FREE
500
FOR THE ASKING 480
460
440
420
1963
The Best In Chromatography Is Here
Figure 1. Math and verbal SAT average scores over the past two decades Source: National Center for Education Statistics; "Digest of Education Statistics," 1980
education establishment is well on the way to creating a society in which all are equal rather than one in which all have equal opportunities, and we are letting them do it. Some of the mod ern educationists would give us Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s society in his short story "Harrison Bergerson," where the more intelligent and more gifted were handicapped to make everyone equal. The Handicapper General was the most powerful person in the U.S., and
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TOGETHER WE'RE BETTER
T e a c h e r training a n d d r i v e r education! We train teachers and educate drivers. Isn't something very backwards?
it was a capital crime for an athlete to remove the weighted sacks he wore to keep him from running or jumping well or for an intellectual to remove from his ear the radio receiver that re peatedly played sirens and automobile crashes so that he could not think more clearly than others. In our anxiousness to be fair we are taking away the opportunity, from one and all, to excel. Is this what our society really needs or even wants? To achieve equality are we really willing to lower our standards to the lowest common
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denominator? That won't be equality, that will be mass mediocrity. If you think the educationists have not lost all perspective, then read Richard Mitchell's "The Graves of Academe," in which he points out that our education establishment speaks of teacher training and driver education! We train teachers and educate driv ers. Isn't something very backwards? Our society is illiterate in science! We see newspaper headlines that say "Truck Spills Chemicals." What else could it spill? If you ask the reporter if the truck spilled water or milk, he'll say: "No. It spilled chemicals." The journalist is not likely to know that water is a chemical. Or, if we walk along the boardwalk in Atlantic City we can see a sign that says "Hot Dogs—0.75c" But when we try to buy a hot dog for a penny (with hopes of getting 0.25Φ change) we find out that the storekeeper wants 75 cents and really meant $0.75. The public doesn't even know the meaning of a decimal point. And if you want to suffer real frustration, try to tell the storekeeper what's wrong with his sign. Scientific illiteracy is so widespread that the very word "chemistry" has a negative connotation. The largest chemical company in the U.S., one whose annual sales exceed the gross national products of many nations, has changed its slogan to read: "Better Things for Better Living." The words
