"american frontier." >> i flashed the word from the field to the production office in williston and then to the central office in oklahoma. day and night our little telephone board was lit up like a christmas tree. calls from new york, california, houston. bit by bit, we began to realize how big a thing this was. >> the film promoted the financial benefits for farmers of leasing land for oil exploration and was funded by the american petroleum institute. sunday morning at 11, panelists discuss the life and legacy of novelist, journalist, photographer and social activist jack london and how his novel, "the call of the wild," influenced generation of western novelists and writers. >> he always looked back to the natural land, to his ranch, to the beautiful seven sawly in -- scenery in california and else in in the south pacific to center himself and to find release and relief from the

rigors and the depredations of the cities. .. >> coming from the farms and anywhere you can think of and the first thing they saw was the boeingsteers men. >> for a complete american history tv schedule, go to c-span.org . >> now norman letterman, author and professor of science education at the illinois institute of technology. talks about scientific literacy and ways of teaching science. he addressed the audience at westminster college in missouri recently. this is just under 15 minutes . >> when we talk about today's

problems around the next generation science which, how many people are familiar with ngs?okay, so those are a new set of standards that came out in 2013 and the acronym is ngs s, that stands for next-generation science standards and i have concerns about it.especially with respect to the areas you mentioned i am interested in, inquiry and intro science. eventually it will make sense when i get to the end of my talk. if it doesn't, then my talk is going to end. anyway, how the ends may justify the means but the means should never become the ends area and as you mentioned, i'm a former high school teacher, biology teacher in chemistry.

i've been a science and profession for over 30 years and i love science and i love teaching. this first picture up here is two of my grandchildren. and that's another grandchild. i have three and were trying to get them to love science but young kids are extremely curious about the world and where they live and it's not hard to get them excited. somehow over the years in schools, we get them intimidated by science we get them scared of science . they move away from science as they can and it's unfortunate because those ar future voting citizens and the general public out there, doesn't have the highest attitude about science as well and it's unfortunate

because every day our world becomes more scientifically and psychologically based. a lot of decisions are being made that need some understanding of science so you can make an informed decision. scientists disagree a lot, this gets portrayed in newspapers, on tv and the public very often has to react andmake decisions about their personal life . what theyeat , and what they do and what's right for the environment. so science is critical whether we like it or not and my emphasis has always been on the public understanding of how science works and what implications that has for the knowledge for our science textbooks and the science we hear about every day. if you go to washington dc, on the rotundain the national academy of science , there's a saying there, what is

science? i put that in there. there's one possible answer to that question. i'll let you read for a second. it's a little bit militaristic. but it's really standard definition is someone asks you what science is. science is an interesting thing because we recognize it but for us to define it, it's not so easy to define. when i was in oregon state university which was many years before i was in chicago, there was a paleobiology as i used to work with and i asked him the question what is science and his answer was a bit different than the first one you saw. it likes to be provocative, he was one of the great speakers at the conference. he tries to get people jazzed up by using things like lies and deceiving the public but

he's just trying to get people to understand that science is not as infallible as any of us believe and scientists do the best they can with the data they have and then they inferences from that data. that's what he's really trying to say here so his inferences are what we use to describe how the world works. all the phenomena that we see, how they work. and he doesn't mean that we are lying. if i were in a classroom and i was asking my students what with a group of teachers and asking what is science, i might show those two quotes before but really what i focus on is there are three parts to science. the first one we are all familiar with, it's a body of knowledge. any science textbook,

chemistry, biology, general science, physics, the pages are filled with the current knowledge of science. the new standards for all the fine national knowledge, discipline, core ideas then you have these overarching integrating ideas called crosscutting concepts, things like equilibrium, things like homeostasis, is like osmosis and so on. and you are filled with things like theories and things called laws and it goes on and on. i'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about that today because the main thing i have is in the second thing here and the third which i will reveal in a minute. how science is done. that traditionally has been called science inquiry. the new standards it called science practices. these are things that scientists do to answer their questions and to develop the knowledge that filled the textbooks. the way that science is done

has implications for the end product which is the knowledge, the theories, laws, concepts . and that's known as the nature of science. and that talks about the characteristics of the knowledge which is directly derived from how the knowledge is done. it's things like all scientific knowledge is subject to change. it's never absolute. scientific knowledge is partly afunction of population . scientific knowledge is empirically based. scientists go out and collect data from the natural world, they don't just make up things. of how they think the world works so it's just tested against nature. so that's what major science is referring to and i'm going to spend all of my talk on the second two. because all this science we learned in schools, all the

science we learned from tv, all the science we get from museums, zoos and wherever we confront science, and we want to learn about science, the ultimate goal is always been scientific literacy. we want our general public to be able to take the knowledge they have with science and use it to make informed decisions about personal issues , about societal issues and reproductive citizens. that's the ultimate goal. if you reach that goal, we need to understand the knowledge but more importantly, for my argument, we need to understand how that knowledge was developed and what are the characteristics of that knowledge because of the way it was developed. same group of people that were stealing that first quote, national academy of sciences, here's their definition of scientific literacy. it's a little bit more long-winded but it's saying the same thing and that is

that we want our students and our public to be able to use that knowledge to make informed decisions. we were trying to reach this goal of scientific literacy since the early 1900s and by everyone's definition we have not reached that goal yet so we continually try and try and we haven't gotten there yet. to get more specific about literacy, the national academy of sciences, to be scientifically literate, students have to learn how to ask, define and determine answers the questions. that is derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. we want them to be able to describe and predict national phenomena. read newspaper articles, watch tv and engage in public conversations about the validity of the conclusions that are being presented. so they can weigh the

evidence, way the scientific knowledge in a somewhat informed way. identifying scientific issues that underlie national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed. we hear a lot in theews for we did, much more so than now about whether global warming or global cooling , way have many politicians that don't believe certain things that the scientific community has almost total consensus on and that's always existed in our world and we want people to know enough about science to be able to make sense of some of these positions and arguments. that evaluating the quality of information and the methods to generate it and that method to generate is critical, that's another way of saying scientific inquiry. and we propose and evaluate

arguments based on evidence. same idea, long-winded. a little departure for a second here because this shows up a lot. there are two phrases you will hear and most people will use those interchangeably. but they don't mean the same thing. one is science literacy and the other is scientific literacy. science literacy really is focusing on how much science you know.not about making decisions,it's not about applying that knowledge , it's about how much science you know. one place that playing itself out using this big push for stem, science, technology, engineering and mathematics which was supposed to mean that the science curriculum would be now integrated among those four disciplines. but many universities and

mine included have taken the emphasis on stem to mean we want to have more science, more technology, more engineering and more mathematics and the integration among those is not certain. scientific literacy is more all in line with the position i'm talking about and more in line with the current national standards and that is focusing on things that are science and technology based but they are in the context of the world we live in, our daily lives and that's where decision-making comes in and all these decisions are not made just based on the science involved. there are other factors, political factors, social factors that all are part of that decision. it's not as simple as we don't want to cut trees down anymore because we're trying to preserve the environment. i used to work in oregon and it was a big war that went on because many people were employed in the lumber industry and if you make a

decision not to cut down anymore trees, you put a lot of people out of work people would be making economic decisions versus something that's better for the environment so it's not simple. in the national standards, there is a strategy on scientific practices and science inquiry and nature of science. in the end gss, nature of science has the different components.one is that all scientific investigation use a variety of methods, not just one. one major misconception in the world is that all scientific investigations are one set sequence of events known as the scientific method but the reality is a misrepresentation of science. scientific knowledge is based

