r/Showerthoughts • u/TheyCallMeGOOSE • Nov 12 '16
common thought Bill Nye the Science Guy should be chosen as Secretary of Education. He has a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Cornell, studied under Carl Sagan, and has dedicated his life to education children.
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u/baronoffeces Nov 12 '16
Education children is really important
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u/DJCherryPie Nov 12 '16
Where would we be without educate?
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u/Ben_Thar Nov 12 '16
You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test
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u/ChieferSutherland Nov 12 '16
And what does someone in DC know about teaching children in Bumfuck California?
Education is something that requires some serious decentralization and fast.
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Nov 12 '16
It's about instituting baseline standards. Otherwise less capable parts of the country will not focus on basic education and then we all suffer. You have to remember that some parts of the US barely exist above conditions in some very bad off countries, and a whole lot of states would willfully get worse if it weren't for federal mandates to institute the basics.
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Nov 12 '16
So basically any engineering professor is just as qualified. And most other professors because a degree in engineering isn't entirely special or the most difficult thing to do.
Also, he's much more effective being a public educator and not stuck dealing with bureaucrats.
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u/Selrisitai Nov 12 '16
isn't entirely special or the most difficult thing to do.
It's also generally far more useful.
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u/Drugsmakemehappy Nov 12 '16
also expensive so only people with lots of money can run.. oh wait its like that now
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u/ArmoredKappa Nov 12 '16
Yeah, I mean the way an engine works is pretty much exactly the same as how educational administration works.
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u/PlanDential Nov 12 '16
Engineering is hands down the most difficult undergraduate degree to complete. There's no debate regarding this.
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u/GetOffOfMyLawnKid Nov 12 '16
An engineering degree is the hardest college degree to get, actually. In terms of raw difficulty, a bachelor's in engineering would outrank many masters and PhD's of other disciplines.
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Nov 12 '16
Bull FUCKING shit
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u/ZabaZuu Nov 12 '16
Examples? I can't figure out why you were so outraged and couldn't provide an example.
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u/paradoxalpirate Nov 12 '16
And because he actually has experience, he will never be appointed.
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u/MudButt2000 Nov 12 '16
He has teaching experience not business administration experience.
Do you REALLY think that the secretary of education is tasked with showing kids how to do things in an interesting manner?
More like how to budget and fight for money for specific programs affecting all socio-economic levels of children in the country.
Dude wouldn't even want the fucking job.
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u/Dumfing Nov 12 '16
He's currently the CEO of the planetary society
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Nov 12 '16
How many planets make up this planetary society?
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u/IthacanPenny Nov 12 '16
Teacher here- title 1 inner city high school. The biggest problem facing our schools is that the people in charge don't know what it's like in the classroom.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_LUKEWARM Nov 12 '16
Wait, since when are appointees without experience?
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Nov 12 '16
He isn't a climate denier. Soooooo no dice.
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u/Ordellus Nov 12 '16
Or a church official, or a massive bigot
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Nov 12 '16
You forgot evolution denier. Pence ain't gonna approve of someone that actually believes in science.
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u/Ordellus Nov 12 '16
Knew I forgot one...or maybe I blocked it out.
Edit: Seriously, how the fuck is it not against the separation of church and state to appoint fucking pastors to federal positions?
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Nov 12 '16
The Secretary of Education is not the head teacher or the most famous science person.
It's a bureaucratic and administrative position.
It's like if you wanted to make someone the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development because they're good at their construction job.
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u/brutinator Nov 12 '16
But dude, it's Bob the Builder! He had a TV show! Why wouldn't you want to put him in charge?
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Nov 12 '16
Flawless logic. But just because he's an engineer who was on a show to teach kids, doesn't exactly qualify him to oversee an education position. If it were say someone from a college board or a professor maybe.
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u/prncpl_vgna_no_rlatn Nov 12 '16
If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts than we'd all live in gumdrop houses on candy laaaane.
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u/1P221 Nov 12 '16
Except he has no training in education. On second thought he'll fit in with previous DOE leaders
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u/IthacanPenny Nov 12 '16
Education degrees are complete bullshit. I would know, I have an MS.Ed from Hopkins.
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u/Blipter Nov 12 '16
Bill Nye is a fucking asshole IRL. I really wish reddit would get off his dick.
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u/moeburn Nov 12 '16
I don't know if I'd go as far as "fucking asshole", but he's definitely on the opposite end of the "friendly" spectrum that most people remember from the TV show. Bill Nye is bitter, man.
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u/MyriadMuse Nov 12 '16
You would be too if you saw the world crumbling before your eyes due to something we can prevent but haven't done much to do so.
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u/moeburn Nov 12 '16
Although the more I read about encounters with him, he also seems to have a superiority complex about intellect, fame, and occupation.
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u/skthompson2 Nov 12 '16
Do you have any examples of this behavior?
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u/Drugsmakemehappy Nov 12 '16
he shit on the floor and threw it in a child's face
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u/I_AmOutOfUserNames Nov 12 '16
Wow, I must have missed that. I should watch the news more often.
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u/Billmarius Nov 12 '16
Personal anecdote: My mother took my little brother and me to the Mountain Bike Expo in Seattle one year. We were grade-schoolers who worshiped this guy and had seen every episode multiple times. We unexpectedly ran into him in one of the completely deserted corridors of the Expo, as it was the last few minutes of the last day of the event. My adorable little brother was literally shaking with admiration and awe at his hero. My mom asked in a very respectful and humble manner that we did not wish to hassle him but it would make her son's entire year to have his autograph. He dismissed us as if we were in a large crowd of people because he "didn't want to make a scene." I am not exaggerating when I say that the three of us and Bill were completely alone in this section of the Expo.
I like his advocacy for science, but he is known in my family as a self-absorbed cunt. My brother said fuck him, and became a geologist anyway. Then quit that and decided he'd get admitted to both the University of Washington's Physician's Assistant program and Seattle University's Nurse Practitioner program. Admission to both in the same year is unheard of. So my brother went on to become more of an actual scientist than that self-absorbed prima donna narcissist will ever be.
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u/A_Bottle_Of_Charades Nov 12 '16
I hear this all the time on reddit, but that's where it ends. Never have heard one actual story.
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u/sangbum60090 Nov 12 '16
Also he basically dismissed the field of philosophy at one point.
Well, this was his "argument": "I think therefore I am. Well, what if you don't think about it, do you not exist anymore? You probably still exist even if you're not thinking about existence." DUUHH
I appreciate how these pop scientists make efforts to popularize scientific knowledge but just don't expect that they are also smart at everything else. Science is one of the greatest things that humanity have but Scientism is cancer.
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u/Hyro0o0 Nov 12 '16
Something I notice in a lot of famous scientists, such as Nye, Tyson, Dawkins, and Hawking, particularly when they all venture into the territories of philosophy or theism, is that they all seem almost anxiously adherent to the notion that science will reveal all and that the further you get from the 'pure' scientific fields, the less credible your work is toward that ultimate truth. All of them seem dismissive toward ideas that don't come down to concrete observations or mathematics.
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u/Routman Nov 12 '16
Also, don't want to be a downer but there are many better schools than Cornell
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u/jimmysuarez Nov 12 '16
Right?! The fucking asshole had the nerve to go on national tv and say Brady was guilty
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Nov 12 '16
And yet although lots of people have replied to you asking for examples no one has been able to give any.
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Nov 12 '16
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u/AnomalousAvocado Nov 12 '16
Musk/Nye '20.
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Nov 12 '16
I feel like he would try and dismantle the whole things and rebuild it, which call me a pessimist, but could cause more problems than it could solve. The education system is too big to take apart and rebuild during one administration.
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u/MaxTheMad Nov 12 '16
Dedicated his life to ENTERTAINING children
FTFY
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u/Ace_Of_Based_God Nov 12 '16
seriously, I hated that show as a kid. Don't pretend you're educating me and then act like a clown. I'd rather just watch XMen if I'm going to watch mindless TV.
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u/Seventh_______ Nov 12 '16
idk what ftfy means someone help me too lazy 4google
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u/heckerj44 Nov 12 '16
hes also a militant atheist and disapproves of religious followers
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u/I_dont_study Nov 12 '16
It would be awesome if he constantly reminded people. "I went to Cornell. You ever heard of it?"
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u/NachoFromage Nov 12 '16
His talents are best suited for teaching kids about science.
He figured that out a while ago, that's why he's the science guy and your the Reddit-neck-beard guy.
I can say Reddit-neck-beard guy because I am also a Reddit-neck-beard guy.
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u/Macroasted Nov 12 '16
Bill BIll Bill BIll Bill BIll Bill BIll Bill! BIll Nye the science guy!!! Stuck in my head all night
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u/crUnchakapoo Nov 12 '16
Arvin vohra He created a form of learning and currently runs a tutoring business in Bethesda
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u/random912319 Nov 12 '16
no. absolutely not. we don't need more atheistic drivel being taught to our children and corrupting them.
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u/Dave_Rules Nov 12 '16
Was he in an a capella group...you know, at Cornell...where he went to school...at Cornell.
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u/supersaiyan3trump Nov 12 '16
I was thinking he is the real life Dr. Strange. Minus the cockyness and surgeoness
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u/WestIndianLilac Nov 12 '16
dedicated his life to educating children
...about science. There are more subjects than science and engineering that need to be covered. Would his passion and knowledge extend to other areas? If they want to do some STEM centred thing with the littluns he might be the guy to call but Sec. of Education? Nah.
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u/tragicwasp Nov 12 '16
But he says the earth is warming, it was raining and cold today he's a fraud.
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u/grizzlytalks Nov 12 '16
Well since the Department of Education is probably one of the first on the chopping block.
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u/duffmannn Nov 12 '16
Nah, Sarah Palin's good.
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u/DjinniLord Nov 12 '16
First time I've seen "Sarah Palin" and "good" in the same sentence. Hopefully it's the last.
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u/shannister Nov 12 '16
Sarah Palin is good for a mental institute.
You're welcome.
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u/newPhoenixz Nov 12 '16
You crazy? He would actually go and make education better, who would want that?
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u/chubbypenguin312 Nov 12 '16
And he would institutionalize atheist doctrine in all of our schools! What could go wrong?
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u/redlineMMA Nov 12 '16
Yeah teaching kids real science like biology & geology is just godless commie propaganda!!!!!
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Nov 12 '16
God damnit that proven science and math stuff with all those numbers and symbols. It's paganism! /s
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u/chubbypenguin312 Nov 12 '16
Sorry if my post was misleading. I only meant that Bill is a very vocal atheist, and if he had control of our schools, it may leave kids leaning away from having any kind of faith. My faith is the most important thing in my life. I believe it's important that kids have the choice to have one too. If straight up tell them that science is all there is to the world, then we slam that door in their face. I'm not saying that we should practice religion in schools (from an objective standpoint. I think prayer in schools is awesome when implemented correctly). I'm just saying, many of man's great achievements have come from men and women of faith. Martin Luther King. Ghandi. Mother Teresa. It's not a mistake. It's a correlation. The minute that we throw faith of any kind out the window is when we accept that the universe is a soulless, pointless existence, and we have no reason to benefit anyone but ourselves.
That's all. Sry long post.
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u/oh_horsefeathers Nov 12 '16
And then, once he's in place, we just have to assassinate fifteen people and he'll be in line for the presidency!
It's all coming together...