Xref: utzoo sci.space:31125 sci.psychology:5078 sci.math:17787 sci.med:25360 sci.bio:5075 sci.chem:4014 sci.environment:10935 sci.physics:19842
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.psychology,sci.math,sci.med,sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.environment,sci.physics
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!newsserver.sfu.ca!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@newsserver.sfu.ca (Kenneth McDonald)
Subject: Re: Help for science writer
Message-ID: <1991May30.225953.21485@newsserver.sfu.ca>
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <1991May29.054220.4963@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1991May29.235507.6285@massey.ac.nz> <1991May30.182434.30337@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>
Date: Thu, 30 May 91 22:59:53 GMT
Lines: 23


Perhaps I may get flamed for this but...

I think an extremely good series on science would focus on the downside.
For example, PBS over the last several weeks has been showing a series
called, "The Astronomers," all about the joy and romance of astronomy.
However, they don't happen to mention a few of the things that have
recently been mentioned in soc.college.grad, for example that the
average astronomy Ph.D. must now do an average of over 2 postdocs before
landing a job, and that this requirement is still going up.  The popular
press has adopted the scientific establishment as a fount of wisdom and
fulfillment for all involved, which is hardly the case--it might be
interesting to see some stories done about some of the problems.

Ken McDonald
mcdonald@cs.sfu.ca

P.S. a notable exception to the above mentioned trend in the press was a
relatively recent article in Newsweek (Time?--they all look alike to
me), about the overproduction of scientist--yes, overproduction, not
under-.  A refreshing point of view.
.