Kids are scientists, until
Anyone who knows me or has read more than a few of my posts will know that I love science and that I am in great distress about the general distrust of science I see prevalent in my country.
When I saw Kids are scientists by Dave Winer in my RSS reading this morning, I knew it would be something I’d want to read ( I read everything Dave writes anyway. ).
Children are scientists. Even things you’d think were obvious, like gravity — are mysteries to children. But they are born investigators and practitioners of the Scientific Method. That’s something we all understand at birth, it seems.
I couldn’t agree more. We all start with that built in nature to ask questions and to look for answers. At some point, some people stop doing that. I think our teachers, parents, friends, pastors, and others just beat it out of us. Not with physical beatings in most cases, but destructive all the same.
One comment really struck me.
Children start off as scientists, inquisitive about the world. Then they have it drilled out of them and they become Christians.
Though the comment struck me as argumentative, I understood. I always thought of it the other way – people become Christians and then they begin to distrust science. The evidence, however, suggests otherwise. If you ask me, there is an obvious problem in the U.S. today with a lack of critical thinking and a general distrust of science. In other words, it’s not just Christians who distrust science.
As a Christian myself, I don’t think one has to suspend critical thinking to accept the truth, but the idea that people accept the message of Christianity because they’ve already lost the ability to think critically is an interesting one. People do believe a lot of things because they are not thinking.
Children start off as scientists, inquisitive about the world. Then they have it drilled out of them and they become …
- creation “scientists”
- conspiracy theorists
- bigots
- tea party patriots
- ???
I have seen people believe all manner of nonsense because they don’t think critically. In fact, I’ve taken on as my mission in life to do something about that.
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