CONSEQUENCES
OF ELIMINATING THE REAL EXPERIENCE BASE
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If the current trend to replace real experiences (including
dissections) with abstractions continues, we can expect
even more citizens to suffer and even die from waiting
too long to gain medical care, all because such "meaningless"
education provided no lasting understanding of human
biology. Biology teachers should talk with local physicians
to confirm the abysmal level of anatomical/medical understanding
among American citizenry, and then work to double the
high school laboratory coursework required in both anatomy/physiology
and ecology/ organismic biology.
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The public will not appreciate the diversity and complexity
of living organisms and ecosystems, nor under-stand
the evolving concepts developed by the science process.
Such a public will support inadequate or ignorant health
and environmental policies.
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Non-scientific attitudes about exploratory surgery,
autopsy (see The Scientist Oct. 30, 1989), and
cremation will increase, with great medical and social
costs.
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Because the real world (including dissection) is intrinsically
motivating to most students, the decrease in truly “hands-on”
experiences will contribute to the continued decline
of American students who pursue science careers.
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Foreign schools have been traditionally more authority-based,
with standard “leaving exams” forcing teachers to teach-to-the-test.
Such foreign schools often utilized recitation and authority-based
teaching that provided little recognition for independent
reality-based thinking. American schools have traditionally
left curricula to each teacher and have been lab oriented
in the sciences. As we abandon reality-based lab and
field work for non-lab AP courses, teach-to-the-test
proficiency levels, and computer simulations, we are
moving in the wrong direction at the very time foreign
schools are improving. While the number of students
entering the “science pipeline” and the level of general
public science literacy is falling rapidly in the United
States, it is climbing rapidly overseas.
