Thursday, March 18, 2010

Science Ed in trouble -Forget blue skies, we're under a cloud right now

LATELINE
Penny Hackett (CSIRO chief ) presumably doesn't disagree that science is increasingly politicized;  its just that she isn't the person to say so,     nor is she the person to prescribe the way out .
Ticky did a good job with some good questions but no answers came
" I don't know of any dissent,  except we do whatever we do to a very high standard " might just go down as political not scientific.
More on the dilemma of science education here
Penny Sackett was completely out of her depth on the critical question of why kids don't want to do science...  and lets not do a U turn  to Jeff and think its just about money .  As one who had a great career in science , I know that MOST of the great careers of independance in applied env science are just plainly no longer on offer.

Yes Ticky,  in areas i know these dull edged attempts by CRC and quangos  to FOCUS  but they often only  add to the confusion , they duplicate and their role is dubiuos because they interfere with good information flow .( questions and answers ).
 Great to see the ABC taking the issue seriously.
 Realistically,  the debate needs an ongoing forum to be effective.

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