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have like the author a pathological resistance to justified authority I'm not seeing anything of the sort in this blog post. He merely says that we're not doi

have like the author a pathological resistance to justified authority I'm not seeing anything of the sort in this blog post. He merely says that we're not doing a good job of teaching science. We can have a respect for justified authority, and at the same time do a better job demonstrating the foundations of science, rather than simply expecting students to learn by rote memorization.

Barrin92 5y ago
>He merely says that we're not doing a good job of teaching science Not true at all. He equates ordinary high school education with 'indoctrination' (more than once), claims that the education system is responsible for producing conspiracy theories (the main point of the article) and asserts that schools do not teach 'real science'. As for rote memorization, if you want to see actual rote memorization you need to go through a Russian STEM education for gifted kids and a few math competitions. In our Western systems we almost notoriously try to insert 'critical thinking' at every corner. Ironically enough, the Russian system has always produced excellent scientists while we're increasingly falling down the ladder. If anything we need more, not less rote memorization so people don't suck at 10th grade math. The defining feature of the conspiracy theorist is that he is both too critical and sucks at thinking. A conspiracy theorist is a person who questions everything without having the capacity to ask the right questions.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  I don't think they ever claim the education is responsible for producing conspiracy theories. Just that it produces people who are primed to accept lists of "facts" from an authority figure without much critical thinking behind them. Which doesn't create conspiracy theories, but does create an ideal audience for them.

3 ms·

have like the author a pathological resistance to justified authority I'm not seeing anything of the sort in this blog post. He merely says that we're not doi

by JohnBooty 5y ago

Barrin92 5y ago
>He merely says that we're not doing a good job of teaching science Not true at all. He equates ordinary high school education with 'indoctrination' (more than once), claims that the education system is responsible for producing conspiracy theories (the main point of the article) and asserts that schools do not teach 'real science'. As for rote memorization, if you want to see actual rote memorization you need to go through a Russian STEM education for gifted kids and a few math competitions. In our Western systems we almost notoriously try to insert 'critical thinking' at every corner. Ironically enough, the Russian system has always produced excellent scientists while we're increasingly falling down the ladder. If anything we need more, not less rote memorization so people don't suck at 10th grade math. The defining feature of the conspiracy theorist is that he is both too critical and sucks at thinking. A conspiracy theorist is a person who questions everything without having the capacity to ask the right questions.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  I don't think they ever claim the education is responsible for producing conspiracy theories. Just that it produces people who are primed to accept lists of "facts" from an authority figure without much critical thinking behind them. Which doesn't create conspiracy theories, but does create an ideal audience for them.