The Pale Blue Dot Is Us

After reading Sagan’s “Why We Need to Understand Science” I started to think about how it can be possible for people not to notice this decline in science education happening. Then it came to me that it is because of science that people are no longer sufficiently educated in the math and sciences. Science produces technology, technology produces such devices as video game systems, cell phones, computers, televisions, etc. All of these things are now occupying the time and mind of most adolescents who then grow up to be un-scientifically educated adults like the driver who took Sagan to his science convention. I agree that teachers and parents should encourage kids to learn, however, they are in competition with those productions of science they call electronics. Society is constantly changing which means the people that encompass that society change as well. Children do not learn the same way children were taught years ago. The teaching styles need to change in order to grab their attention and in order to get through to them so that they can start understanding what it is they are earning and what its for. The video on ‘Pale Blue Dot’ just emphasizes the underlying meaning of Sagan’s ‘Why We Need To Understand Science’ article. It shows that science is not just big explosions and chemical fusions, science is us. Science is our world that we live in, the world where we wake up and brush our teeth and do our hair. Science is not just a subject, it is, as Sagan writes, ‘a way of thinking’. It is a way of thinking about our life, our planet, what we do and how we come to do it.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s science!

In his essay, Carl Sagan talks about a meeting with his driver, Mr. William F. Buckley. He opened Sagan’s eyes to how little people knew about real science, as opposed to fake science. Unfortunately for him, the science he was presented on TV was all psuedoscience. The real science never reached him, nor did it reach millions of other Americans. Sagan goes on to say that it is dangerous to remain uninformed about certain scientific topics such as global warming, toxic and radioactive wastes, acid rain, etc. He believes that people are scared of the power that science will put into one’s hands, but he rejects this fear by noting that advances in medicine and agriculture has saved more lives than wars have killed, and other accomplishments that have improved society such as advances transportation, and communication. But just how bad is the problem? Apparently, the American 17 year students placed last in their knowledge of algebra, and third to last in their knowledge of chemistry. Sagan proposes that the problem isn’t because American students are stupid, they just have no incentive to work hard. He says that more money needs to be dedicated into providing adequate knowledge to American students. This would mean higher salaries for teachers, more scholarships, better equipment, including laboratory sciences into graduation requirements, etc. But due to the fact that kids in the United States have their eyes glued to the television screen, providing more educational shows would be the most effective way of  raising interest in science. In fact, through Sagan’s experiences, students are always curious about science, but the problem is that the older they get, the less question they ask in fear that asking a question will result in people thinking that they’re dumb. Sagan believes that the more scientifically educated our citizens are, the better our security is. What is a few weapons systems compared to an army of scientifically developed students who can think for themselves? And in response to Sagan’s dedication and ideas to raising interest in science, the video “Pale Blue Dot” was created to bring to life Sagan’s famous monologue. This video combined beautifully created animation and soothing music to promote and dramatize Sagan as his voice narrates the video.

 

Carl Sagan is a well known astronomer, astro-physicist, and host of the TV show, “Cosmos”. He wrote this essay to promote education, primarily science, to the public. He believes that the United States is poorly educated in numerous, if not all, subjects; that other countries such as South Korea have their students spend so much more time on studying than America does. He wants the attention of everyone: the government, the parents, the teachers, and most importantly, the students. He’s writing down so many different ways that the education system could do in order to provide more adequate education in science to children. This would require the help of the government to pump money into teaching and promoting science. But in order for this to be successful, the teachers and parents need to take action and educate the students and children of America. However, if the ones being taught cannot bring themselves to learn, then it’ll just be a waste of money. That’s why more interesting ways of promoting education such as television shows will be provided. Sagan brings up a very interesting point when he said that the “public understanding of science is more central to our national security than half a dozen strategic weapons system” on page eighteen. In other words, why have a only few computers with no one knowledgeable to operate them when you can have educated people making more of these computers and actually use them?

Reaction to Sagan’s “Why We Need to Understand Science”

Carl Sagan’s piece “Why We Need to Understand Science” reevaluates the lack of motivation for the sciences in America.  He compares the American education system to that of many other countries around the world and tries to find the reason as to why we are so far behind everyone else when it comes to the knowledge of our children in the areas of mathematics and science.  He thinks that things may often be too streamlined and watered down so that the average person can understand something, when really they should be kept the way they were so it forces us to go out and learn what exactly a report or discovery is talking about.  Additionally, this piece discusses the common fear that’s associated with a greater understanding of the fields of science and how the government involvement in such fields have affected the populations view of modern advances.  One last point that is made and seems to matter a great deal to Sagan is that there needs to be more encouragement on children and teenagers to be interested in science and that adults must not be so ignorant or proud when they’re asked a question to which they don’t have an answer to.  Somerfield’s short video which hits some of the major points of Sagan’s writings, overall is saying that we can’t forget that everything that happens to us, for us, by us, and against us, happens here on Earth.  That this is the place that is home to all of us, and that yes from millions of miles away it only appears to be a blue dot in a sea of dust, but to us it is something of far more worth and value.

Carl Sagan who was an astronomer, TV personality, noted author of many esteemed books, thinker, scientist, and professor at Cornell University, was also someone who had a brighter future in mind for America and the children in it.  His thoughts on how we as a country could greater succeed on the global scale were intuitive and clever.  It is clear when reading his piece “Why We Need to Understand Science” that he truly has a passion for the art of science and that he really feels that this passion should be and needs to be felt by all those going through the education system in America.  That a brighter future must begin with a spark of interest.  In this piece he not only describes the problem areas of why there is such a lack of interest in science by Americans, but also how we can change that negative thought process.  How teachers need to be more invigorating, parents need to be more assertive, textbooks need to be more interactive, and students need to be more mesmerized.  He writes this piece to the country as a whole, but also to every teacher, parent, student, scientist, politician, and person out there.  Sagan’s essay is responding to the poor results that the U.S. produces in tests when compared to other nations around the world, and to the fact that many of us think that we are well educated on a topic, but in reality we fall under a false consensus of knowing something since it has been so watered down for us.