Do You Have Evidence?

[jarofthoughts]

Last week we were doing a small experiment in the Science class about crystals. Nothing fancy. Just a slight exploration into the formation of crystals using salt and some dye to make little boxes with crystals growing in them. And as we were preparing for the experiment one of the girls asked if we were going to make “real” crystals. Obviously she

Comments

[delphshadow]

Wow, Jar. You've just demonstrated more academic integrity and respect for the profession of teaching than a majority of the professors in American universities. When they figure out how to do it, would you mind donating a few skin cells and a copy of your brain waves so we can duplicate a few million of you? ^_~

Silliness aside, I think it's so cool that you'd divert time from other things to sit your fourth-graders down for the kind of lesson in truth and logic that most Americans graduate from college without having had. Think of how well-run a democracy could be if you had a nation of 306 million people who understood the tools of evaluating evidence and drawing logical conclusions from the evaluation!

[jarofthoughts]

I agree fully. A functioning democracy is dependent on a well-informed public, and while Norway isn't as bad as some, we still have a long way to go before the majority even bothers doing the simplest amount of fact-checking before they make up their mind. All praise the almighty knee-jerk reaction instead.

And for some reason someone's personal opinion is all too often accepted as an argument. >_<

[delphshadow]

At the strangest moments, humans act exactly like herd animals. We even use a term applicable to cattle ("maverick") to describe someone who has the intellectual confidence to break from the mindless masses

[jarofthoughts]

It's not only easier. I've found that the responsibility and freedom of making concious choices scares the hell out of people. So much that I've dealt with the problem in a previous article: http://jarofthoughts.livejournal.com/4676.html ;)