onempirical evidence, scientists collect data from the empirical world , numbers or descriptions. empirical just means observations of the natural world. knowledge is open to revision in light of new evidence, but no scientific evidence is absolute, it changes. there are many examples of that. we used the think the world was flat, now we don't. but there are many other more subtle examples where the knowledge of science has changed. up until 1956, and i just did this week ago, we used the belief that human beings had 48 chromosomes. and i just found out that i was reading an old science textbook from 1929 that was used in the new york city school system, they talk about 48 chromosomes and they say, what is that about? we were born and raised on the idea there were 36 chromosomes and that's what we still do but it wasn't until 1956 where we change from the idea there were 48

and now there are 46 and it was because there are advanced technologies to be able to identify and counterproposals. sometimes technology is not involved, it's simply reinterpreting the same data and then we have a different view of how things work. we used the think that dinosaurs were closely related to reptiles, now we believe they are more closely related to birds and there are many other examples. models, laws and theories are critical to science, they help explain and provide a framework for the world in which we live. scientific knowledge and assumptions of science is that there's order and consistency in natural systems so if we find gravity here, we're going to assume it's going to be everywhere else in the earth rather than every location being different. science is a human endeavor. that's something that is pretty vague. it means a lot more than

humans do science but because humans do science, it has locations, it has biases, involves creativity and imagination, it involvesall those human characteristics . science is done by humans. i think overall, science is a way of knowing which is another very vague term. what does that mean? part of it is that the way science is done is different than the way other disciplines are performed. and science addresses questions about the natural and the material world. her many questions that are not answerable through science area and what is love, you know, what is good, what is bag, those are not scientific students. when we talk about science and scientific inquiry, it can be vague. and people have written books about this.

even the spaniards whenever they mentioned they were coming out with an addendum, they were redefining what they meant by it but in constant reform, it's in three different ways. one is a teaching approach. if you are prepared to be a teacher, one of the things you probably hear a lot in your classes is you should teach science in a way that is very similar to the way scientists view science. let's develop questions, let them collect data. but then develop research, design, let and analyze data and they, with the conclusions and then argue about the conclusions. the idea behind it is that students do science the way scientists do it, they will end up learning it better. there's no debate about that. but i'm on the inquiry side of that debate. there are two others. one is , the performance one. giving your kids the ability to do the things that scientists do. making observations, making inferences, drawing conclusions. developing questions.

that's the doing of inquiry and the last one on their witches central to the work that i do is knowledge about inference. stepping back and looking at what we just did and why we did it that way. it's easy to teach students in schools to design an experiment with a control group. it doesn't take very long do that. how those students step back and you ask them why do we need a control? they can't answer the question. it's not uncommon for students in science classes to be able to do something that they don't understand what they're doing. my focus and i think it's better is the students understand what is being asked to do. they will often ask out and do whatever the teacher tells them to do, it also comes down like a set of prescribed steps that they follow without thinking.

specific science practices, the way they are listed the next science standards, i call this the list of verbs. students should learn how to ask questions. develop and use models. plan and carry out investigations.using mathematic computational thinking. interpreting data, coming up with explanations, engaging in arguments about their evidence because it's not uncommon in a science class if you are a teacher, you know this. if you are a student in science class, somewhere along the line, not every group in that class will come up with the same answer. usually, that gets first trade as someone did something wrong but it is very typical of science for people following the same procedures to find answers to the same questions coming up with different answers and neither one of them is wrong. obtaining and evaluating

information, these are things you can teach students to do. that's related to that performance idea of inquiry. if you are in the ngss, formatting the way you have it here, i don't need you to read everything is there but it's called reagan national science learning. one of the last are the science engineering practices or inquiry. it's the disciplinary core ideas that found the foundational theories of laws, ideas and science . the one on the far right is called cost-cutting concepts and these are these overarching ideas in science that integrates all the different science areas in a much bigger than individual factoids for facts. the two things that are circled in red are maybe those connections to nature of science. they are not considered standards.

they are not necessarily things that kids will ever be tested or evaluated on. and they are things that i feel right now has a new standard will be left out of the curriculum totally. when the next generation of science standards being developed, there are big debates about what to do with the nature of science and it actually got pushed to the back which goes within our previous standards which of course concerns me because i've been working in that area for 30 years. but now it's kind of an appendix. so what do we want students to know about inquiry when it works for teachers, a much simplified list is that all investigations begin with a question. it may not be a hypothesis. it's not a misconception. you have to start with a hypothesis very often, in the scientific world there is just general questions without any conclusion being made. there is no single set that's

always followed, known as the scientific method. when not saying the scientific method doesn't exist but it's not an accurate representation of all science. inquiry procedures are guided by the questions which is why we have to to start with questions today. besides her investigation, it guides the data you collect and as i said before, all scientists doing the same thing, trying to answer the same question they not get the same result area because they are people and they interpret things differently, they focus on some data and maybe not all data. inquiry procedures and enlist the results. research conclusions must be consistent with the data collected. i often have teachers say what are the conclusions and they would say you didn't get what we were supposed to. they would say we didn't get what you were supposed to. you gotwhatever the data you had , what the data are.

like the previous speaker, i think one of the last quotes there is it's just the way it is. there's always a conclusion and the conclusion must be consistent with the data. data are not the same as scientific evidence. we get the data but then the human mind interprets that data and then it becomes evidence for your viewpoints, evidence against it or it becomesirrelevant . evidence is really weighted that's been interpreted by the human mind. and explanations develop from acombination of what we already know and the data we collect. these are things you don't do . inferring and concluding, these are things the students looking back on what they did come to realize. this is knowledge about inquiry, it's knowledge about science. and historically, this nature of science and inquiry has always been mixed up and it's always been there but they've always been mixed up in our minds.

in project 2061 which was called #4 science literacy, that came about in 1993 nature of science is the overarching theme within which inquiry was included. the national science education standards of 1996 put them together in a different way. inquiry and nature science were two separate things that were intimately related but they were different. the end gss now has nature of science as a subset of inquiry. that's where i have these little red circles i showed you where nature of science, because they were in the inquiry section and then interestingly enough, the knowledge about inquiry are a subset of nature of science and it looks like three or four contradictory but the key thing is that we learn about the number four cell number three is about doing

inquiries, about doing science. number four is understanding about what you did. but nature of science and inquiry have sometimes been kept separate. sometimes are in a hierarchy where nature of science is at the top. what times inquiry itself, they are always there because a lot of confusion. what we found out over 60 years of research on scientific inquiry and nature of science is that k-12 students, and i can say that as the general public because i have adequate conception of inquiry or nature of science. these two things are critical to achieve scientific literacy. literacy is not just the knowledge. it's understanding how the knowledge is developed and what are the implications for the nature of the knowledge and how do i make decisions based on that. the same thing is true with teachers. they don't typically have a

good understanding of the nature of science as a degree which is problematic because teachers are expected to teach things. how can they teach something they do not know? it's not that they can understand this, it's just that if you think back to your science class, you rarely were taught anything about nature of science and scientific discovery. i wasn't. i didn't learn about nature of science about inquiry until after i had a masters degree in biology. it was not included in any instruction i had. now people are told more often it's actually the goal of the science community since 1907 when we still have a long way to go on that. okay, what am i doing here. three. the conception of scientific inquiry, nature of science are not automatically translated to how they teach. when i was a graduate student, we used to believe that nature of science would

affect how you teach, it doesn't. they are really not related. they should be butthey're not. teachers, and this relates to high-stakes testing , that we are getting more and more into did not regard the standings of inquiry and nature of science as of equal status with a traditional disciplinary core ideas. they would not be on the test and teachers to teach for the test. sometimes because they didn't want to and sometimes because they had no choice but they don't value it as much as the other areas and finally, we found out recently and this is part of my work and my colleagues work that understanding nature of science is understanding inquiry best taught for the way critical reflection that is done explicitly in a classroom on what students have done. we talked about what we just did and why we did the things we did.

