Kentucky's monument to ignorance

Kentucky, home of Ken Ham's infamous Answers in Genesis sponsored Creation Museum, will soon be hosting a young-Earth creationist theme park featuring a life-sized (according to the account in Genesis) Noah's Ark.  This is another silly monument to the incredibly ridiculous idea that the Earth is 6,000 years old, humans and dinosaurs were tromping around together as recently as 4,000 years ago, and all of humanity except for Noah's family were wiped out by a global flood - the koala bears and kangaroos and anacondas and naked mole rats and platypuses and camels and polar bears and moose and baboons and lions and parrots and Bolivian swallowtail butterflies and earthworms and grizzly bears all came marching two-by-two from all four corners of the Earth to board the boat.  Dinosaurs were on the ark too, did you know that?  Bet those atheist teachers never taught you that in public school, did they?

People are upset by this monument to stupidity being built in Kentucky but also to the fact that Ark Encounter will be benefiting from millions of dollars in tax incentives sponsored by Steve Beshear, the state governor. The excuse for this is the claim that:

An independent consultant hired by Ark Encounter estimates the ripple effect on the surrounding area could be much larger. The total number of jobs created as a result of the project is anticipated at 14,000 and the overall economic impact to the region is projected at $500 million in the first year of operation.

Of course this "independent"consultant is America's Research Group run by Britt Beemer, Ken Ham's personal friend and coauthor of Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it.  Not quite an "independent" consultant.  Young-Earth creationists are used to stretching the truth, however, so I'm sure this little ethical lapse bothers them not at all.

People criticize, and rightly so, many Islamic countries for their Medieval world view but Biblical literalists right here in America aren't all that different elevating a Bronze-age myth above hundreds of years of scientific investigation of the natural world.  I believe that children exposed to young-Earth creationists ideas are much more likely to have a crisis of faith when they get into the outside world and learn how crazy these beliefs are and how easily they're debunked by, for example, an introductory Earth science class taught by an evil geologist such as myself.  All I need to do is take them outside to look at some rocks on the side of the road and apply a little critical thinking.

More unwarranted hype from NASA

Once again the publicity hounds at NASA have overhyped an interesting finding making it into much more than it really deserves.

Biologist P.Z. Myers of Pharyngula explains the results much better than I could on short notice.

NASA to announce ???

NASA will be holding a press conference at 2 pm EST today (Thursday, December 2) that will be interesting.  From their Media Advisory issued on Monday:

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Participants are:

- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey,
  Menlo Park, Calif.
- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution,
   Gainesville, Fla.
- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

Phil Plaitt over at Bad Astronomy has some information about this - the smart money says NASA's not going to announce finding life on Mars or Titan, but finding some chemical evidence that maybe, possibly could indicate bacteria (archaea) might have been able to develop on Mars or Titan (my bet is arsenic-eating archaea).

NASA has a habit of overhyping announcements like this to get press interest but when the details come out everyone is disappointed (even though the findings are often interesting - just not earthshaking).

Academics vs. Enrollment

A number of things have been in my Inbox at work lately illustrating the competing interests we have to balance here at a community college.

New York State has recently tightened up their requirements for students receiving TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) financial aide.  Obviously, quite a few of our students receive TAP and may not be able to attend college without that assistance.  I don't know all the details (we have a Financial Aide Office for that) but students have to maintain a "C" average, earn a certain number of credits each semester, and make satisfactory progress toward a degree.  Some of our administrators appear very concerned about this because we have students who will not be able to meet these requirements (especially those requiring remedial classes which aren't credit-bearing and don't count as progress toward a degree).  Less students means less money which affects all of us.  As a taxpayer in the State of New York, however, I have to wonder why I'd want my tax dollars funding a student who can't maintain a GPA of 2.0 ("C").  In addition, taxpayers should be furious that their always-increasing school taxes are funding high schools graduating students that then require remedial reading, writing, and mathematics classes at the local community college.

One big topic at our school is retention.  I've been on committees and even a retreat to discuss this issue ad nauseum.  Each semester, we lose a certain number of students who never return and the college is obviously interested in trying to improve that by understanding why people leave and what we can do to prevent it.  Unfortunately, I believe some things are not really solvable by us, such as students who just don't want to be here.  They're attending college because their parents told them they had to go to college.  These students don't show up for class, don't turn in assignments, get failing grades on exams when you know they're capable of better, etc.  Faculty recognize them right away and most of us think these kids shouldn't be here - they should go out and get a job for a couple of years (there's something to be said for 2 years of mandatory service - military or otherwise - after high school).  I also have had students transfer to four-year schools before completing their two-year degree at our school.  The administration views this as a failure, we've lost a student, while I view it as a success for the student who is moving on to a program that excites them at a four-year school.

Also received an email that our department is slightly down in spring 2011 registrations compared to this time last year.  Somehow, it's implied, this is our fault - we don't outreach to students enough.  Nevermind that there are signs all over campus saying REGISTER NOW! and targeted announcements and emails and announcements in classrooms.  I'm not sure what they want, a visit to the student's home to drag their lazy ass into my office to register?  Enrollment has been up but it seems to me by personal observation that we also have a lot more weaker students.  Students who feel they're in danger of failing a class (or two) often want to wait until the end of the semester before registering.  Other students simply don't have the money and don't know if they will for spring.  Others just procrastinate (like they do with their assignments) and then complain in January when registering that so many classes are closed.  The problem with many of us in the math and sciences is that there aren't enough math/science majors to go around (by contract, we each need 25 advisees) and therefore we all have 50% or more Individual Studies majors and they're often (not always, but often) the worst students.  They have no idea what they want to do and many of them really could care less about anything.  I've had advisees sit in my office and I tell them they need an open elective (i.e. any course at all) to round off their schedule and they're lost - "What should I take?" or "What's easiest?"  No interest at all in anything academic.  Damn shame and they certainly don't belong in college.

So, while complaining that certain students should just drop out and go work for a living, I also realize the more students we have, the better off we are financially (although it's not that simple - county and state budget cuts have far outpaced modest increases in enrollment).  Sometimes I feel as if I'm asked to make a choice between doing what's best for the student (sometimes failing them is best for them) or sell my soul to the Devil and only work toward higher enrollment numbers and damn academics or any insistence on personal responsibility from people who claim they're adults.  Since selling my soul to the Devil in this regard gives me absolutely nothing in return (it's not like I get a cut of student tuition - I didn't even get a salary increase this semester and am working under an expired contract), I think I'll stay the hardass academic and insist that students have responsibilities as well.