People who are scientifically literate yes, PhD not so much

[JT45242]

Former HS science teacher and currently working in education and assessment.

This was how a friend described it to me. When you get a BS in chemistry you learn a decent amount about all kinds of chemistry. So you have knowledge a few feet deep in a very wide area.

When you get a master's degree, you specialize in one corner of that field -- organic, polymer, whatever. You go a hundred feet deep in one corner of that field.

When you get a PhD you hyper focus you go a mile deep in a postage stamp area. He had a PhD in the chemistry of milk chocolate. Worked on making the soft batch cookie as a professional.

Here is the real point. We don't need people who have that depth of knowledge on a tiny area of science in government. We need people who why climate change is a problem that must be dealt with or there are deadly consequences. We need people who know and can articulate why vaccines and vaccines mandates are important to maintain a healthy society. We need people who understand why clean air and water are fundamental human rights and not hindrances to business interests. None of that requires a PhD or even a STEM degree. It requires scientific literacy.

We DESPERATELY NEED a scientifically literate population. It's been part of education standards since Sputnik and the space race.