without that reflection, students no longer understand. earlier on, people used to believe that they learned nature of science and scientific inquiry just by doing science. there were many people that did that but students don't go home at night and say you know, that student in my class today, not every group had the same answer. that's probably because we're all different people with different backgrounds and we data differently and that's why we had different answers. that conversation does not happen automatically and frankly, if all kids did that, i'd be a little worried but some of our students will do that but most of them do not, they just think somebody did something wrong so the implicit approach doesn't work for what i'm talking about. the historical approach is another one people have talked about and that is going through the historic development of particular scientific ideas. it seems like it would make sense but the mind works in

strange ways and we know today, logically addressed in a linear fashion what we used no earlier and earlier in time. the message from the history of science approach tends to be that students can't step out on the fact that they are from 2016 and make believe they know nothing and they tend to think what used to believe, they use to believe dinosaurs were related to reptiles. which they worked at the time that they came to the conclusion. the research shows that it's virtually impossible for students to do that area and we've all come to every situation with some kind of background knowledge and that background knowledge filters how we infer what we see. 300 years ago, if you look up in the sky and saw that white object and i asked you what it is you would say that's the moon. okay?

you actually know. you would say that's the planet. today, you would say it's the moon. the same white object, same place in the sky, and now we call it the moon. that's because 300 years ago used to believe the earth was the center of the solar system and anything that orbits the center was a planet. now we believe the sun is the center of the solar system and anything that orbits the sun is a planet, that's way we are a planet, and anything that orbits a planet is a moon or a satellite. depending on what theoretical framework you have about the world, i'm trying to be like? own, decide how you determine what you are looking at. there are no value free observations, they're all in the context of the framework you are working with. the explicit approach is one that treats the nature of

science and treats inquiry or practices like anything else you're trying to teach. it's a goal of your instruction, it's planned for, it doesn't happen by accident and that's what makes it explicit. explicit doesn't mean a lecture, explicit means it's visible in the classroom and its talkedabout in the classroom. hopefully more so by the students and teacher. the students don't have to use the words i've used , but once they got the idea conceptually, then you can give them the word but unless that takes place , they don't come to learn nature of science and that's the focus of my work and i think what's going on in the next generation of science standards has forgotten that idea, even though there's 30 years of research on it. generally, teachers know this, students will learn what is not taught. if you want to learn

something that needs to be taught, needs to be included in the structure. you may be able to read that fine print at the bottom that says generally speaking. students learn all kinds of things they didn't intend to learn. if you ever collect a students notebook and look at what they wrote down after a class, you'd be surprised at some of the stuff that's in there.that's why generally speaking is in there so don't ask me later that unless you definitely talk about it, people don't learn something they didn't intend, they do that all time. i think some of the points no are doing science is a necessary practice for learning about scientific practices and the status of scientific knowledge. i'm not advocating at all that we should stop focusing on kids doing investigations. i'm all for that. it's passionately necessary. it gives them an idea and develop ideas that scientists

use every day but it's not enough just to do the site. doing science is necessary but is not sufficient. it's a means, now we get back to that title, it's a means to the end of students achievement of scientific literacy. if you want students to be scientifically literate, we need to put in situations where they can reflect back on what they did, develop the understanding of inquiry, develop their understanding of the status of the knowledge that was developed in the inquiry, realize that may change, realize that it's not absolute and realize that it's probably a function of human imagination and inference and also a function of actual data from the real world so we need inquiry as a platform for these two have students refer back to.

the general public, if you go home tonight and you see a debate on the news about whether genetically modified foods are healthy or not, none of you are going to run to your garage or your backyard and do an investigation. we put students in the position they're in so they have an idea of how science works and why it works that way and so when they are confronted with these decisions they need to make, they use that to weigh the evidence. but when we stopped students doing inquiry, we stop at that point, we are not going far enough. that's why i said in my title the means which are critical as in the next generation of science standards become the endpoint. we stop at then having to do the science practices and we are missing this whole other step which is absolutely

essential for scientific literacy. those other steps were in the last set of things in 1996 but now they just they almost as an afterthought, the next generation of science standards. we have an extra slide here for some reason. students need to reflect on the signs they've done, developed, understanding of science. its implications, the status of the knowledge. they need to reflect on something that inquiry but without that reflection they don't have the understanding they need to make decisions. developing these understandings along with the knowledge of disciplinary core, the basic foundational science and the crosscutting concepts enables students to make informed decisions about scientifically based societal issues.

it's a fact that we need the knowledge, we need to know how it's developed, we need to know what status that knowledge has so the final point in doing science, it's absolutely necessary but it's not the end desired. the endpoint always has been and probably always will be scientific literacy and if we just focus on the knowledge and the doing of developing the knowledge, we're missing at least two key proposals of scientific literacy, we haven't even talked about this today. so that's my message, if you're becoming a teacher, make sure you engage your students in discussions about what you have them do and what that means. to them and to their lives. if you are not a science teacher or consuming, and that's what i'm after,people that are consuming science , take it out and ask yourself how did they come up with that?

what was the day-to-day use to come up with that? what did that mean mark that picture on page 5 of your science textbook of the adam, you've all seen it. it looks like the solar system. no one has ever seen an atom. most students believe that somebody was a strong enough microscope saw that adam. and the picture in the book is instructional but we don really believe in and looks that way anymore. it looks like the solar system but in quantum mechanics, the adam doesn't look that way at all. so the same thing if you are in a geology class, there's all the different layers of the earth, all the way to the center. they will even tell you what the center is made out of, whether it's solid . as far as we know, in the journey to the center of

europe, no one had been to the center of the earth. the inferences we've made with various types of technology which has evolved over the years but no one ever sees it. students need to know where that picture in the book comes from. they need to know what does it mean, that's inference. that means it can change. we have a different view of it. we used to have a different view of it. and that becomes important because it helps guide future scientific work , those global models of the adam, the five types of questions we have, decide what the answers are considered acceptable or valid. so they really are critical things to know. if you want to get to the endpoint. so inquiry, practices is a great platform.

it's a great means, not to get the endpoint of scientific literacy so we can cut ourselves short. with that, i will cut myself off and ask if there are any questions. [applause] >> thank you very much doctor letterman. if anyone has questions, come on down and make your questions one at a time. >> i must have been totally clear, right? >> if there's no questions, let's get back. >> thank you. >> you saved me. ...

