Kiah Simons
Beloved astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson gave a commencement speech at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst that makes me think that Neil deGrasse Tyson shouldn't give commencement speeches. I feel this way specifically because he is one of the many educated men of our generation that has become a public intellectual, but outside of his area of study he - like the majority of them - is clueless (at least partially).
The following statements were made by Mr. Tyson as he addressed a graduating class of over 5,000 students:
NDT: Your grades, whatever is your GPA, rapidly becomes irrelevant in your life. I cannot begin to impress upon you how irrelevant it becomes. Because in life, they aren't going to ask you your GPA. ... If a GPA means anything, it's what you were in that moment — and it so does not define you for the rest of your life.
KIAH: While it is true that your grades do not define you, it is completely untrue that your grades become irrelevant in your life. Grades function as a measure of how well a particular individual understands and embodies a subject. Because Mr. Tyson was speaking to students who were minutes away from graduating, it is reasonable to assume that these students took courses that are congruent with the career paths that they plan to pursue. A greater knowledge of the different subjects relating to those paths would result in not only the ability to attain the jobs that they studied for, but it would also create higher chances of success in those fields. Could you imagine a medical student that thought that grades didn't matter operating on someone? In addition, the pursuit of good grades serve to teach students hard work, discipline, time management, and priorities - the type of things that affect people for the rest of their lives - and which translate into valuable qualities in the market. While students shouldn't beat themselves up over a B, they should be striving for the best grades that they can possibly achieve.
NDT: The most dangerous people in a free society are those who don't know ... but think you do know, and have power over legislation that would affect others, that is dangerous. Those are the signs of the end of an informed democracy.
KIAH: I would argue that the most dangerous thing in a society is a populace that thinks they know, but don't know. Uninformed politicians are the least of our worries because politicians don't elect themselves to office; people do. When the masses think they have such a firm grasps on subjects such as economics, foreign policy, the ramifications of illegal immigration, taxes, among others, they elect politicians that are in line with those inaccuracies. The end of an informed democracy is when the people start believing rhetoric instead of evidence. Maybe the people should start paying more attention in school as to be a more informed member of society to elect an informed politician. But, oh yeah, grades are irrelevant to Mr.Tyson.
NDT: Science matters. Think about this: Cavemen and women, they had clean air, fresh water, their food was free-range, yet their life expectancy was 35. Something else matters that improves your life expectancy than just the search for clean air and clean water. There's more going on in our lives brought to you by innovations in science and technology that improves your health, your wealth, your well-being. Just consider that before you start saying, 'I don't like science, I don't want science.' Well, move the hell back to the cave.
KIAH: No one with even half a brain ever suggested that science doesn't matter so it baffles me why people like Tyson and many of his colleagues/admirers imply that there are groves of people saying that we shouldn't study science. Quite the contrary, especially since the national climate is in love with students that pursue STEM fields in college (as they should be) and there's more avocation by teachers, politicians, and communities toward these fields. The mistake that Tyson is making is that he's equating scientific knowledge and technology which are seldom related. One of the greatest inventions in human history was the wheel. It made lives infinitely better for generations of humans after. The boat also shares this distinction. The funny thing is that at the time of these inventions, their collective inventors thought that the sun was a God that would only rise if it was happy with humans and that winter was a curse for poor behavior. Innovations in science has only served to help us better understand the world around us (which is very important). What has improved people's health, wealth, and well-being more than anything else is capitalism and technology.
NDT: It had become a pastime to blame politicians for the ills of the world. I understand the urge to do that ... but at the end of the day, the politician is a representative of an electorate.If you have an issue with politicians it's because you have an issue with your fellow citizens who put them there. So if there is a politician who is sure the universe is 6,000 years old, it's because there are people walking among us who believe that. ... The laws of physics affect us all ... whether or not you believe in them.
KIAH: I agreed with Mr. Tyson until he mentioned the 6,000 year-old Earth believers (aka Christians). What Mr. Tyson doesn't understand is that a politicians belief in a 6,000 year-old Earth doesn't affect anybody but the politician himself. But when a politician believes in a policy that supposed to provide affordable health care by ramming the program down the throats of millions of people that were against it when they couldn't even get the functionality of the site working correctly, yet it's supposed to oversee the complicated health issues of millions of people with efficiency -- that obviously affects people. What we need to do is stop worrying about religious beliefs and start worrying about the things that politicians believe that actually affect us in empirical ways.
