Gerst misses mark in evaluation of science courses

I would like to comment on Andrew Gerst's column "How to save science" (Feb. 5). Even though I do agree that today science faces many issues, some of which Gerst presented, I would like to criticize Gerst's misleading generalization. I am a physics major at Duke. The largest physics class that I have ever taken was my introductory course, which had at most 30 students. All higher-level classes that I have taken have usually had between 10 and 20 students and very often even fewer. In the physics department there are more professors than undergraduates and, as far as I can tell, the greatest issue for undergraduate physics at Duke is the struggle to retain majors.

Given these circumstances, it is very easy and common for physics majors to do research within the department and to get to know the faculty. Most of my friends, physics majors, of course, have personal relationships with many professors and I have yet to hear a complaint from anyone about their inability to join a research group in the Department. So, the picture that Gerst paints, this "brutal weed-out," seems totally alien to me as both a science major and a student that is closely involved with Duke physics.

As a student that has taken many laboratory classes throughout my career and as a former lab teaching assistant, I would like to state that, when it comes to the experience of a physics major at Duke, a "premium" has never been placed on obtaining correct lab results. Of course, it often it is desired for students to attempt their best in producing consistent and comprehensible data, even if that implies doing some creative work. Inconsistent results due to careless operation of the apparatus and weak reasoning of the data are not acceptable.

Finally, I would like to warn Gerst of the dangers of his proposal to make the teaching of science be more like that of the humanities. I am sure that both teaching philosophies can learn much from each other, but one ought not to forget the fundamental differences between both-mainly, the fact that in science we try to teach how to differentiate truth from falsity.

Alvaro Chavarria

Trinity '07

President, Duke Chapter of the

Society of Physics Students