'I NEED TO EXPRESS MYSELF, NOT LEARN"

It’s not often that I agree with a notoriously liberal columnist in the New York Times editorial page, but I have today. Nicholas Kristoff has a whole editorial on the weak education American children get. Not only did he decry the sub-par education that our country regularly gives it’s children and the uselessness of a current high school diploma, Kristoff didn’t blame it all on George Bush!

More surprisingly, Kristoff stated a position on education that I have long held – that sciences are routinely ignored in deference to humanities.

“The broader problem is not just in schools but society as a whole: There's a tendency in U.S. intellectual circles to value the humanities but not the sciences. Anyone who doesn't nod sagely at the mention of Plato's cave is dismissed as barely civilized, while it's no blemish to be ignorant of statistics, probability and genetics. If we're going to revere Plato, as we should, we should also remember that his academy supposedly had a sign at the entrance: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here."

Did Kristoff just say it’s a problem of society as a whole? He must have received his copy of National Review in the mail today.

Anyway, Kristoff is absolutely right (did I just say that?). When I was high school I only needed to take two years of sciences but was required to take four years of English/literature. Now, I do wish I had paid more attention to the rules of grammar (and all of you reading this probably agree with me), but I would definitely be more useful and valuable in our technological age if I had skipped some Shakespeare and taken some chemistry.

This whole arts/science thing has been on my mind lately because of the annoying ads we see on TV from the group “Americans for the Arts”. They have these commercials where kids would rather read technical literature than dance around like fools. Every time I see on of these (available here for your viewing displeasure), my blood boils.

Look, we live in a technical age and it’s only getting more so. If we as a country want to keep up in the world, we need to stress the sciences more in school and let the trombone playing be an extra-curricular activity.