Word: skepticism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...thing we know about our risky world, it's that seat belts save lives, right? And they do, of course. But reality, as usual, is messier and more complicated than that. John Adams, risk expert and emeritus professor of geography at University College London, was an early skeptic of the seat belt safety mantra. Adams first began to look at the numbers more than 25 years ago. What he found was that contrary to conventional wisdom, mandating the use of seat belts in 18 countries resulted in either no change or actually a net increase in road accident deaths...
...Indeed, criticizing the states and testing firms charged with carrying out the federal law ignores a far more crucial issue: whether standardized tests can ever really drive high-quality education. Says author and well-known standardized test skeptic Alfie Kohn: "These recent problems with implementation pale beside the appalling effects of NCLB itself. It's when this law is working 'properly' - with all the tests given, the numbers obediently reported, and the attendant punitive consequences enforced - that we really need to worry." Montana may not be sweating out its scores; last year, 92% of its schools made adequate yearly progress...
Informed conciliators have recently become more vocal. Stanford University biologist Joan Roughgarden has just come out with Evolution and Christian Faith, which provides what she calls a "strong Christian defense" of evolutionary biology, illustrating the discipline's major concepts with biblical passages. Entomologist Edward O. Wilson, a famous skeptic of standard faith, has written The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, urging believers and non-believers to unite over conservation. But foremost of those arguing for common ground is Francis Collins...
Pictures of drought-stricken land, higher temperatures, water restrictions and dying suburban gardens have become part of the voter's psyche. Even a global-warming skeptic like Howard can read the shift in the electorate's fears; he and his intimates have adjusted their thinking and public words. With an election expected next year, Howard's team are devising an environmental platform based on water policy, rural land care and alternative energy sources. Howard has traveled widely in the bush. Farmers are one of his touchstones, and more measures to help them are expected this week. But when Howard talks...
...gospel of Neen as visitors to Athens were, you can go to www.neen.org and procrastinate with endless hours of animation, video, and philosophy. Perhaps the most famous—and most fun—of these is Manetas’ www.jacksonpollock.org, in which even the biggest skeptic of abstract art can try his hand at splatter painting. —Staff writer Kristina M. Moore can be reached at moore2@fas.harvard.edu...