Freedom of Science

From Academics For Academic Freedom:

We, the undersigned, believe the following two principles to be the foundation of academic freedom:

1. that academics … have unrestricted liberty to question and test received wisdom and to put forward controversial and unpopular opinions, whether or not these are deemed offensive

2. that academic institutions have no right to curb the exercise of this freedom by members of their staff, or to use it as grounds for disciplinary action or dismissal.

I checked the list of academics who signed the petition and I found only one physicist. And he is an experimental physicist who is working on solid research not on philosophical speculations favored by most academic physicists today.

Academics who made this request are Doctors. Doctors are teachers of doctrines. The concept of freedom of science contradicts Doctors’ true belief and their day to day work.

These professors walk into a classroom and teach what the institution they work for tell them to teach. I have studied physics about a decade and not once I have witnessed a situation where the Doctor teaching the course was open to discussion. There was never an exception. To question the authority of a Doctor in Physics education is just out of the question.

A Doctor of Philosophy in physics teaches the Newtonian doctrine. There is nothing to discuss.

My favorite example is the Cavendish experiment. Imagine this situation. The student walks into the Cavendish lab. As you know this is a first year lab where students measure the Newtonian force on a gadget called Cavendish balance and compute the value of G.

Assume a student claims, as I have done once, that the balance is not set up to measure Newtonian force. And the student refuses to pretend that he has verified the Newtonian occult force. I believe this is the true scientific attitude. If academic physics were to be science this attitude would be encouraged. Scientific questioning should be encouraged by Doctors. This is not the case in academic physics. Physics education is about teaching physics not science. The more you study physics the more physics you learn. The more physics you learn the furthter away you are from Nature.

Not only the classroom Cavendish experiment is not accurate but the balance is factory set to oscillate with a given period so that once the measured period is plugged into standard equations the standard value of G is obtained.

This is not an experiment. This is farce or a fraud or a miracle depending on your point of view.

So believing in Academic Freedom a student questions the lab. Anyone who has ever been to a student physics lab knows how ridiculous this scientific behavior would appear to everyone in the class.

All other students already studied the lab manual, they have the equations, they know what they need to measure and they quickly form groups and do their measurements, calculate the value of G and get out of the lab.

The academic system does not reward questioning of Newton’s laws. The student who refuses to make measurements will simply fail. Where is the Academic Freedom? There is none.

I would be very much interested in hearing from Physics professors and assistants who teach the Cavendish lab.

Have you ever encountered any skeptical students?

What was your response?

Did it ever occur to you that the Cavendish lab does not measure Newtonian force?

In order for the Academic Doctors to earn their academic freedom they must first give the students academic freedom.

The second item says:

that academic institutions have no right to curb the exercise of this freedom by members of their staff, or to use it as grounds for disciplinary action or dismissal.

This is ridiculous. A student who questions the authority of the professor and the curriculum will be dismissed. There is no academic freedom in academia.

Academic Doctors who enforce absolute obedience to their authority and to the authority of the curriculum ask for freedom? Let authoritative Doctors give the freedom of science to students first.
 
In reality students do not want to question authority. Students are there to earn the highest grade possible in any which way possible. This is not about freedom this is about jobs. Good grades mean good jobs. This is how society works. Who cares about the Cavendish experiment or if the toy pendulum measures the Newtonian force or not.

There is an important reason to care. After taking the Cavendish lab students go home believing that they measured Newton’s Soul in a scientific experiment. This is not a scientific experiment. This is religious miracle. This is teaching a religion doctrine in a classroom.

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