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by Hawramani 5398 days ago
While it seems intuitive that a more scientifically 'literate' population is 'better', is 'scientific illiteracy' really a problem?

To me it would be a problem if there were lots of openings for jobs that require scientific skills without there being anyone to fulfill it. As things stand, to me it seems that there are tens, if not hundreds, of qualified people for every possible job opening, whether in academia, government, or the private sector.
1 comments
bluedanieru 5398 days ago
What makes you think they are qualified? Certainly there are a lot of unemployed folks, and there is plenty of work for qualified people to do, but that doesn't necessarily back up your point (in fact, the very issue at hand is that it doesn't).
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Hawramani 5398 days ago
For the claim that 'there is too few qualified people in the US' to be a scientific claim, it needs to be falsifiable. In other words, what evidence do you need to see, in the future, to convince you that yes, now there are enough qualified people? What data-points will you use?

My entire problem is that all of the data-points I've seen used so far are extremely questionable, and there doesn't seem to be enough people questioning them.

The fact that US students have dismal scientific knowledge to a naive person suggests, but in reality in no way proves, that the US has, or will one day have, a shortage of scientifically qualified people.

I hope there are enough intelligent people who are uncomfortable about making the leap of faith from 'US students have bad science grades' to 'the US will experience a shortage of scientifically-qualified people'.

Any redesign of the education system needs to be grounded in science, not fashionable rhetoric.

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bluedanieru 5398 days ago
>I hope there are enough intelligent people who are uncomfortable about making the leap of faith from 'US students have bad science grades' to 'the US will experience a shortage of scientifically-qualified people'.

How about the leap of faith from "there are heaps of scientific and technical jobs for which no qualified candidates can be found" to "science education in the US sucks?" And also the fact of increasing reliance on immigrants to fill those roles when a suitable local (i.e. native) doesn't appear?

Seems falsifiable to me.

edit: basically what I was getting at is that your original statement: "As things stand, to me it seems that there are tens, if not hundreds, of qualified people for every possible job opening" is false afaik.

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