From JOHN HENDERSON
There is no evidence that good teaching can only be performed by lecturers
active in research. Also, there is no evidence that the present failure
to provide the engineers and technologists that industry is assumed to
need will be remedied by pumping more money into ‘science’.
Engineering and technology are disciplines distinct from one another
and from science. Recognising this fact is an essential first step to addressing
the problem. For example, our performance as a nation in computing has been
lamentable. Nevertheless, vast amounts of public money have been poured
into an ingenious variety of support mechanisms without even slowing significantly
the rate of our relative decline.
By all means let us determine how much the country can afford for basic
science and spend it, but let us not delude ourselves that this will provide
educational or industrial benefits.
John Henderson Alton, Hampshire
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