>> thank you for your talk today, i thought it was very interesting. i was wondering something that was implied throughout your entire talk was the velocity of science. do you feel as if students need to learn about philosophy of science to understand science? and to high school, from an early age. >> this is actually a great question and it's actually the core of a continuing debate. i'll tell you what the debate is and then tell you where i stand on this debate and why i stand in the way i do. there are many people that feel exactly as that question is asked. that philosophy, and it used to be science actually were both very important to know. and if they get a good understanding of philosophy, it will enable them to understand their science better, to understand the

nature of science and how science is done better. we always have to remember that we are teaching biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, we are not teaching philosophy though many of my philosophy students argue for that point. that we need to have more philosophy in our science classes. what often happens is people on that side of the debate have no experience in the classroom and they make recommendations of what kids need to know that are not developmentallyappropriate . so some idea of our philosophy of science, some idea of history of science are the kids love history of science, just tell the story . and i used to use it as a way to engage students so i can my endpoint which is what i wanted them to learn. philosophy of science can get

real confusing. philosophers will tell you that that chair over there is really just an inference that my mind is made up. all that ever happened was i had charged particles going in and out of my nerve cells and then my brain interpreted it to be what we would all agree as a chair. they would tell a fifth-grade student stuff like that and it would confuse them because that's a chair and it's absolutely there. so i usually am on the side of consider the audience area and what are they capable of understanding and use that to the best of your ability. my biggest detractor is a

good friend of mine actually, but we never agreed on anything. mike matthews from australia who's a real historian, philosopher of science and myself and my colleagues on the other side of that debate , it continues to rage and it differs from country to country. what i can say and no one seems to pay attention to is one of my original doctoral students, his dissertation studied the understanding of nature and science and scientific inquiry in students that were taking history of science classes at the college level students taking a philosophy of science class at the college level and students in a science teaching medical class. they found that the students in the history of science where the philosophy of science class did not understand science. they understood history of science and philosophy of science but not this educational outcome that we've all called nature of science so that data is out

there, it won awards that people do. scientific educators are human just like scientists, we have these ideas we tried to push and we ignore the things that we don't get that connects to an excellent question. >> i just had a question or clarification. what do you see as missing in the process is done, our reflection on the process is not what it is you what is the meaning of the process and why do we do it? isn't that the, something like that but more like the critical learning part. why we did what we did and why in a specific case that process is valued and why in other cases the process may not be valued.

it's not why, what we miss at the students do not do that. >> if i'm getting the right, >> i think in a certain sense, what we are missing is we are not producing critical thinkers whose analysis this is made on on the understanding of science and its relevance but rather like a factory machine really. >> i totally agree with that. the students follow the 10 steps and come up with the answer that they were going to come up with. and all these kind of verification activities. >> if that is true, i think the philosophy of science can be adjusted to accommodate the high school students at a certain level.

learning can be taught at different levels. it doesn't have to be all the same level. maybe that is a component that is missing in that aspect of what we teach in college or university but rather the level of the students . this is a part of critical thinking we need to learn besides learning how to perform that. >> i agree with that and a couple of things in that statement, this is something that is done k-12, k through 16 but it should be in college classes as well. you can calculate in terms of critical thinking, we are critically thinking about scientific knowledge and how that knowledge is developed. and it leads to a better understanding of that knowledge. if we realize that picture of the atom is a model derived from data we selected, that's a better understanding of things that that's what it actually looks like so i believe going to start learning early and go all the way through college.

one of the bad things the elementary schools in this country, when they tried to teach more neural process skills or more thinking skills in the early grades and science, and didn't focus on the interrogation of knowledge,just focus on thinking skills , dunes used to do a lot of hands-on activities but they were thinking about anything they were really doing area so those curriculums in the 1960s and 70s really were never successful area and now we talk about hands-on and minds on because students have to be thinking about what they are doing. so just manipulating things is not inquiry. inquiry involves manipulating things to collect data but also thinking about what's done and how that could influence the results you are getting and are there any other alternative explanations. and i think teaching science

the way we do, it does not foster critical thinking. it really doesn't. critical thinking is another battle cry you hear from many educators and that's around the world as well. my wife and i get called upon to go into the world and help those students develop critical thinking skills because nobody really feels their country is doing a good job in those kinds of thinking skills. everybody values it. everybody values creativity, everybody values critical thinking, we are still trying to figure out how to facilitate that development a lot better than we are. >> thank you very much doctor letterman, let's give him another round of applause. >> coming alive shortly about half an hour, president obama's last residential

medal of freedom ceremony, recipients include sicily tyson and four nba stars kareem abdul-jabbar and michael jordan. also instantly and you can see that live starting at 2:55 easter on our companion network, c-span. and we once again look alive at the lobby trump tower in new york city,prospective cabinet pics making their way and meeting with the president-elect. also trout in the new york times to meet with reporters and editors , this a day after media and anchors traveled to tom from tower to report that they were upgraded by the president-elect and some tweaks from today's meeting. it's a list of new york times employees who attended the meeting and that includes the reporters who miller and hirschfeld davis and thomas murray doubt among others. some other tweets trump's meeting including one that mister trump on mister trump's businesses, 90 haberman tweets the

president-elect said in theory i could run my business perfectly and run the country perfectly. there's never been a case like this he says. and also on the criticism of his appointment of steve bannon to the chief practice, if i thought he was a racist or altered right or any of the things, the terms we could use, i wouldn't even think about hiring him area and be sure to be with us tonight for a look at the ture, including a member of president obama's task force on 21st-century policing and former new york city police officer and professors at the university of chicago and morehouse college, all discussing policing and raising america, it starts at 8 pm eastern on c-span. >> here are some of our featured programs thursday, thanksgiving day on c-span. after 11 am eastern, nebraska senator ben sachs on american values, the founding fathers and the purpose of government. >> there's a huge civic mindedness in american

history but it's not compelled by the government. >> followed at new life former senator on healthy food and the rise of childhood obesity in theus . >> for everything from monster fish burgers with 1420 calories and 107 grams of fat to 20 ounce coke and pepsi's, 12 to 15 teaspoons of sugar, feeding an epidemic of child obesity. >> then 3:30, wikipedia founder jimmy wales talks about the evolution of the online encyclopedia and the challenge of providing global access to information. >> once there's 1000 entries, i know there's a small community there. there's five or 10 really active users, another 20 or 30 a know a little bit and they start to think of themselves. >> and a little after seven eastern, and inside ok at the year-long effort to repair and restore the capital don't read at eight, justice elena kagan reflects on her life and career.

>> and then i did my thesis which was a great thing to have done, it taught me an incredible amount but it also taught me what it was like to be a serious historian and sit in archives all day, every day and i realized it wasn't for mefollowed by justice clarence thomas at nine . >> genius is not putting a two dollar idea in a $20 sentence putting a $20 idea in a two dollar system. without any loss of meeting. >> just after 10, and an exclusive ceremony at the white house, president obama will present the medal of freedom, our nations civilian award to 21 recipients including nba star michael jordan, singer bruce springsteen, actor sicily tyson and philanthropist bill and melinda gates. watch on c-span and c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app.

this weekend on american history tv on c-span three, saturday at seven eastern from president lincoln's cottage in washington dc we had a conversation with candace shy huber about her but lincoln's generals wise: four women who influenced the civil war for better and worse. >> you can see to that women have a means of reinforcing even the best in their husbands or the worst area and that is what this study needs. >> bennett 10 on real america, the 1950s filled american frontier. >> a/the word from the field to the production office in williston and from there to the central office in oklahoma. day and night our little telephone board was let up like a christmas tree. calls from new york, california, houston.

