You may recall some of the chilling statements made in the powerful A Nation at Risk report in 1983, a report that triggered recent attempts at educational reform in the United States. In that report, one researcher concluded, after completing a national survey on student achievement within the explosive scientific world we live that, “We are raising a new generation of Americans that is scientifically and technologically illiterate.” Similarly, a former Director of the National Science Foundation was quoted as warning of “a growing chasm between a small scientific and technological elite and a citizenry ill informed, indeed uninformed, on issues with a science component.” Alas, surveys conducted recently could justify redating this report as being written in 1995.

Watkins, J.D. 1995. Linking public policy support for ocean science to pre-college education. Oceanography 8(3):103–105, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.1995.09.

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