physics and physicists: “I’ll Never Use The Skills I Learned In Physics”

zapperz attacks this in a couple of ways, such as the idea that you (can) learn critical thinking skills

The “skills” that one learn out of a physics/science course goes BEYOND physics. It is a skill of thinking things through and systematically. It is the skill in knowing what KIND of evidence is required for something to be considered to be VALID. This is highly important no matter what you do. How do you know that something somebody utters on TV is valid? Most of the time, people are persuaded not based on valid evidence, but based on personality of the presenter and all the bells and whistles. Apply this to the world of politics, where phrases fly off into the air as if they are facts, or as if simply by saying it, it is true. The same can be said with regards to the battle between evolution and creationism. The inability of some members of the public to actually think through something THIS obvious clearly shows that the skill of analytical thinking isn’t there!

That and the other points are certainly important, but I’ll go a step or two lower and look at some actual physics applications. I don’t know precisely what is taught in Physics 140: How Things Work, but I’d guess a few basics involved would let you figure out that the truth about turning the heat down during the day if nobody’s home. “Conventional wisdom” says that it takes more energy to heat the house back up, but the actual physics confirms the conventional wisdom to be wrong. Or a simple analysis to verify that buying a long-life CFL will save you money over incandescent bulbs once you figure out actual energy use, despite the cost-per-bulb being higher. E = Pt is simple physics, but physics nonetheless.

A word of advice for Ms. McMillan: if someone asks you to invest in a device that creates energy, for which you will be able to charge money and make a profit, it may appear to be a sound investment from a financial perspective. But the physics you so casually dismiss guarantees that it is not.

(on a personal note, I’ve found that most of basic finance is pretty easy if you can do physics. Problems in financial literacy and science literacy do share a common problem: math literacy)