Virtuous but not entirely realistic. Facts tend to be very flexible, for
example, look at how history is presented in US, Canadian, Latin American,
European and Asian classrooms - including institutions of higher learning.
The science classroom is generally the only place where students are exposed
to scientific concepts. Opposing views, such as those of creationists, are
not always presented in the classroom, but they are promulgated in churches
and often endorsed by public figures. The debate is stacked.
Consider some of the issues that have generated scientific consensus in the
recent past, such as the risk that some species will go extinct because of
habitat loss caused by development. We are up against developers,
politicians, and people who want cheap housing. How hard should we press our
case? Should we stop short of advocacy? The challenge becomes even greater
when we are concerned about some species that we as ecologists consider
vital, but which is far from charismatic, like some ugly polychaete
burrowing through the slime.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Edwards, Ivan" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] One more thought on scientists and action
Before you publish your results, you might like to read through some of the
recent articles posted by Stanley Fish at http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com.
Professor Fish has given a lot of thought to the appropriateness and
boundaries of political activism as they affect Faculty in institutions of
higher learning. If I've followed his arguments correctly, then basically he
believes that activism and advocacy belong in the private realm, and should
not intrude in the public classroom. Our duty as citizens is to advocate for
what we believe to be true; our duty, and contractual responsibility, as
science educators is to present the scientific method, to show how it has
been applied in our specific discipline, and to present the ongoing dabate
over interpretations of results. If we stray from this path, and focus only
on the results that our private activism "tells us" are true, then we become
indoctrinators, not educators. It is a fine line, but an important one, and
I wish you the best in your attempts to walk it.
