Teaching is a curious thing. It seems to be effective only when the student is made to feel pleasure in learning. That pleasure is inherently private, yet the learning of science is generally promoted on the ground that it serves some public good. In the era of Sputnik, that public good was clear to all: national defense. Now we hear that scientific literacy is important if America is to maintain its technological edge—not because we are in a race with the Soviets, but because technological innovation drives economic growth. But such fretting in a public-policy mode fails to get at the private experience of individual students. “Why should I study physics?” Imagine the question as posed by a truculent sixteen-year-old, staring you down from his desk in the back row. The question is legitimate and compelling, and cannot be evaded with blather about economic growth.
Surely "economic growth" isn't the most important reason to teach the sciences.
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