Bill Nye thinks Socialization > Science Education

In a recent Q&A session on his Facebook page, one fan asked Bill Nye a question that many in the homeschooling community have been hoping for a positive answer to.

The homeschool community is severely lacking in real science curricula. Will you give thought to creating a science curriculum for the ever-growing number of secular homeschoolers?

I thought this would be an excellent project for him myself; one that would be a great resource for homeschoolers, as well as a great source of income for Mr. Nye.

His response:

Use your judgment. The rest of us out here, want your kids to appreciate society and the importance of working together in school and in life. A person working alone will probably not build the future 797 airplane, for example. It takes people who can work with and around people. Carry on.

This response was very disappointing, a slap in the face of the secular homeschooling community. A simple "No, but please continue to use my existing work in your lessons" would have sufficed. While homeschoolers are quite accustomed to hearing the "But socialization!" argument, it appears they did not expect such a rebuke from The Science Guy.

I found this story here, which was linked by The Libertarian Homeschooler on FB. I was able to find the thread on Bill Nye's FB page though, and here is my screenshot.


Socialization trumps Science Education? Come on, Mr. Science Guy...

Tell that to my 6 homeschooled cousins,

All on the way to the Ivy League, their education seems to put them well ahead of the curve.

I'd wager on them over what public school produces.

reply to post by eMachine


That's not what he said. What he's talking about is teamwork, something even our most prestigious and studious researchers are well-experienced in. The same science you enjoy observing at the hand of Mr. Nye is science that was discovered through people working with each other. No one person has ever discovered or refined any part of science faster than a group of people working effectively with the same goal in mind.

I'm surprised I had to explain that at all. If teamwork is socialism to you, then are you suggesting a competitive society where the little guy is the first to get stomped on the playground until he's either a voracious ankle biter or a dead little kid? People who work against one another instead of together are of no use to science, community, or the world.

Socialization trumps Science Education? Come on, Mr. Science Guy...

You can't take full advantage of the sciences with home school education.

It was only recently that scientific papers started flowing in and out of China. And in the last ten years it's quite often you see papers cited with Chinese names on them.

But if you look at the time before the borders opened to trade and thought, it was pretty bleak in scientific understanding.

Same goes with the Russians with their own version of "Science" during the Soviet Union.

Science is very collaborative, at it's core. Whether the ones you are working with are dead or alive.

I figured that most of our hands-on science curricula was going to have to be field work in natural science. Gardening, raising either rabbits or chickens as 4-H type projects, field collection where allowed of natural specimens for identification, simple data collection and weather condition observation, that sort of thing.

For stuff like chemistry, we were going to have use a lot of baking and cooking and some smaller home-safe experiments. Maybe Mentos in soda.

You can always take field trips to places. I think there is science out there, but you have to do a lot of the legwork to put it together.

As for teamwork and socializing ... well that's what a good coop arrangement of homeschoolers is for.

Tell that to my 6 homeschooled cousins,

All on the way to the Ivy League, their education seems to put them well ahead of the curve.

I'd wager on them over what public school produces.

They did end up in ivy league schools though…

Clearly, he is under the impression that homeschoolers are all loners who do not work well with others, therefore they do not deserve a good science curriculum. This is a narrow and ignorant point of view, which surprised his supporters.

Of course, science (and most other facets of modern life) requires some collaboration with others. To assume that homeschooled children are incapable of collaboration, because they're not forced to sit with their peer-group for several hours everyday, shows that his opinion is not based on any sort of evidence or experience with homeschooling.

Being homeschooled does not always mean staying home and learning. There are abundant resources for learning and experimentation, especially for those who live in or around major cities. Many homeschooling families take advantage of these and spend very little time at home.

Perhaps Nye's opinions on homeschooling rely almost entirely on the notion that most homeschoolers do so for religious reasons, and perhaps this has made him disinclined to look into the matter any further. It's not the case anymore. There is a growing number of homeschoolers, plenty of whom are not religious at all.

To me, this just shows how little Nye knows (or cares to know) about homeschooling and the state of public education in the US. He's just not The Science Guy that many believed he was.

boncho
You can't take full advantage of the sciences with home school education.

Why was Michio Kaku building stuff in his garage, at home? Jeez, he should have been taking more advantage of his school's resources...

eMachine
Clearly, he is under the impression that homeschoolers are all loners who do not work well with others, therefore they do not deserve a good science curriculum. This is a narrow and ignorant point of view, which surprised his supporters.

Of course, science (and most other facets of modern life) requires some collaboration with others. To assume that homeschooled children are incapable of collaboration, because they're not forced to sit with their peer-group for several hours everyday, shows that his opinion is not based on any sort of evidence or experience with homeschooling.

Being homeschooled does not always mean staying home and learning. There are abundant resources for learning and experimentation, especially for those who live in or around major cities. Many homeschooling families take advantage of these and spend very little time at home.

Perhaps Nye's opinions on homeschooling rely almost entirely on the notion that most homeschoolers do so for religious reasons, and perhaps this has made him disinclined to look into the matter any further. It's not the case anymore. There is a growing number of homeschoolers, plenty of whom are not religious at all.

To me, this just shows how little Nye knows (or cares to know) about homeschooling and the state of public education in the US. He's just not The Science Guy that many believed he was.

That's funny. I don't remember reading any of that in his post.

