Chad: Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos
Tom: What Does the Public Really Need To Know?: Science/Math edition.
Chad: The Innumeracy of Intellectuals
Janet: Fear and loathing in the academy.
Join in the fray....
Search this blog
Profile
I am the Online Community Manager at PLoS-ONE (Public Library of Science). My job is to try to motivate you to comment on the papers there. My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
Buy the 2007 Science Blogging Anthology:
Buy the 2006 Science Blogging Anthology:
Recent Posts
- Eat this!
- New and Exciting in PLoS ONE
- To Equine Things There is a Season (guest post by Barn Owl)
- How to get scientists to adopt web 2.0 technologies - Obligatory Reading of the Day
- How to moderate a conference panel
- Geeks for Government!
- Science/Nature things to do with the kids in the Triangle, NC
- Guest Posts on A Blog Around The Clock
- ClockQuotes
- Today's carnivals
Recent Comments
- Rhea Miller on Eat this!
- SC on Eat this!
- John McKay on Eat this!
- Rhea Miller on Praxis #1
- BikeMonkey on Eat this!
- llewelly on Eat this!
- DonnaB on Birds In PLoS ONE!
- Drekab on Drinking Age?
- Coturnix on Drinking Age?
- Sparky Clarkson on How does an Ion Channel work?
Archives
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
Blogroll
Subscribe via Email
Stay abreast of your favorite bloggers' latest and greatest via e-mail, via a daily digest.
My Old Stuff
Read the archives of my old blogs:
Make Me Happy
Add Scienceblogs to your Technorati Favorites!
Make Me Solvent
Resources
Dictionary of Circadian Physiology
Basic Terms and Concepts in Math and Science
I Support
Bloggie Stuff
« An eye-catching yet flawed bar graph | Main | Potential abuse of users' privacy in Serbia »
Innumeracy and related academic turf-defenses....
Category: Academia
Posted on: July 26, 2008 7:10 PM, by Coturnix
Find more posts in: 
Education & Careers
Comments
OK. We can do a few things:
1. We could try to establish what people MUST know by way of math.
2. We could figure out when they should know that.
3. We could stop being surly about our own expertise and realize most people don't need to share it or even have a vague notion of what we do.
4. We could let people choose what they need to know with some competing and carefully vetted guidelines that are non-binding. Remarkably, people will jump through the hoops that have value to them. We all do it.
5. We could stop acting as if there is some idea of a discipline that entails a certain set of knowing. That's crap. It doesn't exist. Get over it.
Posted by: Ryan Lanham | July 26, 2008 9:49 PM
Those are 5 good questions.
But who is the "we" of "We could try to establish what people MUST know by way of math" and the other 4?
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union... and intersection?
We, the pillars of the institutional Science edifice?
We, the Sciencebloggers?
We, the majority of adults who don't know whether the Earth revolves around the Sun or the Sun revolves around the earth, whether an atom or an electron is larger, whether one can see the Venus by day with the naked eye from the surface of the earth, and who don't know how to do compound interest arithmetic?
We, the uncredentialed Boards of Education of local communities?
We, the national Academy of Science?
We, the bureaucrats of the Department of Education, with unwavering dedication to President Bush's great legacy, No Child Left behind?
Begs the question. Who should ask the questions, answer the questions, weight the answers, develop the policies, execute the policies, do the math?
Posted by: Jonathan Vos Post | July 27, 2008 1:34 PM