Science Education & Policy

Critical Thinking Vs Rote: Why Asia Leads In Student Standardized Tests But Not Adult Science

Once per year, America goes through cultural spasms over international standardized tests. One group says only more money for government union employees will fix it while another claims young people are just dumber today while another claims that only dism ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 21 2023 - 6:36pm

Cash For Clunkers Fiasco Deconstructed And Some Science Is Saved

"Cash for clunkers", President Obama's 2009 Car Allowance Rebates System (CARS), was hailed as a huge success by the administration and environmentalists- but it was really just another government boondoggle. Not as expensive as $72 billion ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 8 2024 - 9:17am

The Economics You Were Taught? Dead.

This is a companion piece to “Enough: Toward A Sustainable Economics”  https://www.science20.com/fred_phillips/enough_toward_a_sustainable_economics-256755. ...

Article - Fred Phillips - Jan 9 2024 - 8:21am

Rural Areas Need A 'Doctors Without Borders' Initiative From Wealthy Physicians In Cities

If a doctor declares that they are going to another country on vacation to provide free medical care, they get a great deal of social currency from that. Ask a San Francisco doctor to travel to rural California to do the same and you'll be dismissed. ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 10 2024 - 5:06pm

What is Governor Rick Perry really like? A scientist's perspective on my meeting with him

On Monday I did something that up until a few weeks ago I would have thought nearly impossible. I met in person with Texas Governor Rick Perry. Why might this have seemed highly unlikely until recently?  First of all, I'm a lifelong Democrat, while he ...

Blog Post - Paul Knoepfler - Jan 11 2024 - 2:04pm

Consumer Confusion: How Process Labels Are Used To Misinform

In the early days of food labeling and regulations, it was just about mandating honesty. If you go to buy mayonnaise, you shouldn’t have to wonder if it is mayonnaise, the government reasoned, so they passed a law in 1938 requiring honesty about ingredien ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 14 2024 - 9:35am

Prepare For Kindergarten, Prepare For Life

Children who had a successful first 10-14 weeks of kindergarten scored higher than others on tests of academic and social-behavioral skills at the end of the school year, according to a new demography paper. Important parts of the transition – what the sch ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 22 2024 - 10:55am

CDC Regulations Stopped Everything Except The COVID-19 Pandemic

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, government health officials went to Congress to ask for more funding to help with Ebola. Prior to that they asked for more funding to help stop Teen Vaping. Prior to that they asked for more funding to stop the Prediabetes E ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 29 2024 - 7:48pm

Reduce School Violence By Eliminating Grades, Say Academic Psychologists

One of the few things that can get a government union employee in a mandatory industry like education fired is hitting a student. Yet the link between increased tolerance and less accountability for students has correlated to increased violence by teachers ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 27 2024 - 3:37pm

The End Of College Lectures?

Americans like to fix things.  We like to improve and we are convinced the future will be better, a subset of people who want to retreat into the world of the past aside(1), but nothing has changed little despite a century of being criticized like universi ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 29 2024 - 9:40am