RE: "Without some fluency in science and math, we'll simply be left behind in the same way that Ming Dynasty Chinese scholars were. Increasingly, we face public policy issues - avian flu, stem cells - that require some knowledge of scientific methods, yet the present Congress contains 218 lawyers, and just 12 doctors and 3 biologists. In terms of the skills we need for the 21st century, we're Shakespeare-quoting Philistines."
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Great quote: judges, congressional leaders, presidents should be required to take math or engineering courses because so many decisions are based upon knowledge of science, statistics and math.
The problem is the voting system for Congressional leaders, it isn't like corporate hiring - where you try to create a balance of talent on the team.
Being a congressional leader is one of the few jobs that doesn't come with a list of requirements before you can apply. An engineer on IHUB posted a job adv for a s/c engineer and the requirements for the job was one page long - my thought was: the requirements to be a US President or congressional leader is significantly less than the requirements to be a s/c engineer.
There's something wrong about the voting system because it doesn't establish requirements for knowledge necessary to do the job. Additionally, there's something broke with a system when men are making decisions about women. I'd love to see a completely new congress, President and Supreme Court where diversity was required so that men aren't making decisions for women like they do, which is the same thing as saying men control women. Given the disgust that Gen X and Gen Y women tend to have about the male-dominated system, I'm surprised there hasn't been any type of 60s style upheaval. Probably have to wait until a larger population generation comes into play. I definitely would love to fund constructive change.
Great article. |
