I’m not exaggerating when I say that I think the lack of respect for math and science is one of the largest unacknowledged problems in today’s society. And it starts in the academy — somehow, we have moved to a place where people can consider themselves educated while remaining ignorant of remarkably basic facts of math and science. If I admit an ignorance of art or music, I get sideways looks, but if I argue for taking a stronger line on math and science requirements, I’m being unreasonable. The arts are essential, but Math Is Hard, and I just need to accept that not everybody can handle it.–Chad Orzel, Inside Higher Ed
When I teach “News Writing,” I include a brief unit on reporting with statistics and percentages, and the “New Media Projects” seminar exposes upper-level students to various computer programming tasks.
I wonder whether Orzel would feel comforted to know that I regularly encounter people who laughingly dismiss their self-proclaimed inability to master the (heart-breakingly simple) rule about when to use “its” and when to use “it’s.”
No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater…
This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.
Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve…
Nothing in this stack is pressing, but they do include rough drafts of final papers,…
Here’s the underlying problem. We have an operating image of thought, an understanding of what…
Representing the Humanities at Accepted Students Day.
View Comments
I guess we're lucky we have the Web 2.0 so we can unleash that spite on each other. (The comments in IHE are moderated, so they never seem to get too bad.)
Another good link...thanks for sharing. I always seem to find the chatter in the comments almost as interesting as (and sometimes more entertaining than) the articles themselves. There's an awful lot of free-floating spite out there in academia!