bit by bit, we began to realize how big a thing this was. >> the film promoted the financial benefits for farmers of leasing land for oil exploration and wasfunded the american petroleum institute . sunday morning at 11, analyst discuss the life and legacy of journalist, photographer and social activist jack london and how his novel the call of the wild influenced generations of western novelists and writers. >> he always looked back to the natural land, to his ranch, to the beautiful scenery in california and elsewhere in the south pacific area to center himself and find release and relief from the rigors and the depredations of cities. >> and it six eastern on american artifacts please visit the military aviation museum in virginia beach. >> among a couple other sites, basically they talk all the military aviators, army air force and navy how to fly and many guys never even saw an airplane coming

from the farms and anywhere you could think of and the first airplane they saw was a bowling steers and. >> for our complete american history tv schedule, go to c-span.org. >> and now portions of the recent islamic society conference, these segments are about 50 minutes. >> our next speaker is someone who's looking at many events and someone i got to know over the last two and half years in my time. she is an incredibly insightful and thoughtful person . she is the director of research at the institute for social policy and understanding isc you, she is the co-author along with john esposito of the book who speaks for islam, what 1 billion muslims really think. he is a former executive director of the gallup center for muslim studies and in

2009 she was appointed by president obama to the president's advisory council on faith-based neighborhood partnerships. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome sister dalia mogahed. [applause] ... >>. [ speaking arabic] >> my favorite thing about coming to this convention are the conversations.

the conversations i get to have with old friends that i haven't seen for at least a year. the conversations i get to have with people that i just met. especially young people. and i've had several young women come up to me during this very convention and asked me a question that i hear quite often. in fact, one particular young woman, i promised her i was going to answer the question in my speech. that it was a longer conversation that we could have in the brief moments that i had between sessions. her question was very simple and yet quite profound. simply said, what is your advice to a young person like me who's trying to make a difference ? today.

and i think her question merits a thoughtful answer and that's what i hope to offer right now to all of you. what is mydvice to her, two other young people and to anyone who wants to make a difference in a time of great crisis. how should we be thinking and acting in this current moment ? i want to be very succinct, i want to be very organized . because you are, you've been sitting here so patiently and i am one thing standing between you and these men so i'm not going to overstay my welcome.so there are three things i want to offer in response to this profound question.

i think we have to think about courage, compassion and connectedness. if we want to make a difference in this moment of great crisis. >>

>> the kind that is needed today is not the absence of fear. in fact, if we approach the kind of responsibility, the kind of stakes, the kind of risks, the challenge that we are up against today without a healthy dose of fear, then we are simply not healthy, we are simply not aware of what we're up against. so fear in this moment is rational and is healthy. but it's not the kind of fear that should cripple us. it's the kind of fear that mes us realize that we have to dig

deeper than we ever have and reach up with more desperate -- [inaudible] than we've ever done and find the strength to know that it's not that we're not afrai because we are and we should be, but that we will find our courage by understanding that there is something more important than our fear, and that's how i define courage. the courage that is needed today. and one very important aspect, one very important dimension and requirement of this courage is the knowledge that it isn't just up to us to face today's challenges. you know, in the quran the

difference between the believers when they were marching to meet goliath and his army and those who waffled and waver was not simply confidence in themselves, but it was their focus, their focal point. one perceived the world through the prism of -- and the other focused entirely on the means. one group found that courage because they said allah is with us. when -- how many times has a small group defeated a large group. and they went on to the famous story of david and goliath. well, the other group said we are overwhelmed by their numbers and fell and gave in and indulged that fear.

one group focused on the power of the creator, and and the other focused on their own inadequacy. so i'm not asking you today to simply have confidence in our capacity. that's not enough. i'm really, i'm askingou to have faithto make your faith conquer your fear, to find courage in the conviction that it's not just up to us. that what we are called for is obedience, not outcomes. when i am most afraid, is when i

think that my ability is what is required to bring about a positive outcome. when i instead focus on my ability to work but knothat allah is in charge, i feel invincible, i feel empowered, i feel more courage than i should if you were to see what capacity i have. my sense of courage is in the knowledge that it's not up to me, that if i obey whatever the outcome is, it is -- [speaking in native tongue] so, brothers and sisters, it is a time for courage. but it's also a time and a need

for great compassion. what do i mean by compassion? it's the kind of compassion that is needed to meet people where they are, to go to your audience, to your fell citizens, to your neighbors and even to your fellow muslims and meet them where they are, in their sphere, in their -- in their fear, in their ignorance, in their place of anger and then to walk with them to a different space. this approach of compassion when you feel that the world is so hostile can only be borne out of a conviction that you have something to contribute, you

have something to give rather than you have something to beg for or take from them. our fellow citizens are not overlords to appease and to beg for acceptance and approval. [applause] and at the sam time, our audiences and those we engage are not enemies to to conquer. they are our equals, our fellow human beings that we have something to bestow upon them, we have something to contribute in that we are offering

truth-telling as an act of compassion. not just in what we say, but in the way that we act. i was so inspired when at ispu we started doing research on the role of american muslims in the flint water crisis. so in flint, people were literally dying because they didn't have clean water, a problem that we are supposed to only hear about many far-off lands, and yet it was rit here in our country. flint, michigan, where the water was poisonous. and when we were doing this resear just trying to understand what were the contributions of muslims in

michigan, we by accident, literally, came across the work of hundreds of muslims in flint and eir role in the recovery effort quietly acting on their faith, leading in the recovery of a crisis in the way that no one knew. we discovered that muslims had donated more water bottles than any other community, a million water bottles. [applause] [speaking in native tongue] that muslims had set up free medical clinics, that muslims had set up institutions that would stay much longer for a

sustainable relief effort long after the cameras had gone home. doing this in the name, inspired by their faith, meeting people where they were in acts of compassion. they were not asking for anything, they were there to give. they were there to contribute. and this is the kind of role we have to see ourselves playing as people called on to act as noble servant leaders to those who are most in need. the worst thing that can happen to the -- to a community that is

being attacked is for them to internalize a sense of victimization. that is not to, that is not to trivialize the actual victimization that many of us are actually undergoing. but what i mean by an internalized victimization is one where we learn, we fall into learned helplessness, a sense of disempowerment where we feel isolated, where we feel alone, where we see ourselves as in a state of defense, in a state where we just want to build bunkers around ourselves. that's the worst thing that could happen. because that is far from what we are called to do. we have to see ourselves as people who have a role in healing this nation --

[applause] from the deep traumas that our country is suffering from. so the second piece, the second piece of advice that i give to the sister is we have to lead lives of compassion where we are approaching our fellow human beings from a place of generosity, not a place of need. and the third and final thought, reflection that i want to share with you is in connectedness. in seeing the connections between ourselves, our struggle and those of other human beings. if we don't understand

islamophobia as just one dimension of a wider phenomena of institutional racism, then we are not seeing the full picture. we are but one -- as my, my colleague and brother put it today, we are one branch. islamophobia's one branch on a larger tree of institutionalized racism. if we don't see a connection, if it has to be explained to us that that the same cancer that causes law enforcement to disproportionately target muslim communities for surveillance, entrapment and criminalization is the same ailment that results

in the shooting and killing of unarmed black people every day, then we are not seeing the whole picture. that's one cancer, and these are two different manifestations. we need to see the connection between our humanity and those of others, and that means authentic relationships and coalition building between communities. one of the most dangerous goals of any kind of bigotry is to convince the target of that racism that they are alone, that they are isolated, that they are weak, that they are defeated, and it is the opposite of the truth. i'm often asked in lots of

different venues after i give a talk about the importance of standing against bigotry, someone will always say, well, you're just preaching to the choir. we already know this. you should be talking to, you know, x, y, z hostile people. and, of course, there's merit to engaging those who you may deeply disagree with, but i actually have a problem with this idea of preaching to the choir. and here's why. we should start with those who are receptive to the message of an inclusive, pluralistic america. we should begin with them. and guess what? there are way mo people that are receptive to that message than we have reached. they are reaching their hand to us, and we haven't reached back.

