I think the actual effect is that a government stagnates technologically because the numerically illiterate masses tend to vote for people who share their opinions, and hence there is a void of technocrats in government.
The trend seems to be changing now though, possibly because those 'smart' people (like the readers of HN) are making money, and impressing others. Blogs probably also increase the sociability of 'nerds' and they are sharing their opinions in a medium that the masses can read and appreciate.
The word instead stuck out to me here, because I don't think these two qualities are an either/or quality.
Further, don't be so quick to demonize the rhetorician. Unfortunately the Rhetoric today is all but extinct, to the point that the word is used derogatorily, much like the word Hacker.
You want to make a difference today? Learn rhetoric. Take two weeks and research the term. Find the people who spoke directly to this issue. Your search will take you to the limits of the history of ideas.
I agree, xel02, that a rhetorician must not be solely a rhetorician. That would be like a Hacker who only chooses Hacker methods of communication and then wonder why he/she gets blackballed in the workplace and why no one listens.
Being an expert, by itself, isn't enough to entitle one to the responsibility of speaking for others. The rhetoric, lets now say the Politician, has the responsibility to make decisions for a group, and while these decisions require technocratic involvement, they have other non-technocratic elements to be considered.
That's like sending soldiers to war without a single visit to the shooting range. Never mind the common citizen.
I remember as an exercise one of my physics professors asked us whether it would be possible to make up the energy deficit in British Columbia through wind turbines. Using back of the envelope calculations, basic physics, and some generous estimates we proved that it would be unlikely -- if a politician were able to do this it could very likely affect his decisions on whether other energy sources are needed.
Ability varies. Some people are innately good at math, some people are not. No one wants to have a value system where they are inevitably inferior. So people develop a value system in which their natural ability level is the ideal level.
Category #1 ``Math Illiterate Teachers'' : These teachers don't actually know any real math. They memorize a lesson out of the texbook and present it to the class. The problem is that it convinces students that math is magic: it works, but don't ask why.
Category #2 ``Underestimaters'' : These teachers are competent in their subject, but have given up on the majority of their class. These students are already convinced that math is magic and attempts to teach math in any way but rote memorization result in loosing them. Thus they give endless `examples' and `special cases' and `flowcharts' in hope that these students can memorize enough to pass the finals and go on to be art students.
I've talked to both categories of teachers. #1 is generally aware that they know nothing, but feels it is unimportant (one told me that other teachers down the road would be able to explain things so she just had to get them to do things). #2 generally feels that this is the only way possible: some students just can't grasp math.
Another part of the problem is textbooks. IMHO, they over-complicate topics by giving to much explanation. Brief answers are easier for students to grasp and make the textbook more approachable. You can break concepts into smaller concepts and give secondary more detailed explanations where necessary instead. I'm working on writing a open source math textbook on this approach (sorry for self promotion): http://christopherolah.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/math1.pdf . Feedback and help are appreciated.
This teacher is more interested in off topic discussions and spinning yarns than teaching or discussing the topic. Results being he (or she) does not spend enough time actually teaching and engaging the students.
Might not be so bad on fluff topics, but can be damaging when this is your 7th grade algebra teacher.
Some people have dyscalculia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity
Note that I don't mean to down play your disability, I'm sure that it is a severe impairment and I don't mean to imply that it is `your fault' for not working hard enough. For what it's worth, I had similar disabilities with writing and social comprehension. I was greatly helped by the Arrowsmith School:
What I find more frustrating is when people in computer science courses basically dismiss something your explaining to them to be over there heads.
