Re: When Dinosaurs Disappointed

[carlo godel <regiaero@gj.net>]

One must remember that by definition at least half of the population has less
than normal intelligence and it manifests itself in many ways one is that more
money is spent on beer or entertainment than education and the sciences in this
country or any other contemporary country on this earth. I was lucky enough to
have been in school in the late 50's when Sputnic orbited the earth starting
the space race and with it a doubled curriculum of the sciences and
mathematics, I was in heaven, but it ended all too soon when the U.S. leapt
ahead and landed on the Moon.
That was the beginning of the end of science education in the U.S. as the
sciences were trivialized by the media (we don't need to do that anymore) so we
didn't. Here we are, darn it, hat in hand waiting for the next hand out from
wherever we can get it. You can't blame the parents for not wanting their kids
to go into paleontology as there are too few jobs and they are all low paying
ones at that.
sorry for the rambling on      Carlo






TRUETT GARNER wrote:

> > Why is dinosaur science intrinsically less important
> > than (fill in virtually any other topic imaginable),
> > so that programs that do not adequately reflect
> > current thinking are nonetheless to be commended for
> > simply addressing the topic *at all*?  That's not
> > meant as a rhetorical question -- I'm genuinely
> > curious to hear responses to this query.
>
> Unfortunately , the general public still regards dinosaurs and other
> prehistoric life as"Prehistoric Monsters" and dismisses them as 'kid stuff
> " .Paleontology is barely touched-on in our schools . 9 times out of 10 ,
> the kids know more than the teachers. .
> Here in the south , where I live , the biggest reason for the relative
> unimportance of dinosaur science has to do with a certain banned topic on
> this list . Suffice it to say , most people in this area refuse to believe
> that anything is more than a million years old . Consequently , when asked
> about what kind of art I do , and when I reply , I get pretty much the same
> response..." You never did grow out of that stuff , did you ?" or
> "I'll bet kid really like that" and finally,"You really don't believe those
> things existed , do you?" . It gets worse .
> Regards ,
> Truett Garner