we are, in fact, sometimes too busy running after those who hate us, that will never listen to us, thate haven't done the hard work of actually building relationships and coalitions with, quote, the choir. [applause] the second thing about preaching to the so-called choir is every single one of those people that is in that room listening to you has members of their family and friends who, i assure you, are not in the choir. and they can become ambassadors to those people who will not listen to you or me, but would listen to a family member that they trust. so to see the interconnections between oursves means to reach out to those first who are receptive.

i mean, this is just business strategy. you, if you have a marketplace and 30% of that marketplace are untapped, eager consumers, do you go after them first or the people that you have to spend billions of dollars to even get them to listen to half of what you have to say? and yet this is a huge portion of the american public that are eager partners that we have never taken the time and effort to reach outo, and these are the people we need to start with. so in closing, i want to say that as scared and as exhausted as some of us feel -- and

derstandably so -- i believe that as was said, this is a beautiful time, a profound time and an inspiring time to be a muslim. we have an opportunity to change history, and i believe that we truly can do it with the help of allah. [speaking in native tongue] [applause] >> [speaking in native tongue]

>> so, yes, as our brother said, i'm back. >> welcome back! >> and i just want to say something about this, because i think tt mys understood the -- misunderstood the essence of what i was saying, and i was very happy to have discussions with the brothers of the last two years, the president of -- [inaudible] speak[speaking in native tongue]

who were instrumental in the discussion. because at the end of the day, the whole thing was to have constructive criticism and and to try to move ahead and to find the right way to respond to our challenges so as not to undermine the legacy and the contribution of -- which i think we all have to acknowledge. but sometimes you need to say things that you think are right, and you try to help your brothers and sisters to think abouts what is done under the pressure, the political pressure in this situation. and i will come to this in my discussion. the title of this convention, what is expected, is to ask the sisters and the brothers, it's a call the action to do something.

and as you know, when it comes to action, when it comes to go from our principles to our daily life, what is important is to take into account the context, where we are, what are the priorities in which we have to deal with this. d there are some challenges. they are trans-historical. they are immutable. they are always the same because we are human beings. we have to deal with them wherever we are. and there are some challenges that are connected to our situation here, so we have challenges of life, that life per se is a challenge, is a trial, is a test, and we have to deal with it. we have the challenge that are connected to the times. so very contextual, what what we experiencing right now in our

situation and the challenges of space, of the environment in our specific society. and for you in canada, for those who view or are coming from qanta, in the united states of america and for all of us in the west. but met me tell you something -- let me tell you something first because i very much liked what our sister, dalis, was saying. and i -- dalia, was saying. and be i think she had very good speeches and much food for thought in what you heard this evening. and what is an essential dimension when it comes to our situation here, when you look at what she said, for example, courage, compassion and connectedness. the three notions that she used. at the end of the day, if you come to fist one and -- the first one and you understand,

and she's completely right by saying courage is not the absence of fear. it's to acknowledge the fact that you might be scared, exactly like -- [speaking in native tongue] was scared in front the rant and the magicians, and allah acknowledged this. [speaking in native tongue] so you are scared but don't be scared. why? [speaking in native tongue] i am with you. so disconnectedness that we are talking about, when it comes to being connected to human beings, it's, in fact, the starting point of our courage is the deep understanding that at the end of the day the challenge for us in the united states of america in the west start with this connection to god. and no, no, no, there is no clapping. [laughter] there is meditating and trying to understand. so when it comes to this, the

very clear answer to the great challenges that we are facing. and if we are saying now this is a great time, this is really the time for us to face the challenges, and it's good for us, it start in which way, the challenges that i am facing are helping me to come close to him, to come close to the one. to go through a journey which has to do with the knowledge of god. [saking in native tongue] so don't translate the challenges into something which is being active, being politically involved, not understanding the priority. the priority is if you want to spread peace be around you -- peace around you, try to get peace inside you. and peace inside you is this relationship which has to do with -- [inaudible] [speaking in native tongue]

iman, face with god and -- [inaudible] [speaking in native tongue] so spread peace. so it has to do with the knowledge of god. and to do this -- and especially in our times -- one of the main challenges of our time is that we don't have time. we don't have even space to think with our own self, just to remain with our own self and to take time to think who am i, what am i doing, what are my priorities, what i am doing with my family, what i am doing with my life. we come to convention, you bring the family, and at one point you listen to talks, and all the talks are telling you back, who are you, what are you doing. take time. so the starting point under the consumerist society, under fashion, on the tv, internet, connection and the social networks, take time.

the strugglef time is in this period of sometime in our life. you have to understand if you want to get the courage to understand that god is with you, first be with him. [speaking in native tongue] as it was said by our imam, come to me, i will come to you. if you go far from me, you are going far from yourself. [speaking in native tongue] don't be like those who are forgetting allah. allah make them or made them forget themselves. so this is the first which is the first challenge in the way we are to look athe things. and it's also something which has to do with our own self. but also if you read the quran, when you think about the prosthelytizer, crying during the night because he --

[speaking in native tongue] is so he's facing the world, changing the whole society, crying because look at the order around you, look at the signs. look at my signs and my presence and this nature, this environment, and you have to remember when you are sent up, when you are sleeping, when you are lying, when you are sitting, remember. and this is the answer. [speaking in native tongue] and you say what you mean? i mean let me be one of those people when i'm standing, when

i'm sitting, when i'm lying, when i'm trying to be close to you because i know at the end of the day i'm not going to succeed if i don't see the signs of your presence around me in this environment. even with the problems that i have in this socie, even as i look at some peoplwho are doing wrong, i need to see in their creation the signs ohis presence even though i see in their behavior the signs of your -- they are lost sometimes and they have sinned sometimes. but i have to come with the creation in der to change the creator. so this is something which is so essential for us when it comes to our understanding as muslims. so when we are talking about changing, when we are talking about our way of life and the american way of life, you know that the american dream can be a future nightmare.

you know that what is sold to you sometimes about having money, being successful in this life, this could be a nightmare. that sometimes you better be a poor guy trying to get the money and please allah than trying to live by the american dream and losing all your values to the point that you want to be respected and accepted, but there are -- [inaudible] in society and to live as they live, lost as they are lost. so at one point you have to come with the essential here, the essential dimension. and how are you going to get this? once again, the first struggle as muslims, american muslims, they are principles, and they are things that you cannot miss. your personal education, the time you take to yourself, the time you take for your wife, the time you take for your husband,

the time you take for your kids, the time your kids are taking for their parents. all these things are essential in what we are trying to do here. and these are not words. this has to do with the way we deal with our life. and it means that as american muslims, the spiritual challenge and the spiritual jihad -- what we heard from -- [speaking in native tongue] it's important, the jihad of americans. this is something that is everywhere in our life. so this american jihad has to do with spiritual education, has to do with intellectual education, it has to do with a cultural production. all this is part of who we are as muslims. and for us to be involved in all these fields as we keep on repeating for years now in science and everywhere, these

are challenges that are important. so this is the spiritual message we have to start with. this is where we will get courage, we get means, and we will get what is needed for us to face the challenges of our time. it start with the spiritual commitment. and be ceful, it start with but it's not ending with this. so all the people who are teing you be a spiritual being and that's enough, no. you are going to be spiritual in the way you are spiritual and in the way you translate this spirituality into the good behavior that is expected from all of us as the proftizer said -- prophettizer said. now, having said that, it means that every one of us, one of the main resistances that we need to promote, it's discipline.

