nukes
Tonight, the honors program and the residence hall organization co-sponsored a debate analysis event, in which clips from last night’s Presidential debate were shown and a faculty member from Communications (also campus debate coach) and I served as “expert” commentators. We also encouraged discussion with the very smart and energetic group of students.
At the end of the debate, the Comm. Prof. — an old 60s radical — went on a little rant about how upset he is that both candidates support nuclear power, which he claimed is incredibly dangerous. Though progressive and enthusiastic Obamaniacs to a person, the students were having none of it. Several of them work in the campus’ nuclear research facility and touted the virtues and safety of new nuclear technology (particularly nuclear waste recycling). Comm. Prof. held his ground and said that he’s most concerned about the transportation of nuclear waste, but he was clearly outmatched on the science. To head off an embarrassing situation, I noted that while most of my engineer friends insist that nuclear is the only way, all of my liberals friends (including my own 60s radical parents) are scared to death of it. I added two other notes:
1. Perhaps most troubling is that energy is not treated as a public resource in this country; it’s part of private enterprise. As such, the nuclear power companies’ first interest is in profit. Perhaps, if it were publicly-held, we could emphasize the safety first, making sure we protect people before we make a buck.
2. I simply do not have the knowledge to know who is right. In the realm of science education, I am a distinctly average American and do not know enough to evaluate claims about nuclear power (despite reading coverage of it in the Times, The New Yorker, and Mother Jones). Many times when we talk about reforming K-12 curricula to produce more informed citizens, we emphasize improving social studies. But I would argue that the citizen of today needs a very different science education. Forget memorizing the periodic table — that has helped me never. Americans like me would benefit greatly from an education on nuclear power, climate change research, and other areas of science that are genuinely relevant to our lives.
From this experience, I came away with the social goal of encouraging reform of science curricula and the personal goal of learning enough to have a position on nuclear power. Any resources you might recommend?
Well written. I’d have to agree that I have my reservations about nuclear energy, more from the standpoint of national security than a horrific accident. Securing nuclear waste is a tough issue.
Our building of more nuclear plants is tough to do considering how we prevent other countries from building their own plants. It gives Iran a big advantage in their argument to build their own plants.
I certainly agree that science and math education must be reformed to include real world examples. One of the key reasons we managed to get ourselves into this economic crisis is the simple fact that people do not understand even the basics of compound interest and how it can affect your life.
I was never taught anything about economics or basic financial planning in school and obviously, by the way we have abused debt in this society, that is an enormous problem that must be addressed.
averageuscitizen
October 8, 2008 at 9:18 pm