Physics Professor shares view on Science in America

Loyola University Maryland Physics Professor Joe Ganem’s op-ed “America’s Love-Hate Relationship with Science” published in Scientific American explores the paradox of corporate and political America’s attack on science and simultaneous push for STEM education.  Dr. Ganem writes, “Given their [political and corporate leaders] financial interests, they do not see how they can live with many inconvenient scientific truths, but they also know that they can’t live without science because otherwise, economic progress would grind to a halt. Their solution to their self-made conundrum is to promote views of science that aren’t really science and views of education that aren’t really education.”

Dr. Ganem goes on to note several examples of attacks on science to promote corporate and political interests followed by examples of a push for STEM education while marginalizing the humanities and the difference between scientific skills and scientific thinking.  He concludes, “The reality is that the liberal arts/STEM divide is a false choice. Science is a liberal art. Sciences and the humanities are bound together by a common goal—the search for truth—and they need each other.”

Read Dr. Ganem’s op-ed in its entirety at https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/americas-love-hate-relationship-with-science/

Professor Ganem is also the author of The Robot Factory: Pseudoscience in Education and Its Threat to American Democracy.