Book Corner
Book Corner
By Rachel Marie Naba
Who Rules In Science
by James Robert Brown
236 pages.
ISBN 0-674-01364-6
Harvard University Press
People have been fighting over science since the introduction of Europeans onto African soil. While the Greeks and Romans came to Kemet to learn from the Priests in the Mystery Schools, the Kemetic civilization had already discovered and mastered the sciences, including mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, geometry, healing, and much more. Later, the same Greek and Roman students of the Kemetic Mystery Schools took the knowledge they learned in the Motherland and claimed it as their own, and the real fathers of these sciences are often overshadowed by their step-children of Europe. Since then, the fight over the nature of knowledge continues, and it remains a hot topic among scientists, spiritual leaders and philosophers.
James Robert Brown takes a look at this struggle in his book Who Rules in Science: An Opinionated Guide to the Wars. He names the political groups that are hostile to the orthodox views of science (social constructivists and postmoderns on the political left and the religious conservatives on the political right) as well as those who are friendly to it (Chomsky, Sokal, Gould on the political left and sociobiologists and race/IQ theorists on the political right). He references and explains important books and events in the struggle for controlling science, and thoroughly explores each side of the battlefield.
In “Who Rules in Science? James Brown...warns that there's much more at stake here than people realize. This is not just a ture between postmodernist philosophers and working scientists over whether an clection is real or merely a social construction. It's about sho geta to define reality, truth and rationality." Sheilla Jones of Globe our god Mail writes of this work.
Religious conservatives are happy with science, but only when it does not attack or attempt to change their cherished beliefs about their religion and morals, including creation. Environmentalists are often wary of science, yet are among the first to use the institutions the aformation to further their agenda. The author is quick to point out, however, that it is the commercialization of science that is the biggest treat and controversy - a recent study found that more than 1/3 of recently published articles produced by a prominent American University scientists had one or authors who were likely to profit from the results they were reporting (and their financial interests were not mentioned in the publications)! Who Rules In Science is an interesting read. The power struggles within science and society and the depth to which they affect our lives is shown, and the reader is taken aback by the savagery of the battlefield.
-RMN
At The Schoolhouse Gate: Lessons In Intellectual Freedom
by Gloria Pipkin and ReLeah Cossett Lent
235 pages.
ISBN 0-325-00395-5
www.heinemann.com
In all of my years of formal education, I remember only two English classes clearly: seventh and eighth grade. My seventh grade English class was filled with the required grammar and sentence structure using the stale and dry required textbook, and our teacher was a strict and boring old maid who whacked a ruler on your desk if you were chewing gum or sleeping (which was common because the class was incredibly boring). My eighth grade English class, however, was the polar opposite: the boring grammar book was replaced with literature - both class books as well as individual reading books from the class library. Our days were spent discussing literature, reading, or writing our own stories and workshopping our productions. It was wonderful, inspiring and challenging. We were encouraged to read and write, think for ourselves, and critique ourselves and others. Every single person in eighth grade experienced this wonderful teaching style, as the eighth grade English teachers were all of the same mind and philosophy. It is that English class that helped introduce reading and writing into the lives of my classmates, and it is one experience that I will never forget.
Perhaps it is due to my experiences with middle school English that I was so drawn to At The Schoolhouse Gate by Gloria Pipkin and ReLeah Cossett Lent. Their true account of censorship and violations against intellectual freedom are laid out for all the world to see.
The American school system can be one of the worst offenders against the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression. Books are censored for one curse word or for ideas that the "authorities" find questionable, such as rebellion, individual thought and other sensitive issues like suicide, dating, sex, and drugs. Gloria Pipkin and ReLeah Cossett Lent fought the politicians and would-be censors in the public school system and stood up for a young person's right to read and write what they choose, without school officials reading over their shoulders.
After reading this book, one will have little doubt as to why some of the best teachers have left the public school system.