News & Views - December 2000
Sceptic Now Sees the Virtue in Teaching
Children Online (December 28, 2000)
In a book titled "The Educated Child" published last year, William J. Bennett, the
former United States secretary of education, addressed the blossoming industry of online
learning with a raised eyebrow. [Full
article]
Scientists win
vote of confidence from French public (December 28, 2000)
Of 1,000 adults surveyed by the polling organization Taylor Nelson
Sofres, 53% said they most trusted scientists to control the progress and ethical use of science — far ahead of
intellectuals and philosophers (19%), associations and trade unions (9%), or
religious groups (6%). Politicians were most trusted by only 4%. [From Nature
21/28 December 2000]
It might be interesting to survey
the attitude of the Australian population.
Buying
Smart Is Not Really Good Enough (December 8, 2000)
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that at the rate we are going in buying
technology off the shelf overseas, our budget deficit in Information Technology and
Telecommunications alone will be $28.8 billion dollars in
financial year 2010/11.
We need to be a whole lot more than a smart buyer of technology. We have to invest in our own ideas and export our
innovative products. The Chief Scientist, Dr Robin Batterham, has given the Government a blue-print to make this a
reality, in a document currently before Government called "The Chance to Change - Final Report". Given the chance,
our scientists are ready to deliver.
[From a Sydney Morning Herald article by Prof. Sue Serjeantson, President
of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies. [Full
article]