and i know that it's a word that we don't like, but discipline with our time. so how are you dealing with the time when you are reading books, pondering over your own life, taking time with your family, disciplining the way we deal with time. disciplining the way we deal with money. disciplining the way we deal with our fellow citizens in our society. these are principles that are so important. we have to be disciplined. there is no spirituality without discipline. there is no spirituality without being clear with our mind. [speaking in native tongue] be disciplined. every dimension of your being, it's right. to education, to your mind, to your body, to a healthy life. be careful the way you eat, because at the end you are the way you eat. and you have a problem in this

sociy, the american way of life is not a healthy way of eating. it's not a healthy way of drinking. it's not a healthy way of dealing with time. under pressure, stress and eating the wrong way. in this country, it's just a might their. so you have to come -- nightmare. so you have to come with something that is a healthy, islamic way based on our ethics. this is one of our challenges as well. having said that now, i don't want to stop in this this. this is the starting dimension finish stop to this. this is the starting dimension. now, and this is where i was involved in the discussion with -- [inaudible] two years ago and with you today. because, you know, what was said

about connectedness, it's essential. we have to reach out to our fellow citizens. what is important now is not only to behave as muslims when it comes to speak about islamic issues it's to speak as human beings, muslims, american citizens dealing with common issues in this society. this is our contribution. if we only appear, if we are only visible when we are talking about islam and islamophobia and as victims, we are not going to get that. but it means that we have to be involved in this society in all the -- and connected and dealing withll the issues within the society. and when it comes to this, i think that we should understand that as muslims, one of the very imrtant -- you know, what you are facing now is a psychological war putting us in a situation where we are

reacting, and we are victimizing ourselves. and we keep on talking about islamophobia. islamophobia is a very important challenge if we understand that it's connected to so many other things. it's not only islamophobia and we react. we need to get the big picture behind it. and when you say this, i think that we need to come to deal with our fellow citizens but also with our government in a way which should be clear. look, two years ago when the muslims were invited to come for a celebration at the white house with the president, barack obama, to go there and to engage with the government, it's a duty. you have to go, you have to speak, you speak with whoever comes to us. we are ready to speak, and we are ready to speak with the highest level of all the governments in the world.

but we have conditions. to invite -- [inaudible] celebration during ramadan, the ambassador of israel where 1,500 civilians were killed, it'a political mistake. you don't do that. if you invite us for a dinner, it's a -- [inaudible] but don't use it for political purposes. that's not the right way of respecting us. and this is what i said. when you have a president making the political mistake, you say it. that's wrong. and by the way, many americans were thinking it was wrong to do it in such a way. even from the american administration. i had a rob with the muslim -- a problem with the muslim leadership being silent about that. it's not do we engage, it's how do we engage with the government.

and this is our critical loyalty once again. i am very happy to have mr. johnson coming from the homeland security here. we can be happy to have him. but i wonder as it was said by one of our brothers, why is it that when it comes to speak to muslims we have many security agency and not the state department or the president himself coming? why not? why not? why do we talk -- you know, it's exactly the same in switzerland. once i was invited as a swiss muslim, and i was talking to the guy who was talking, you know what? you are our fellow muslim citizens, we are going to speak about migration and security. i said, i'm sorry, there is a mistake there. i'm swiss, and i don't have a problem of security. but there is a mindset here. so the way we are engaging the discussion, it's iortant. come if you want to speak.

and by the way, i had to deal with the homeland security. i was banned from this country for six yes. for what? did i do something against the security of the united states of america? except to y your take on palestine is wrong and invading iraq is wrong? and you ban me from the country. and now you are telling me, forget about everything. i can't forget about my case, because it was nothing. six years outside the country. but today in the name of in this renewal -- of this renewal after the bush administration, what do we have? people being deported, people being in jail, people -- [inaudible] being eated in a way that they are like criminals. that's fine to come with nice words. and i said this. eight years of obama's presidency was mainly about words. what about policy?

an we heard -- [inaudible] speaking aut guantanamo. it happened that i had a friend, a brother who was there in guantanamo. three years of his life. and he was innocent. and now we have people eight years of their life, and they are innocent. and you promised to close it. anyou promised to stop these drones and all these policies that are spreading violence. and you come to us and you say we are against radicalization. so i have a question. we are all here listening to nice words coming from the president and coming from even the candidate, hillary clinton, saying trump is wrong. but i have a question. did trump's rhetoric come from, is coming from nowhe? in fact, he's gaining ground with his rhetoric because your policy helps this rhetoric to succeed in this country.

in fact, nice words are not going to compete with what he is saying if you don't change the way you deal with your fellow muslim citizens, if you don't change the way you talk to yr own citizens and if your policies are spreading fear. it's no wonder that you have all this businessman coming, and he's gaining ground with the supporters that he has. trump is not coming from nowhere. it's coming from failure of years after september 11th and this war on terror and this way you are dealing with violence and the so-called radicalization. so i think here that -- okay. i think here that it's important for us to be involved in this discussion and also to be quite clear about our constructive criticism towards our government. and it has to do with what is

happening within and what is happening outside. so as much as i'm talking about the spiritual journey, i'm also speaking about what is happening in the country. we have people demonstrating here and saying stop deporting, don't treat the peop like this. and they are right. they are not acting or behaving against america's interests. on the contrary, they are talking to the power to tell, be careful, we are here, and we won't let you do this. that's not us, you are not talking in our names. and when it comes to now what we are celebrating, black lives matter, many muslims now are saying it's like a fashion. i'm sorry, i'm sorry. even in the way today we speak about muhammad ali -- [speaking in native tongue] remember one thing, the way we speak about muhammad ali as a sport man, he was boxing, is not exactly the way we are talking about malcolm x, his mentor. he was thinking.

he was coming with a thought. he was coming with a vision. he was saying, you know wh? everything that we have in this country which has to do with racists, institutionalized racists is connected to the way you treat the africans, the way you treat the palestinians, th way you treat the world. the logic within is the logic outside, and if you don't get that, so kill me. and he wrote this to my father a few days before he was going to be killed. now that i know the true islam, they are going to kill me. it was not about the nation of israel, it was about connectedness. it was about the big picture. it was about knowing now what is the struggle. the struggle is the way you treat the black people, the latinos and the muslims. islamophobia, racism among black people and the way you exploit people, it's the same language, and you will fight us. you know why?

because we are true american free people, and we are not going to let you do that. [applause] that's the reality. it needs to -- no, no. it means the big picture. so when you have black lives matter today, look at the way they are looking. they are trying to get alliances throughout, crossing the board. but unfortunately, we don't have enough muslims there. asuslims, you know what? you know what we deal with? we deal with islamophobia. we are victims. they don't like islam? you want us to be nice? let us be nice. islam is about connecting, it's about even going and keeping and being silent about the fact that what is happening in palestine is wrong, what is happening in burma is wrong, what is happening today in bangladesh, killing people is wrong. it's about silencing our voices. and the new generation of muslims who are ready to be silent are betraying not only islam, they are betraying humanity, and they are betrayi even the american values.

