Video: Everyone Wants To Go (Back) To The Moon
ExxonMobil: “The United States ranks 17th in the world in science. It’s time to raise the bar and elevate our academic standards. Let’s do what’s best for our students by investing in our teachers. Find out more at exxonmobil.com/letssolvethis“
Keith’s note: This video is playing as an advertisement on the CNN.com homepage right now. Look at all the other nation’s flags on the Moon. This is a more subtle – yet still blunt way to send a message about the importance of education and technological preeminence to America – instead of adopting NASA Astronaut Andy Thomas’ earlier clumsy and crude method wherein Chinese astronauts are shown to have trampled the American flag left on the lunar surface as they plant their own.
– NASA Astronaut Andy Thomas is Still Bashing China On The Job, earlier post
– NASA Exploration Ideas – With Added China Bashing, earlier post
I thought ‘ten healthy centers’ was about making constituents happy, not about going back to the moon…
The lawyers that rule this country have given up on America being number one in science, technology, and education and are content to just live off the wealth and knowledge of previous generations as America continues to decline in its quality of life.
And US companies are falling all over themselves trying to invest in a country that actually believes in its technological and scientific future: a country called China, while sitting on trillions of potential investment dollars which they refuse to invest in America and in American workers.
Marcel F. Williams
I so wish you were wrong but I fear you hit the bullseye.
Howe can we start to change that? Take our country back???
You can’t stop a landslide by trying to stop the individual rocks.
The problem the US (and by extension, the western world) is facing is cultural, first and foremost. Science and technology are dissed at every level of society and from every political direction. The rest is just symptomatic.
In many science fiction books, the governing bodies (and leadership figures) are techies. Nothing can be further than this in the reality of the western world. You do see techies in leadership positions in some “advanced-developing” countries, but those cultures are not the dominant ones, and sooner or later they get integrated into the modern world and, for lack of a better word, assimilated.
I don’t see any solution, btw. Just ranting.
It doesn’t just happen in science fiction books.
The president of China is a hydraulic engineer. The premier of China is a geologist.
The vice-president (and next president) of China is a chemical engineer. The vice-premier (and next premier) of China is a lawyer, but he also has a PhD in economics. Thus, unlike the lawyers who rule over America, he can at least do math.
Go back to the moon? Aghhh, and interrupt my Three and a Half Men reruns!
By the time someone returns to the Moon – at LEAST 2020 – whatever is on TV will probably make that show look like Shakespeare!
Interesting that Exxon Mobil went back to the Apollo era. ISS is not visible and most would not know what it is if they saw pictures. Shuttle was visible for a generation but is gone now. I think most school kids and teachers would say today that the space program was something that had been great but that it is America’s past, not present. In that way the Exxon Mobil ad registers. The future ??? I wonder whether people think NASA is in the future? Someone said NASA is being reinvented, and that its now called Space-X.
Deleted by author
Let’s be careful here.
It would be an abomidable mistake to assume that we can best increase our science competence by investing in a human space flight program. The lesson of Apollo was that we accomplished big things because we were smart. Not that accomplishing big things made us smart.
One might note that among the top six countries in PISA science literacy, three (Finland, New Zealand, and Estonia) don’t have substantial space programs. Japan, Korea, and Canada don’t have their own human space flight programs. Ergo, investment in human space flight doesn’t make your 15 year-olds scientifically smart.
I don’t believe that ExxonMobil quite fell into that advocacy trap, but it’s worth noting. It is a bit sad that ExxonMobil is trying to tell us that scientific literacy will ensure our nation that we won’t see a lot of flags on the Moon from other nations. Geez, that’s the best they can give us as an argument for science literacy? No wonder we’re number 17.
Helen, as someone who’s Wife is involved in New Zealand education – if New Zealand is ranking high is Science that doesn’t say very much for international standards! The literacy rate here is sinking fast and most of our science graduates leave the country anyway as the pay is so poor compared to Australia, the U.K., the U.S. or many other places. Also, I do regular Powerpoint and practical presentations about Space Exploration to the public. The number of people who don’t know the difference between Astronomy and Astrology, think LANCE Armstrong walked on the Moon, or think there were NO Moonlandings would shock you. People also wonder why Astronauts float in their spaceships instead of walking and too many think mankind has already gone to Mars and another Galaxy!! These are but a few examples.
Teaching can be the hardest job in the world if you try to do it right and are forced to teach low kids.
Husband of a national board teacher who’s reward for hard work and excellence was to be only offered jobs teaching the lowest of the low.
Some children don’t want to learn and to try to blame teachers for it all is very wrong.
Teacher are pressured to pass failing children throughout our country. That is standard practice!!!
Teachers know that if they have failing kids that they will be forced to pass them as well as be blamed for the Childs failure.