NDT: I think on some level, role models are overrated. ... Growing up in the Bronx ... had I required as a prerequisite that another black man from the Bronx had become an astrophysicist for me to become one, I'd still be in the Bronx. If you require a role model who looks just like you to be something you wanna be and you can't find one, is that a reason to not be what you wanna be? No!
KIAH: Who has ever suggested that role models have to have the same skin color as the person modeling after them? No one. Roles models are very important for people who feel isolated by their community when it comes to their aspirations. Kanye West has said that one of his biggest role models is Steve Jobs and they are hardly the same color and come from completely different backgrounds. This is another case of Mr. Tyson creating his own fictional world, and then disputing that world as to relay his "wisdom".
NDT: The universe is bigger than you are. That sounds obvious but some people don't really know that.
KIAH: At a college graduation I think a more constructive statement might be, "The universe is bigger than you are, but you shouldn't let that stop you from being all you can be." Instead we get a statement that sounds more like Tyson is trying to say, "Hey, life happens to you and there's nothing you can do to change that."
NDT: We live in a world where not everyone has the urge to help others. ... It is OK to encourage others to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. But if you do, just remember that some people have no boots.
KIAH: Actually, we live in a world where virtually no one has the urge to help others, so what we need to teach people is to help themselves. One the ways we can do that is by encouraging them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps because nobody is going to pull for them. For those that have no boots, I suggest buying a pair. Which is another way of saying that in this great country the United States of America, people have gone from worse poverty than we have now to great successes. Those people not only had no boots, they had no socks. But that didn't stop James Cash Penny (who lived in much worse poverty than is known by most poor people today) to start J.C. Penny in the early 20th century. That didn't stop homeless Tyler Perry from become the highest paid man in Hollywood in 2011. That didn't stop Oprah Winfrey, the victim of countless rapes from becoming America's first black billionaire. Many poor people in America don't face these problems and for the one's that do there is a way for them if they're tough enough. It they can pull themselves up. Sorry Mr. Tyson, but this is America not Pakistan.
It seems to me that Neil deGrasse Tyson would be much better on talking strictly about astrophysics when he speaks at these types of events. When he doesn't we have 5,000 people who admire him and will take his word on every issue outside of his expertise - even when his words make no sense at all.
Link to article : http://mic.com/articles/118058/neil-de-grasse-tyson-just-gave-graduates-these-9-crucial-pieces-of-advice
The following statements were made by Mr. Tyson as he addressed a graduating class of over 5,000 students:
NDT: Your grades, whatever is your GPA, rapidly becomes irrelevant in your life. I cannot begin to impress upon you how irrelevant it becomes. Because in life, they aren't going to ask you your GPA. ... If a GPA means anything, it's what you were in that moment — and it so does not define you for the rest of your life.
KIAH: While it is true that your grades do not define you, it is completely untrue that your grades become irrelevant in your life. Grades function as a measure of how well a particular individual understands and embodies a subject. Because Mr. Tyson was speaking to students who were minutes away from graduating, it is reasonable to assume that these students took courses that are congruent with the career paths that they plan to pursue. A greater knowledge of the different subjects relating to those paths would result in not only the ability to attain the jobs that they studied for, but it would also create higher chances of success in those fields. Could you imagine a medical student that thought that grades didn't matter operating on someone? In addition, the pursuit of good grades serve to teach students hard work, discipline, time management, and priorities - the type of things that affect people for the rest of their lives - and which translate into valuable qualities in the market. While students shouldn't beat themselves up over a B, they should be striving for the best grades that they can possibly achieve.
NDT: The most dangerous people in a free society are those who don't know ... but think you do know, and have power over legislation that would affect others, that is dangerous. Those are the signs of the end of an informed democracy.
KIAH: I would argue that the most dangerous thing in a society is a populace that thinks they know, but don't know. Uninformed politicians are the least of our worries because politicians don't elect themselves to office; people do. When the masses think they have such a firm grasps on subjects such as economics, foreign policy, the ramifications of illegal immigration, taxes, among others, they elect politicians that are in line with those inaccuracies. The end of an informed democracy is when the people start believing rhetoric instead of evidence. Maybe the people should start paying more attention in school as to be a more informed member of society to elect an informed politician. But, oh yeah, grades are irrelevant to Mr.Tyson.
