This introduction to science is what makes the MAS so important. Beyond providing a website and school visit, the Academy is taking strides in the expansion of science education, a priority in a changing world. My internship was a positive learning experience for me because it not only showed me how much professional educators care about their material, it also offered first hand experience in informal education, outreach, and organization. Working with the MAS was an illuminating experience, to be sure.
I have to admire Peg’s commitment to the Academy, a long overdue organization in one of the great bastions of Western knowledge. The oldest constitution still in use in the world today is that of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, penned by John Adams in 1778, a decade before our national constitution. While serving as a rough draft for the later US Constitution, Adams included a few words on education that he privately thought were too radical to pass. He wrote: “Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people [are] necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties. And as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people [that is, everyone], it shall be the duty [not something they might consider, but the duty] of legislatures and magistrates in all future periods of this commonwealth to cherish the interests and literature and the sciences…”. Here, we have to applaud Adam’s vision and thank Peg and her industrious interns for their work. 1778 was a long time ago, but better late then never, eh?"
-Doug Taylor
