Dr. Watson Thinks I'm Dumb!

One of my favorite "little" blogs has become "60 Second Science" from Scientific American (and, surprisingly, you can actually access it at school). One of their posts from yesterday gave details of comments made by Dr. James Watson (one of the discoverers of the double-helix structure of DNA) to the New York Academy of Sciences:

Last night in a room with a double helix woven in the carpet, the cantankerous geneticist James Watson, Nobel-Prize winner and provocateur – made clear his opinion of today's high school teachers: they're not too bright.
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Watson said he believes there is a larger hole in the U.S. educational system that is sapping our lead in science. "Part of the problem is too many of our teachers are dumb," he said, balking that "Teachers' unions are corrupt." He said that the relatively low pay educators receive has prompted smart people to flee teaching for other careers – although he made a point of noting that he does not support giving them raises. Teachers like the "bright woman that taught me Latin are no where near our schools [now]," he crowed.

Watson continued to insist that educators are "not as bright" as they once were, before moderator and former TV reporter Garrick Utley politely cut him off. Despite being silenced, Watson continued to mutter snippily, prompting the audience to roar with laughter.

Other highlights of his discussion:

He went on to denounce failed Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona as "nuts" and "dumb" for failing to see the importance of science
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according to Watson, there's nothing worse than forcing young, ambitious scientists to be nice. "Christian values don't make any sense," he said, explaining that young people should be selfish and aim for success.
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That's one reason he likes Russians...and would hire them in a heartbeat – presumably because they are more worried about surviving than about being nice.

While Dr. Watson's contributions to biology can't be overstated, he seems to be pretty good at making a fool of himself lately. Two years ago, he was criticized around the world for making comments that were widely viewed as racist:

The eminent biologist told the British newspaper he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really."
[...]
In the newspaper interview, he said there was no reason to think that races which had grown up in separate geographical locations should have evolved identically. He went on to say that although he hoped everyone was equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

And we wonder why there is a large portion of society that doesn't trust the motives of science.