"The rest of us out here, want your kids to appreciate society and the importance of working together in school and in life."

How dare he suggest that people learn to work together? That's completely unreasonable and at odds with the methods of science! Why, in my day, if a man didn't think exactly as you did, he got a knuckle sandwich for his radical ramblings! And if a man offered to help you with your experiment or had an observation to make concerning the results, he got another knuckle sandwich as payment for his thoughtfulness! Kids these days, no respect for the art of investigation! No respect at all!

/end sarcasm

reply to post by AfterInfinity


With the advent of the internet I'd think that is not a concern.

This website would be the perfect example of socialization of a group of people that share a common interest.

Bill might be a scientist. However he's not thinking outside the box on this one.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Okay, what do you think he meant? That, yes, he would consider working on a homeschool science curriculum, but only one that includes alot of collaborative work, so bring friends?

grey580
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

With the advent of the internet I'd think that is not a concern.

This website would be the perfect example of socialization of a group of people that share a common interest.

Bill might be a scientist. However he's not thinking outside the box on this one.

And what exactly makes your opinion more qualified than his? People were raving about him last week, and now, he doesn't know what he's talking about. People around here never cease to amuse me.

eMachine
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

Okay, what do you think he meant? That, yes, he would consider working on a homeschool science curriculum, but only one that includes alot of collaborative work, so bring friends?

I already told you what I thought he meant. You could use with a little more reading and a little less jumping to conclusions, based on what I've observed here in this thread. The man just wiped the floor with his opponent in a debate not even two weeks ago and people are ready to throw his gleaming background under the political bus. That's what is really grinding my gears right now. The people who had his back now have him by the shirt front.

benrl
Tell that to my 6 homeschooled cousins,

All on the way to the Ivy League, their education seems to put them well ahead of the curve.

I'd wager on them over what public school produces.

edit on 11-2-2014 by benrl because: (no reason given)

well, anecdotal info is just that.

I have 3 homeschooled nephews that are drooling idiots. They are very, very bright kids who are as ignorant as any human can be. 2 of them never leave the house and have pitiful hygeine. the third....i finally shame his mother into putting him in school so he could at least read. I love all three boys, and know that i will be their keepers one day because my idiot sister.

When she said, "Im going to homeschool", i almost fell down. I was only a junior in high school, and knew it was a mistake. I had to do her homework for her so she would be able to graduate (when i was in 8th grade...it wasn't rocket science).

In any event, Bill Nye has valid points. I see the value of each scenario when done right. My kids teachers KNOW they will hear from me at the slightest thing. And they wlll not have me rubber stamping them, and likely will challenge them every step of the way. I manage them like employees, and I get similar results to my employees.

I would expect if Bill Nye wanted to truly lead, he would give the above answer, then provide a decent curriculum. It seems like he stopped halfway, for whatever reason, and only criticized without offering a solution.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I heard he was having a debate with a religious person, but I didn't check it out. I'm not all that interested in watching people argue over religion/science. I've always thought he was pretty cool though, I watched his show when I was a kid.

This just seems really dumb of him. He was given a great opportunity. He was made aware of a large and growing community of people who would pay him for something that he might even enjoy doing. He did not give it thought. He did not even take the time to be tactful in his response.

I don't understand why he would throw himself under the bus like that. It's very unfortunate.

reply to post by eMachine


Thinking the same thing about Nye.. If I'm not mistaken, he is a total company man.. A fairy mouthpiece for the current education system. He is always on-board with whatever way their agendas are moving towards.. Sometimes he goes beyond his field and speaks out on an issue and really makes an ass of himself.. Can't stand to even look at him.

It shouldn't be a surprise that he would not support home schooled, because they are learning to think for themselves and not what is programmed into them.

He wants to see cookie cutter liberally schooled kids that fit into the system of control, rather than someone who might grow up and knock him on his butt someday.

Yeah OP what are you talking about?
Public school is the best, and our corporations are doing great things for our planet and ecosystem!
Don't you know that being part of the herd is what life is all about??

/end Sarcasm

By the way the guy in your OP is a sham, an establishment yes-man.
Few have ego issues worse than I, but this "Science Guy" is for sure one of them.
And he isn't very "Scientific" either, mostly just opinionated and insulting.

Ill-tempered and ill-advised response withdrawn. I apologize to anyone I may have offended.

bigfatfurrytexan
well, anecdotal info is just that.

Indeed it is. There are all kinds of homeschoolers, some more successful than others. There are all kinds of public-schoolers as well, some more successful than others. This thread isn't intended to be an argument about what is better, only that there are families in need of a good science curriculum and Nye totally blew them off. It's his loss and his failure to live up to what he claims to be.

muzzleflash
Yeah OP what are you talking about?
Public school is the best, and our corporations are doing great things for our planet and ecosystem!
Don't you know that being part of the herd is what life is all about??

/end Sarcasm

By the way the guy in your OP is a sham, an establishment yes-man.
Few have ego issues worse than I, but this "Science Guy" is for sure one of them.
And he isn't very "Scientific" either, mostly just opinionated and insulting.

When you come out with a television series, books, lectures, and numerous awards as a result of your educational (and scientific) accomplishments, I think we'll all be more inclined to take your knee-jerk criticisms seriously. But for the time being, it's real cheap to talk trash on an internet forum.