...Watson, 80, was part of a panel discussion at the New York Academy of Sciences that followed a screening of a new documentary called Naturally Obsessed, The Making of a Scientist. The film is about the trials and tribulations of graduate students in biochemist Lawrence Shapiro's x-ray crystallography laboratory at Columbia University in New York City.
But Watson said he believes there is a larger hole in the U.S. educational system that is sapping our lead in science. "Part of the problem is too many of our teachers are dumb," he said, balking that "Teachers' unions are corrupt." He said that the relatively low pay educators receive has prompted smart people to flee teaching for other careers— although he made a point of noting that he does not support giving them raises. Teachers like the "bright woman that taught me Latin are nowhere near our schools [now]," he crowed.
The article generated a somewhat interesting discussion in the comments.
I guess it is obvious once you begin thinking about it, but it did not strike me so clearly until now. If you go into a career in teaching don't expect to be the darling of society. Instead you can expect continuing criticism of your role in shaping society.
Come to think of it, who is it that the general public holds in esteem now-a-days? Everyone seems to be at the receiving end - Doctors, Teachers, Pastors, Politicians.
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