Ask a teacher on Summer Break

[popeyespappy]

Care to comment on de Grasse Tyson's recent tweet that the rise of flat-Earthers is some of the best evidence for the failure of our education system?

I think his comments are more likely to lead to the rise of flat-earthers than our education system.  The idea that our education system is failing is the part these flat-earthers see.  They don't care about the rest of it--so in a way it validates their opinions without even meaning to  I mean for starters..  you learn about Christopher Columbus and Magellan in school--as early as elementary school actually.  In 1492, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue.  The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  These are typically things schoolchildren learn.

Our school system isn't quite up to snuff--but it's getting better.  And attitudes that it's 'failing' prevail, allowing people to ignore facts because they are presented by 'educated' people.  It allows them to say that schools are nothing more than indoctrination centers.  (And that's exactly what they say).

It'd be like saying "The fact that we haven't cured cancer is the best evidence for the failure of science."  It's not fair to say science is failing despite the advancements it's made just because it hasn't reached an ultimate goal.

I tend to agree with Neil. A few years back a large multiyear study (I'll see if I can find it later today) was published. It concluded one of the problems with the US education system was we didn't spend any time teaching our children what is wrong with crap like flat Earth. What they basically said was that if we didn't want our kids to grow up believing irreducible complexity was is a valid topic for science class we should spend some time teaching them why it isn't. We don't. At least not in the public school system.