By Hal Brown. My blog has links to stories that piqued my interest today
I am old enough to remember when the Russians shocked the world, and the United States, when they launched the first satellite. I heard it on the radio before I left for school in 1957 and when I got there I told classmates that the Russians had launched a satellite and nobody believed me.
Following this launch there was a national recognition that American schools were dismally behind in teaching science.
This is from the Office of the Historian of the United States:
Sputnik, 1957
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the earth’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1. The successful launch came as a shock to experts and citizens in the United States, who had hoped that the United States would accomplish this scientific advancement first.
The fact that the Soviets were successful fed fears that the U.S. military had generally fallen behind in developing new technology. As a result, the launch ofSputnik served to intensify the arms race and raise Cold War tensions. During the 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union were working to develop new technology. Nazi Germany had been close to developing the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) near the end of the Second World War, and German scientists aided research in both countries in the wake of that conflict. Both countries were also engaged in developing satellites as a part of a goal set by the International Council of Scientific Unions, which had called for the launch of satellite technology during late 1957 or 1958. Over the course of the decade, the United States tested several varieties of rockets and missiles, but all of these tests ended in failure.
The Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite was one accomplishment in a string of technological successes. Few in the United States had anticipated it, and even those who did were not aware of just how impressive it would be. At 184 pounds, the Russian satellite was much heavier than anything the United States was developing at the time, and its successful launch was quickly followed by the launch of two additional satellites, including one that carried a dog into space. Together, these orbited the earth every 90-minutes and created fear that the United States lagged far behind in technological capability. These concerns were compounded when the United States learned that the Soviet Union also tested the first intercontinental ballistic missile that year.
The Harvard Gazette published this in 2007:
How Sputnik changed U.S. education — Fifty years later, panelists consider a new science education ‘surge’
Bullet points:
- Education experts said Oct. 4 that the United States may be overdue for a science education overhaul like the one undertaken after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite 50 years ago, and predicted that a window for change may open as the Iraq war winds down.
- Though Sputnik was a relatively simple satellite compared with the more complex machines to follow, its beeping signal from space galvanized the United States to enact reforms in science and engineering education so that the nation could regain technological ground it appeared to have lost to its Soviet rival.
- The post-Sputnik reforms were put in the hands of scientists, much to the dismay of some educators and concerned citizens who had previously had enormous input on curriculum design. Several of the changes, such as including hands-on laboratory experience, remain in use today, the speakers said.
Here’s another article from 2007:
Sputnik Left Legacy for U.S. Science Education, NPR
So much for the surge that science educators were urging for in 2007.
Here it is 2020 and I would venture a guess that very large minority of Americans couldn’t pass a basic science test like this one, this one, or this one from BuzzFeed (which I had the most wrong answers on) and many more of them would be Trump supporters than Biden supporters.
Take at least one of the tests. See how you do. Ask yourself how you think Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s scores would compare. Consider how someone like Matt Gaetz would score. His latest pronouncement about Covid was mind boggling. How about Louie Gohmert who introduced a bill to ban the Democratic Party? Fortunately the idiot racist Steve King lost his primary challenge. However, soon Congress may have a member who will out-dumb even these morons. If she wins the QAnon queen Marjorie Taylor Greene may hold this position.
In case you missed the fact that Sputnik is still highly significant to the Russians consider this:
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia is the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine—dubbed “Sputnik V.”
Russia skips COVID-19 vaccine trial, says millions to be vaccinated in months — Despite lack of data, design pitfall, Putin said his daughter was already given a dose.
I was watching interviews with a variety of people including maskless Trump supporters and masked Biden supporters abut whether Donald and Melania Trump testing positive, and the president having symptoms, changed their views about Covid. Neither group said their views had changed. The Trump supporters gave the usual Trump line that there was nothing to worry about. Those identified as Biden supporters basically said this demonstrated what they knew all along.
What this boils down to me is that science education in the United States for a significant number of students is sadly lacking.
A Pew study from 2017, U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries, shows that we ranked in the middle. Look at the countries that rank above us. (Click here to enlarge)
Click to see bottom half of chart.
Just who are the people who are bringing down our ranking? How many are the sort of people willing to believe every lie Trump spins?
I don't want to give up on successfully educating all but a few of the adults. So many have been so brainwashed by Trump that they will not open their minds to understanding basic science. This includes not only Covid but more abstract science like climate change (for those whose houses haven’t burned down in wildfires) unless Donald Trump himself admits he was wrong. Since Trump has never done this I am not even sure a close brush with death can lead him to do it.
The entire country needs another Sputnik moment when it comes to education reform not only in science, math, and reading, but also learning about the significance of history and crucially learning critical thinking in all areas right down to elementary school.
About me.