Whether you hated or loved studying it in school, science is without a doubt one of the most important fields of study. Through the power of the scientific method we are able to uncover the secrets of our long ago evolutionary past, engineer incredible new machines to make everyday life easier, solve the problems of pollution and climate change, and continue to make many more priceless discoveries. All of this innovation has to start somewhere. That “somewhere” is the classroom. Giving the next generation the tools and science education they will need to create and innovate in the future is one of the most important tasks of our time. This might be put on hold for the next four years, however.
Donald Trump, well-known climate change denier, will soon be in the Oval Office. This could potentially be very crippling for science education in the U.S. The president of the country can be a massive influencer in the minds of young people, and when this is a person who calls the world’s troubling climate problems a “concept….created by the Chinese” a dangerous message is sent. This, unfortunately, is just the beginning of the possible problems for science education under the Trump administration.
Enter Mike Pence and Betsy DeVos, future vice-president and education secretary. To begin with, Pence will also not admit that climate change is a scientifically accepted fact (surprise).
Where he and DeVos are alike is even more troubling. Both have actively encouraged public school science classes to teach students the intelligent design hypothesis. Of course, intelligent design has long been disproven and shown to be nothing more than religious ideology in disguise. 98% of scientists in the country do not support the idea.
Teaching false information as science to the thinkers of tomorrow would be detrimental. On top of that, Pence and DeVos’ “intelligent design” views are not in any way some sort of universal idea. They are emphatically Christian and religious. In the USA there is a reason for the separation of church and state.
In the past, unable to achieve her dreams of teaching intelligent design in public schools, DeVos made efforts to fund schools that would teach it. Through potentially beneficial voucher programs, she pushed to increase funding for private Christian schools. There is, of course, nothing wrong with wanting to better the private school system in America. However, taking away government money to benefit religious education is the ultimate slap in the face to science education.
In short, it seems that Trump, Pence, and DeVos are a dream team for weakening the teaching of science in the U.S. This is an issue that we all need to keep an eye on in the coming years. The bright and exciting future that science can bring is worth defending.
