Science Fans Heckle Kathy Cox

KG and I spent the afternoon getting donated school supplies packed into backpacks for displaced students who've found their way to the metro Atlanta area. The number and quality of donated items was really overwhelming, and I heard a lot of people saying what I was thinking--Can you believe how much stuff there is here?

Geogria's State School Superintendent dropped by, not to join the small army of volunteers, but to poke around and look smiley while two aides shot nervous glances at me and the other subversives who had *gasp* volunteered their time.

Kathy Cox is the same Superintendent of Schools who tried to ditch the teaching of evolution in Georgia's schools two years ago, and I believe she succeeded in rewriting the history curriculum so that slavery isn't taught in the state of Georgia until eigth or ninth grade.

Honestly, I can't tell you which of those is worse.

I was just reading Discover Magazine (you can tell I hate our freedoms by the fact that I'm essentially a life-long subscriber to a science magazine) and found some interesting numbers in an October 2005 issue article called "Quantum Leap for Schools". Europe surpassed the United States in numbers of doctorates in science and engineering awarded in the late 1980s. Asia surpassed the US in the same category in the late 1990s. Our numbers peaked around 1996 and have been declining, though the chart Discover presents only goes to 2001, which may be the last year for which data is available.

So what does this mean for us here in the United States? It means that innovation will no longer be an area of American primacy. In the mid-20th century, science and engineering innovators, many of whom transplanted themselves here from overseas, made America the economic and technological engine of the planet. In the late 20th century, Asian economies in particular began to mass produce technical equipment using substantially cheaper labor and components, but for the most part selling American innovation back to Americans at a much lower price.

We're looking at the next wave of Asian innovation right now. Did you know that most of the island of Taiwan is covered by a wireless mesh network and that broadband in much Asia sells for less than $20 a month? The next wave of cellphones, being rolled out to American consumers now, incorporate high-quality MP3 players in their design. How do manufacturers know this is viable? Because they've been wildly popular in Asia for several years.

For a variety of reasons, some having to do with education, some having to do with the way that those governments involve themselves in the marketplace, Asia has surpassed us. As long as people who distrust science and politicize education are designing curricula in our schools, we can expect the gap to grow.

The best part of my day was contributing something to the effort of helping people. But a real highlight of that was KG shouting, "Hack, hack! Anti-science, anti-evolution hack!" at Kathy Cox as we passed her. People like her are driving this country into the ground, and the only thing that surprises me is that she doesn't get shouted at constantly.