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Disengaged Students, Part 4: The Evolution of Anti-Intellectualism

In this 20-part series, I explore the root causes and effects of academic disengagement in K-12 learners and explore the factors driving American society ever closer to being a nation that lacks intellectualism, or the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. The tendency to view scientific fact as merely one theory in a great sea of possible understandings is deeply ingrained in Americans.  This tendency has been deliberately fostered. Since the nation’s founding, people in authoritative positions have periodically managed to convince citizens that actual science is subjective and on the same plane as other unproven theories. While, the term …

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High school Dropout Rates Up; Are Math and Science the Cause?

More rigorous math and science requirements for high school graduation are in place, and simultaneously dropout rates in the country are up. Research back to 1990 showed that the US dropout rate rose to a high of 11.4 percent when students were required to take six math and science courses, compared with 8.6 percent for students who needed less math and science courses in order to graduate. The dropout rate is up to 5 percentage points higher when gender, race and ethnicity are considered. William F. Tate, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School of Arts & …

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Hands-on chemistry comes home

Science is one of those topics that just has to be experienced to be understood. When I was a public elementary school teacher, I truly saw the importance of hands-on activities where science was concerned. For kids to be able to connect to what is truly magical about the world around us, they have to feel it, touch it, and experiment with it. Finding ways to come up with experiments to perform, and the money to do it, is harder to do than it sounds. Even if you have both the money and supplies, giving kids the one-on-one time in …

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