Story time:
In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.
Hereβs what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.
What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didnβt want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.
The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasnβt allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasnβt even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didnβt help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.
So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmesβs blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the βrightβ answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. Itβs not about truth when itβs about paying rent. Thereβs no scientific integrity if you canβt control for human desperation.
I thought this was gonna relate to that one story of the king chosing his successor by giving everyone boiled seeds and only one guy didnβt lie, so he became the ruler and it was a lesson about honesty.
But this is actually introspective and far more relevant to society as a whole.
tags by starfoozle: #y u p #similarly: i remember playing a βstock market simulationβ game in seventh grade where our horrible teacher said heβd determine our grade #by how much money we made. being neurotic honors kids who didnβt want to gamble our gpas on arbitrary market fluctuations; #we resorted to desperate measures. my classmate carson stole the teacherβs notebook over lunch and we all engaged in insider trading. #the teacher was furious when everyone made the same choices and βwonβ but nobody ratted our classmate out! #you donβt actually have the ability to take risks or be creative when you know you will be penalized for getting things βwrongβ #anyway this is a bad teaching methodology but itβs also replicated irl all the time. sigh.
