The War on Math and Science

Did you know America declared war on math and science in this century?

That's the title of one of the chapters in Friedman and Mandelbaum's book, "That Used to Be Us."

If you thought we were emphasizing math and science in our schools as all the politicians keep preaching, this title grabs you and makes you say, "Huh."

But I kept reading,  I realized words don't mean anything. Action is reality. (James2:17 for a Biblical bent, which essentially says "Faith without works doesn't exist."

so what are they talking about?

Math--the huge national deficit which began to grow after 2000. Vice-president Dick Cheney saying "deficits don't matter," and politicians wanting to cut taxes. That's war on math. It won't work for you and me--let's go charge everything and then take a cut in pay--and it isn't working for our country.

The war on science--politicians--including Oklahoma's own wholly owned puppet of energy companies Jim Inhofe--claiming that man-made climate change is a hoax. I'll admit, climate change isn't all the fault of fossil fuels, but to deny what most scientists int he world document is criminal or ignorant. Ever notice how much warmer it is in cities than the country during summer? Why? Concrete, and people. that's man made climate change. Science.

Now everybody agrees the deficit is the problem, and it's fair to debate how remedy that. But to delude ourselves that we can do it by cutting revenue without cutting spending is  to live in fantasy.

To deny that we must do something to help remedy the problems of climate change is also.

America is in trouble because our actions don't match our words.

The pages of constant change

I'm reading Friedman and Mandelbaum's book, "That Used To Be Us" about "How America fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back."
http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/that-used-to-be-us

It's one of those slow read books that make your brain hurt. A chapter a night is about all you can take, because it's heavy food that takes time to digest.
On top of that, since so much depends on education, I keep comparing what they're saying being disconnected to the functioning of higher education, especially at UCO, and realizing how many people know this, but more alarmingly, how many people don't get it, or won't get it, or don't care. I'm referring to the need of creativity and leadership versus a system that demands lots of forms and standardization, with more and more rules coming down everyday.  Consider this comment from a business CEO:  "More and more, innovation that happens from the top down tends to be orderly but dumb. Innovation that happens from  the bottom up tends to be chaotic but smart."

Other points  I underlined: "So sometimes you need to inject chaos into the classroom." ""Challenging the status quo is the most critical thing," for employees if a company is going to survive.

At any rate, it's been five years since Friedman wrote the landmark "The World Is Flat, "and there's been so much change since then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2BguxRSyY
The authors say the merger of globalization and the IT revolutions (specifically the mobile IT revolution) is what America is not adapting to. Consider this  from one of the book's chapters about education:
"In 2005 Facebook wasn't even it it. It had just started up....'twitter' was still a sound, the 'cloud' was something in the sky, '3G' was a parking space, 'applications' were what you sent to college, and 'Skype' was a typo."  And the iPhone didn't exist. They write about one new businessman: "His head office is an iPad."

It's not a gloomy book, but a disturbing one. Consider this conclusion, quoting a businessman, "Once all the technology is evenly spread, "all the old-fashioned stuff will start to matter even more....the only advantage you can have is the human self....How good is your school system?,,,"The technology everyone will have."

What are your foundations?

I grew up where foundations lasted longer than the people who made them. Never much thought about it, just took them for granted.

Some of the ruins, and foundations, of the Pecos Pueblo, east of Santa Fe

In the arid Southwest, especially New Mexico, we'd visit Indian ruins where you could see the crumbling rock walls of buildings set in place hundreds of years before. The climate helps preserve them. In more recent times, I've camped at Chaco Canyon http://www.nps.gov/chcu/index.htm  amid ruins at least 1,000 years ago.

I came across this photo of the ruins at Pecos. http://www.nps.gov/peco/index.htm I always wondered about the people who lived in those rooms so long ago, and I wonder more now about the people who put those stones together. I wonder what they thought, how they talked, how they lived. I know they had a different sense of time than us, that they were tougher than us without electricity or central heat, or running water.

Yet they put in place stones and foundations that outlasted them, and will outlast us. Some would call it primitive, but it was not. Much, especially the Anasazi, was precise and oriented with the heavens.

Ruins at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Started me thinking about foundations in humid Oklahoma and Texas, where I've seen rotted or termite -eaten boards sitting on the ground, and crumbling concrete or concrete blocks serving as foundations sinking into moist earth.

Archaeological digs on the east coast can barely recover traces of early white settlement...the foundations are gone, sometimes no more than mounds of earth.

Have you lived in a house where the foundation cracks, or sinks, or decays? Then you  get bugs and rot and slugs in the house. We're luck today we have building codes---yes it costs more, but at least, especially with slab floors, there are standards to prevent foundation decay.

But other foundations are crumbling...personal, social, and political, in this country and elsewhere. Religious and political turmoil here at home are common with others around the world.  I know...I disagree with many of my kinfolk, and as long as we can respect each other and still disagree, but even argue--we're ok. But when we can't the foundations of our country crumble, as they are now

The foundations of civility in disagreement, of compromise for  the common good, of listening to people.

I'm reading Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum's book "This Used to Be Us," http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/that-used-to-be-us about how America fell behind in the world we invented.

They essentially say the same thing...the foundations are crumbling.

I'm reminded of the foundations I grew up with, especially from my East Texas  mother...love your family, care for your family, be respectful of others, hear them out, look them in the eye, don't be rude, have manners, be polite, say "Yes Sir" and "Yes ma'am," don't hate.

I started thinking about this during the reunion of first Culp cousins last April in East Texas. We have many differences, but solid foundations. I know personally, that when I've strayed from those foundations, or neglected them, or ignored them my life has suffered.

Sounds like stuff from the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't it?  It really bothers me that many of these people preaching hate and discrimination and violence today claim to be Christians. They need to read the foundations--Matt. 5-7.

But this isn't about just politics or religion, it's about every foundation we have. If we're civilized, we keep our foundations strong and build on them. then they'll last. Every stone has a place, every stone contributes to the whole. Damage one, and all suffer.

And if we don't--a century ago, England was the  world's  greatest nation and civilization. It's not today. All foundations can  rot and crumble and disappear...and an arid climate won't sustain them.