Sometimes You Have to Shake Your Head

And Wonder

Astronomy is one of those sciences that acts as a gateway to other sciences. That doesn’t mean it’s easy — but it does have an attraction to many people.  So, we use it to get folks interested in other sciences. But, what does it mean when students cannot even use simple everyday tools of science?

I’m not going to mention names or states in the U.S., but recent correspondence in my mailbox brings stories of college students in one state who don’t know how to use a ruler.  You know, one of those things that we all grow up using to measure things?  It doesn’t matter in which scale the ruler is printed — the students I read about didn’t know how to use a ruler.   Another correspondent described college students who didn’t understand the concept of scale on a map — as in “one inch equals XXX miles.”  These were college students. Presumably they went through some kind of educational process before getting to college — but I have to wonder just what was taught in the schools they attended.  I could venture that perhaps math and science were devalued in their schools so that something else could be taught.

One wonders how these people will get through life doing daily tasks — let alone understanding astronomy or chemistry or any of the sciences that affects our lives.  I wish these stories were just anecdotal to one place in the world, but they are representative of  too many places in the U.S. alone where science and common sense and just plain thinking weren’t taught or valued.