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I appreciated Professor Grobstein's essay "This Isn't Just My Problem. Friend". As I reflect on my own elementary education, much of it seemed to be more about learning to jump through hoops (such as "the worksheets" he discusses in his essay) than think independently. In general, many seem to opt for conformity, believing it to be the safe choice, since it keeps them in their comfort zone. However, as Prof. Grobstein put it, "I feel safer when there are people around me who can think".

The recent comments bring to mind my father-in-law, a retired physics professor, whose e-mail sig is a quote from the Devil, in Faust, by the author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Do but despise reason and science, the highest of man's powers, and thou art mine for sure", a quote which to me synthesizes science and literature, and is a reflection of the range of interests of the German author, who just preceded Charles Darwin in life, and whose works on plant morphology came to influence Darwin.