28:47 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ProtectOurFreedom
I thought that science was "settled" long ago.

The words "science" and "settled" probably should not appear together in a sentence. There always seems to be some little complication hiding in the details, such as the cosmic rays you mention, which are affected by the solar magnetic flux, which is somehow tied to the sunspot cycles, which may be in their turn tied to tidal effects from Jupiter and Saturn.

We never run out of things to study. That, at least, is settled.

9 posted on 08/13/2009 6:30:24 PM PDT by thulldud (It HAS happened here!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams

this is really sad... my kids can answer these questions...


10 posted on 08/13/2009 6:32:50 PM PDT by latina4dubya ( self-proclaimed tequila snob)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thulldud
Yes, that is settled.

Another case in point. Just last week, some scientists announced that the DNA in all human cells is NOT identical! My daughter just finished a bio sequence at the university and told me the instructor was drilling into their heads until the last day that all DNA in a human being is the same.

11 posted on 08/13/2009 6:35:31 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Clint Williams
'Why is the sky blue?'

Because Darwin painted it that way.

12 posted on 08/13/2009 7:12:57 PM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thulldud
Well, duh. Everybody knows its Rayleigh scattering.

I bet Robert Gibbs doesn't.

Cheers!

13 posted on 08/13/2009 7:23:36 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson