"The Threat to Life on Planet Earth" Is a More Important Issue Than David Brooks' "Skills Slowdown"

In the following two discussion list posts I argue that the"Threat to Life on Planet Earth" is a more important issue facing the Nation than David Brooks' "Skills Slowdown":

1. "Is the 'Skills Slowdown' the Biggest Issue Facing the Nation?" [Hake (2008a)] - ABSTRACT (see that article for the references):

G.S. Chandy of the Math-Teach list has called attention to David Brooks' Op-Ed piece titled "The Biggest Issue."  Brooks wrote: "I point to these two research projects . . . ["The Race Between Education and Technology" (Goldin & Katz, 2008) and "Schools, Skills, and Synapses" (Heckman, 2008). . . . because the SKILLS SLOWDOWN IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE facing the country. . . .  this slow-moving problem, more than any other, will shape the destiny of the nation. . . . America rose because it got more out of its people than any other nation.  That stopped in 1970. Now, other issues grab the headlines and campaign attention. But this tectonic plate is still relentlessly and menacingly shifting beneath our feet."  I argue that a bigger issue and a more menacing tectonic plate, seldom mentioned by editorialists such as Brooks, economists such a Goldin, Katz, and Heckman; and select committees - see, e.g., "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" [NAP (2007)] is the "Threat to Life on Planet Earth."

2. "Is the 'Skills Slowdown' the Biggest Issue Facing the Nation? - ADDENDUM" [Hake (2008b)] - ABSTRACT [see that article for references other than Hake & Mallow (2008)]:

Eugene Geis (2008) of the PHYSOC list pointed out a serious deficiency in my previous post "Is the 'Skills Slowdown' the Biggest Issue Facing the Nation?", writing "You could've attempted a paraphrasing of your concept of the 'Threat to Life on Planet Earth' . . . ." Rather than attempting to paraphrase the 22 references in Part 2 of Hake & Mallow (2008), I list seven of those references that reflect the work of Al Bartlett, James Duderstadt, Arjun Makhijani, Bill McKibben, Craig Nelson, Gus Speth, and Edward Wilson. 

REFERENCES

Brooks, D. 2008. "The Biggest Issue," New York Times, 29 July; online at 

<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/opinion/29brooks.html?ref=opinion>. Because this piece may soon be available only to subscribers, I have copied an annotated and referenced version into the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/5ofthx>.  Such copying is in accord with "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law.  For more information go to <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>.

Hake, R.R. 2008a. "Is the 'Skills Slowdown' the Biggest Issue Facing the Nation?" online on the OPEN! AERA-D archives at <http://tinyurl.com/afg744>.  Post of 4 Aug 2008 to AERA-D and other discussion lists.

Hake, R.R. 2008b. "Is the 'Skills Slowdown' the Biggest Issue Facing the Nation? - ADDENDUM," online on the OPEN! AERA-D archives at <http://tinyurl.com/cytr2h> . Post of 5 Aug 2008 to AERA-D and other discussion lists.

Hake, R.R.  & J.V. Mallow. 2008. "Gender Issues in Science/Math Education (GISME)," over 700 Annotated References & 1000 URL's: Part 1 - All references in alphabetical order; Part 2 - Some references in subject order; both online at ref. 55 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>, and on this blog at 

<http://hakesedstuff.blogspot.com/2008/11/gender-issues-in-sciencemath-education.html>.