A required class we actually need

In an effort to provide “genuine literacy” and quantitative reasoning skills to students, the College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) has created firm English and math requirements. Although many students grumble over these required classes, ultimately, proficiency in these areas is an obvious “must have” for the well educated individual.

I strongly believe there is another educational necessity in our world today. As Carl Sagan stated, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”

We have noticeably welcomed the products of science into our lives, particularly in the realms of transportation, communication and medicine. Furthermore, science has a central position in much of the world’s present controversial concerns (e.g. global warming, the energy crisis and stem cell research). However, many of the important decisions are made by people who have far too little understanding of the basic science behind these ideas.

Although we are usually informed by the experts on the crucial scientific issues, the lack of understanding of general scientific reasoning among the population and public leaders is great enough that we are often either overly disbelieving of well established ideas or too accepting of poor ones.

The COAS attempts to address these concerns by having students fulfill Natural and Mathematical Sciences requirements. However, these can be met by taking highly specific classes (e.g. Basic Physics of Sound or Disease and the Human Body) that do not provide students a complete picture of science. This process is somewhat like taking a class on the Vietnam War and then assuming competency in American history.

I propose that a required course be created that is targeted at soundly instructing students on the crucial aspects of science. I envision a course with a title such as, “The Modern Scientific World.” The course objectives would include: showing how historic systems of reasoning have evolved to our present trust in scientific philosophy, learning of the major discoveries and discoverers that provided our current picture of the world, discussion of past and present controversies and investigation of the key issues science is expected to confront in our lives today. Ideally the class size would be small, with a discussion-based approach that would ensure students are actively thinking about the ideas.

Furthermore, I do not think anyone should be able to “test out” of such a course. Although many of these issues were touched on in middle and/or high school, a new level of maturity and depth in the material is absolutely necessary. I also believe even science majors should not be exempt from the class, as many of these students have not been properly taught the true foundations of their discipline; you can memorize the biochemical pathways of photosynthesis or formulas for gravitational acceleration without any understanding of the big picture.

The influence of scientific thinking and the information it has presented to our world is too significant to set aside for the discretion of a few highly educated people who must desperately attempt to explain themselves to the politicians. The crucial points of scientific understanding must become as much a cornerstone in the mind of all educated Americans as have literacy and mathematical reasoning.

E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu