I wonder if the time for a Carl Sagan like figure to appear to children and mesmerize them with a soft voice in their living rooms is passed its time. Back in the day, we watched PBS because that was one of 10 channels, unless you were lucky to grow up with cable (I wasn’t), it was PBS or daytime soaps. There are entertainers like Bill Nye, but advocacy for science in general doesn’t really help the cause of making chemistry more accessible, even though it can’t hurt.
In short, I feel as though the problems are many and splendored. Everything from a lack of advocacy (which has lead to ignorance), to poor pedagogy from high school through college has shaped chemistry to be the monster and bane of premeds and premed dropouts alike. The subject isn’t inherently easy, but I’d wager it’s no more difficult than physics (if physics were easier, I assume I’d have gone into that) and I’m not suggesting making it dumber (though, I question the amount of sincerity with which it is taught – sophomore organic chemistry should not be the intellectual gate through which all must pass before getting their membership to the Intelligentsia.)
Interesting. Didn’t know Chemistry was developing a harsher rap than Physics, but I can kind of see where that’s coming from.
Truth be told, if I hadn’t skipped ahead in high school, I too would have found Chemistry to be tedious. 5 years later, and the legacy of a spur-of-the-moment whim is still alive and kicking. That’s power.
July 02, 2009, 6:07pm Comments
