October 12, 2007
Huckabee Says U.S. Education is Too Much About the Left Brain
Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, told Newsweek that “the biggest single mistake we’ve made in the last generation” is having created an education system that focuses too much on developing the logical, left side of the brain.
“When you do that, it’s like having a computer that has a wonderful database and no operating system,” the Republican said in a wide-ranging interview with the news magazine.
Mr. Huckabee said that arts and music education, in particular, should receive greater focus in the United States.
He also said he believes that part of the reason so many students are dropping out of school before they can graduate and move on to college is that they are simply bored in the classroom.
In the interview, Mr. Huckabee also discussed his reading habits (lots of periodicals, no fiction) and noted that he recently finished the book “The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins, a geneticist and Christian who wrote about his views on the interplay of science and spirituality.
That led Newsweek to engage Mr. Huckabee in a discussion of his beliefs on evolution, which sometimes proves to be a a thorny topic for Republicans.
He responded by saying that he didn’t think his views on the matter were fundamental to the question of whether he should be the next president of the United States.
“But if you want to pin me down,” he added, “I believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Sara Hebel | Posted on Friday October 12, 2007 | PermalinkComments
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— Annewml Oct 12, 12:31 PM #
WOW! That’s an impressive statement in this day of NCLB, the anti-Christ of creativity (pardon the intentional pun). Huckabee has some interesting ideas.
— kgotthardt Oct 12, 03:02 PM #
Isn’t emphasizing the left side of the brain more nearly like having a good operating system and no database? I think he got the (admittedly lame) analogy backward.
— Galen Oct 13, 05:57 PM #
No, he got it perfectly right. We emphasize the learning of facts (data) over how to think creatively and analytically to apply those facts to problem solving (OS).
— Fran Oct 15, 11:46 AM #