ABSTRACT
The major concern that prompted Bill Gates, Rex Tillerson and the heads of major corporations to support the Common Core Curriculum reforms is that America is falling behind in the education of scientists and engineers. The starting place for introducing students in STEM programs to what should have been learned in public schools and universities is how to understand the different uses of the word culture within the sciences. Different areas of scientific research rely upon the world 'culture' but it is usually understood in a narrow and limited way dictated by the scientific method. Carl Sagan's statement about giving the highest rewards to disproving 'established beliefs' is yet another example of how words encode the analogs that reflect the prejudices and misconceptions of earlier eras. The digital revolution is now strengthening this anti-tradition by virtue of what it is unable to represent other than as an abstraction.