NDT: Science matters. Think about this: Cavemen and women, they had clean air, fresh water, their food was free-range, yet their life expectancy was 35. Something else matters that improves your life expectancy than just the search for clean air and clean water. There's more going on in our lives brought to you by innovations in science and technology that improves your health, your wealth, your well-being. Just consider that before you start saying, 'I don't like science, I don't want science.' Well, move the hell back to the cave.
KIAH: No one with even half a brain ever suggested that science doesn't matter so it baffles me why people like Tyson and many of his colleagues/admirers imply that there are groves of people saying that we shouldn't study science. Quite the contrary, especially since the national climate is in love with students that pursue STEM fields in college (as they should be) and there's more avocation by teachers, politicians, and communities toward these fields. The mistake that Tyson is making is that he's equating scientific knowledge and technology which are seldom related. One of the greatest inventions in human history was the wheel. It made lives infinitely better for generations of humans after. The boat also shares this distinction. The funny thing is that at the time of these inventions, their collective inventors thought that the sun was a God that would only rise if it was happy with humans and that winter was a curse for poor behavior. Innovations in science has only served to help us better understand the world around us (which is very important). What has improved people's health, wealth, and well-being more than anything else is capitalism and technology.
NDT: It had become a pastime to blame politicians for the ills of the world. I understand the urge to do that ... but at the end of the day, the politician is a representative of an electorate.If you have an issue with politicians it's because you have an issue with your fellow citizens who put them there. So if there is a politician who is sure the universe is 6,000 years old, it's because there are people walking among us who believe that. ... The laws of physics affect us all ... whether or not you believe in them.
KIAH: I agreed with Mr. Tyson until he mentioned the 6,000 year-old Earth believers (aka Christians). What Mr. Tyson doesn't understand is that a politicians belief in a 6,000 year-old Earth doesn't affect anybody but the politician himself. But when a politician believes in a policy that supposed to provide affordable health care by ramming the program down the throats of millions of people that were against it when they couldn't even get the functionality of the site working correctly, yet it's supposed to oversee the complicated health issues of millions of people with efficiency -- that obviously affects people. What we need to do is stop worrying about religious beliefs and start worrying about the things that politicians believe that actually affect us in empirical ways.
NDT: I think on some level, role models are overrated. ... Growing up in the Bronx ... had I required as a prerequisite that another black man from the Bronx had become an astrophysicist for me to become one, I'd still be in the Bronx. If you require a role model who looks just like you to be something you wanna be and you can't find one, is that a reason to not be what you wanna be? No!
KIAH: Who has ever suggested that role models have to have the same skin color as the person modeling after them? No one. Roles models are very important for people who feel isolated by their community when it comes to their aspirations. Kanye West has said that one of his biggest role models is Steve Jobs and they are hardly the same color and come from completely different backgrounds. This is another case of Mr. Tyson creating his own fictional world, and then disputing that world as to relay his "wisdom".
NDT: The universe is bigger than you are. That sounds obvious but some people don't really know that.
KIAH: At a college graduation I think a more constructive statement might be, "The universe is bigger than you are, but you shouldn't let that stop you from being all you can be." Instead we get a statement that sounds more like Tyson is trying to say, "Hey, life happens to you and there's nothing you can do to change that."
NDT: We live in a world where not everyone has the urge to help others. ... It is OK to encourage others to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. But if you do, just remember that some people have no boots.
KIAH: Actually, we live in a world where virtually no one has the urge to help others, so what we need to teach people is to help themselves. One the ways we can do that is by encouraging them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps because nobody is going to pull for them. For those that have no boots, I suggest buying a pair. Which is another way of saying that in this great country the United States of America, people have gone from worse poverty than we have now to great successes. Those people not only had no boots, they had no socks. But that didn't stop James Cash Penny (who lived in much worse poverty than is known by most poor people today) to start J.C. Penny in the early 20th century. That didn't stop homeless Tyler Perry from become the highest paid man in Hollywood in 2011. That didn't stop Oprah Winfrey, the victim of countless rapes from becoming America's first black billionaire. Many poor people in America don't face these problems and for the one's that do there is a way for them if they're tough enough. It they can pull themselves up. Sorry Mr. Tyson, but this is America not Pakistan.
It seems to me that Neil deGrasse Tyson would be much better on talking strictly about astrophysics when he speaks at these types of events. When he doesn't we have 5,000 people who admire him and will take his word on every issue outside of his expertise - even when his words make no sense at all.
Link to article : http://mic.com/articles/118058/neil-de-grasse-tyson-just-gave-graduates-these-9-crucial-pieces-of-advice