There is just so much you can teach a stone.
You can’t pay some teachers enough.
Mattblak and DTARS, these are excellent comments you make. I agree with them entirely. The point that I wanted to make is that investment in human space flight, and all the “inspiration” crap, is NOT a credible, and certainly not a cost-effective way to improve our scientific literacy. There are many around who blather that it is. Inspiration is a “good thing”, but we have no metrics for its success. We do have metrics for science literacy, and PISA is one.
The fact that we may find other flags on the Moon when we get there is not an issue of science or technology literacy. It’s an issue of whether our science and technology literate public considers putting another one of our flags there, before there are others, as an important goal. I don’t believe Finland cares too much about seeing their flag up there.
That’s where I find this ad somewhat offensive. It’s about how we can congratulate ourselves on our scientific and technological literacy by going back to the Moon before other flags are planted there. It’s not about how we make ourselves more literate.
I didn’t see anything in the ad about congratulating ourselves. Even when the first Moon landing occurred I don’t remember much in the way of self-congratulation. Almost everyone was excited and fascinated about the event itself, and by everyone I mean people all around the world. It seemed that almost everyone understood the significance of the moment when humans first set foot upon another world. Millions listened as a plaque was read that said “we came in peace for all mankind”.
The concern today is not that other countries are going to space and going to the Moon, which I think any reasonable person will think is a good thing for our species. The concern is that the U.S. does not seem to be interested in participating anymore, at least not with the same commitment that we are seeing in other countries.
If someone passes you on the highway, it’s not a bad idea to glance down at your speedometer to make sure that you haven’t through inattention dropped in speed. It’s not about worrying that someone is getting ahead of you, it’s about recognizing a sign that you might be slowing down.
If another country does wind up beating us back to the Moon, I hope that we graciously congratulate them just as we were congratulated by other countries over forty years ago. However at the same time we should see that as a sign that we have slowed down.
Excellent comment.
“Even when the first Moon landing occurred I don’t remember much in the way of self-congratulation. “
What rock were you hiding under drinking kool aid? The significance of the event to most Americans was that we beat the USSR, the technological abilities of which our nation saw as a fearful threat. It was pride and, yes, self-congratulation. Well deserved.
The ad scolds us for the prospect that we’ll go back to the Moon and see other flags waiting for us there. We need to go there like we did before, the ad implies. To be able to congratulate ourselves at being first (to return).
Any reasonable person thinks that going to the Moon is a good thing for
our species? Yep. That’s why we did it, the story goes. You mean
colonization, I think, don’t you? For that, I’m not sure every
reasonable person would feel that way. Think again. Newt sure got a lot of laughs
when he proposed lunar colonization and settlement as a national goal.
I mostly agree with you otherwise, except that if another country does wind up beating us back to the Moon (beating .. that’s a handy word, no?) I also hope we graciously congratulate them, but at the same time we should see that as a sign that human space exploration competition is less important to us than it used to be. Hardly a sign that we’ve “slowed down”. There are many other better signs that we’ve slowed down. Our PISA ranking is a big reason staring us in the face. I don’t need foreign flags on the Moon to tell me that.
The significance of the event to most Americans was that we beat the USSR
You sound pretty authoritative about what most Americans were thinking when the Moon landing occurred. I base my opinion not only on only my own recollections about what was being said by people at the time, but also by looking back at the newspaper and television coverage of the Moon landing. If what you say is true then we should expect to see headlines like “U.S beats Soviets to the Moon” etc. as well as prominent mention throughout the news coverage of the “significance” of this victory over the Russians. Instead the Soviets are hardly mentioned if at all. The New York Times headline “MEN WALK ON MOON” followed by articles which talk exclusively about the event itself are typical of the coverage around the country.
Uberhund says:
June 26, 2012 at 9:16 pm
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Edward Maslowski says:
June 27, 2012 at 9:48 pm
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DTARS says:
June 28, 2012 at 9:37 pm
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What type of investment in teachers did Exxon have in mind?
The average salary for a public high school teacher in the state of Georgia is $58,000 (annualizing 10 months of work to 12 months) placing them #3 in the nation, while Georgia public schools have never ranked above 45 in the nation for scholastic achievement (collegeboard.com).
There has never been a correlation between teacher pay and student performance, nor do manned space programs build interest in science, in spite of the childish, simple-headed programming supposedly tailored for young people via NASA TV.
This is very hypocritical of Exxon Mobile. Exxon Mobile has been funding the anti-science of climate change deniers. I am very disturbed by Exxon Mobile interest in science education. Their view of “science” is the last thing I would like to see promulgated in the schools.
Can Yankee commercial beat this???
http://spaceflightnow.com/c…