THE MYTH OF SCIENTIFIC LITERACY

Scientific literacy has become one of the catchwords of education—so why does a noted educator claim that universal scientific literacy is neither attainable nor desirable? Shamos, professor emeritus of Physics at New York University and former president of the National Science Teachers Association, traces the push for scientific literacy to a mistaken perception that America has a shortage of trained scientists and concern over declining science test scores. Granted, the difficulty of most scientific disciplines leads to a substantial dropout rate among the unmotivated at the high school and college levels. But while many students express a vague interest in science, there is no evidence that improving science instruction would increase the number of citizens competent to decide on public issues involving scientific questions, or slow the growth of antiscientific New Age philosophies and attacks on the ``elitism'' of science. And in fact, the supply of working scientists and science educators appears to be adequate to real demands; nationwide, fewer than 0.2% of job openings for high school science teachers go unfilled in a given year. Rather than force-feeding science to a population that fails to see its relevance, Shamos advocates a curriculum emphasizing a broad appreciation of the nature of the scientific enterprise for most students, solid training for the career-oriented, and an acceptance of the need for experts in resolving scientific issues that affect society as a whole. As for the perception that America's graduate schools are populated with foreign nationals who take their knowledge back home, he has a simple suggestion: Offer any student earning a Ph.D. in a scientific subject an automatic green card, thus insuring a steady supply of highly motivated new talent for the American scientific and technological marketplace. Shamos's style is dry and didactic, but his points are well reasoned and worth careful consideration.