This essay is reproduced here as it appeared in the print edition of the original Science for the People magazine. These web-formatted archives are preserved complete with typographical errors and available for reference and educational and activist use. Scanned PDFs of the back issues can be browsed by headline at...
Archive - October 2024
Myths persist where facts are absent. The microelectronics industry is perceived as clean due to the absence of contrary facts, and because there is so much to be gained by neglecting the bad news about high-tech. The high-tech industry is touted by both liberal and conservative politicians as the industrial salvation...
While these inequalities were not caused by computers, they may well be reproduced and even accentuated by their use. We examine here three areas in which these problems arise: hardware, software, and classroom use. We present more examples on the third area because it is more apt to be overlooked in discussions of...
Our observations and interviews were guided by a common set of orienting questions regarding the relationship between the characteristics of schools, the students they educate and the policies and practices of computer use in the five districts we studied. We found a very strong relationship between (1) the rationale...
I think we have a responsibility to try to point out the different implications of new research, rather than not writing about them. With the topic of PMS, some people interpreted it as another sign that women are all a little bit crazy. Other people interpreted it as finally taking seriously these symptoms that some...
The current policies give unique license to private citizens—academic scientists in universities—to allocate and use public funds as they see fit, so long as it contributes to the interests of science as defined by scientists. This is a license to commercially exploit public resources for private gain. It is...
Basic Mathematics for the people means more than the ability to calculate. It means the ability to reason quantitatively, the ability to use numbers to clarify issues and to support or refute opinions. Mathematics education for the people must also be mathematics education with the people. It cannot be taught using...
The Freeman/Mead affair is not the first time that the press went for symbols rather than substance in science. Press critics note in coverage of scientific controversies a heavy reliance on official or well-established scientific experts. One study contends, for example, that California reporters missed the story on...
During the early 1970s, the lack of a supportive environment for minority students at Haverford disillusioned a number of them. If one examined all of their paper credentials, they had the ability to fulfill the academic requirements at Haverford; nonetheless, many of them experienced academic difficulty, with less...