and what we heard coming from -- [inaudible] that we have to heal, something that is essential. let us reconcile the united states of america with the principles and practice, not the principles with words. enough of good words. i myself like so much the discourse of barack obama in cairo. what happened afterwards? nothing. words, words, words, said shakespeare. that's it. that's the reality of it. so let's bpractical, and be i'm in conclusion here because i am losing my voice. something which is important in all this, because we are coming -- and i really thank the brhers and sisters. they knew that i was not going to keep quiet, and what i heard from the president, what i heard from so many is we are not here

to be silent on critical issues. we get it right, we want to be free american citizens. but what dalia was saying, it's essential. it starts with courage. but let me tell you something. if you look at all what i said, you know, when you are talking to allah, and allah is about communication, get the sense of this communication with him. and we need to get the courage of loneliness. remember one thing which is really terrifying. you know, when sometimes i think about the people i love who passed away ask you read in the quran -- and you read in the quran -- [speaking in native tongue] that one day you are going to be alone, that one day you are going to be under th -- [inaudible] and and just alone in your

grave, the courage of being lonely in this life just to take time to think about what are your priorities and are you consistent with your own values. the courage of loneliness in this world. the courage as well of independence, and independence is what i said now. to be independent is to peek the truth, even to speak the truth to the people you like, i didn't like. and i am going to say finish. [inaudible] much as i didn't like, not i didn't like, i didn't agree with what i heard coming from homeland security lling us that everything is fine when we know what is happening in the country. so i'm critical. but i'm also critical from the deputy prime minister, the turkish deputy prime minister coming in the country here and saying things that are just to label all the opponents as terrorists and and that we have to support this. i'm sorry. the best way i can -- no, no, no. the best way i can support my turkish brothers and sisters is to be constructively critical

when i see a government coming and telling us we are going to go for death penalty because the people want that and saying all our opponents are terrorists and say i'm not going to buy that. that's not possible. and because i am supporting you, your quest for democracy process, i'm not going to accept that you go too far. and when you are going too far, i have to be critical. so the courage of independence evenith your own brothers and sisters. promote what is right even against your brothers and sisters and promote what is right even against powerful people. that's the courage of independence, the courage of dealing also with our ethics is to be ethical in this society. be courageous enough to be ethical. ethical means to abide by your principles. be courageous enough to say, you know what?

at the end of the day, you do whatever you want, but don't ask me to promote what you are doing. no, i'm not going to go for any ethical or unethical behavior when it comes to your behavior. don't wait and expect for me that i'm going that way. that's not, that's not the way. and the last thing is also to the courage of the right political voice that is needed in this country. can i tell you something? this country is in dire need of people who are courageous enough to speak the truth. and if you are, you think you are american muslims, american citizensnd by accident the only thing it is for you is to be respected and accepted without speaking the truth in this country, we are not going the right way. if you are here, it's to help this country and to have the courage to be vocal enough to be heard in this country.

and remember one thing that you'll find in the quran -- [speaking in native tongue] don't be the, don't, don't fear the spear. don't be sad. you are going to win if only you are believer. and know this, this is truth. even if all the people think you are failing and if at the end you are killed because you are right or you are in jail and still you are right and you are insulted and you are right and you have no money but you are right, at the end the people can think that you have failed, but you know that you are winning. that's the reality of it. winning means toe right, whatever the people think, whatever the price you pay. [speaking in native tongue] i am very sorry are, the organizer.

i took ten minutes more. that's my swiss way of dealing with time. [speaking in native tongue] [applause] >> well, be with us tonight for a look at the future of policing. speakers include a member of president obama's task force on 21st century policing as well as a former new york city police officer, also professors from the university of chicago and morehouse college all discussing police and race in america. here's a preview. >> i will talk about, very quickly, the police department i know very well, the new york city police department. one of the most restrained police departments on the planet. okay? five million calls a year, approximately 50 shootings a year. almost invariably against an armed assailant. and yet if you went into the streets of new york and you talked to people, a large number

of people would say the police are always killing people. and so if we're waiting for data -- and i know people think that the data misrepresentation is only on the right -- we've got to get the politics out of this. >> again, that from a look at the future of policing coming up tonight at eight eastern here on c-span2. >> here are some of our featured programs thursday, thanksgiving day. just after 11 a.m. eastern, nebraska senator ben sass. >> there's a huge civic-mindedness in american history, but it's not compelled by the government. >> followed at noon with former senator tom harkin on healthy food and the rise of childhood obesity in the u.s. >> for everything from monster thick burgers with 1420 calories and 107 grams of fat, to 20-ounce cokes and pepsis, 12-15

teaspoons of sugar, feeding an epidemic of child obesity. >> then at 3:30, wikipedia founder jimmy wales talks about the evolution of the online encyclopedia and the challenge of providing global access to information. >> once there's a thousand entries, then i know there's a small communitthere, there's, you know, 5-10 really active users, there's another 20-30 that they know a little bit, and they start to think of themselves as community. >> and a little after seven eastern, a look at the effort to repair and restore the capitol dome. at eight, justice elena kagan. >> and then i did my thesis which taught me an incredible amount, but it also taught me what it was like to be a serious historian and to sit in archives all day, every day. and i realized it just wasn't for me. >> followed by justice clarence thomas at nine.

>> genius is not putting a $2 idea in a $20 sentence, it's putting a $20 idea in a $2 sentence. [laughter] without any loss of meaning. >> and just after ten at an exclusive ceremony in the white house, president obama will present the medal of freedom, our nation's highest civilian award,o 21 recipients including nba star michael jordan, singer or bruce spngsteen and philanropists bill and melin gates. watcon c-span and c-sp.org or lten on the free c-span radio app. >> earlier today the wilson center hosted a discussion examining public opinion on polling in russia and an independent russian polling agency's 2016 survey gave vladimir putin an 84% approval rating. the event also analyzed public opinion data concerning russia's

views of the u.s. as well as the economic and political situation in the country. this is about an hour, ten minutes. >> well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to the kennan institute. my name is will pom rants, and -- will come rants, and i'd like to welcome you to today's presentation on the 86% opinion polling in russia. i want to begin by thank the -sponsors more today's event, the institute for european, russian and eurasian studies. we are very pleased they were able to co-sponsor, and i'd also like to welcome c-span, and we look forward to watching the program going forward. this is a part of the kennan institute's distinguished speaker series, and today we're going to be talking about the question of poll toking in russia -- polling in russia.

despite the economic crisis and declining standard of living, mass support for vladimir putin's leadership and policy remains high. his popularity rating, often referred to as the 86% in russia, is a -- [inaudible] to many western commentators. but we're very pleased to have the director of the levada center to come and talk about the nature of vladimir putin's popularity. i want to begin by emphasizing that the doctor is speaking today in a private capacity, not as director of the center. amongst his other titles, he is editor-in-chief of the magazine russian public opinion herald as well as a lecturer at the higher school of economics. he has won numerous awards and published quite widely and, obviously, he is the director of one of the major sources of independent public opinion research in russia.

so it is my great pleasure to introduce dr. -- [inaudible] today. he will be speaking in russian, so i ask those who need translation to use your headsets. >> translator: thank you very much. it is a great honor to be here. in the title of my presentation -- [inaudible] and i hear this sentence, i don't believe in -- [inaudible] lying people, people are not telling the truth. how can you conduct a poll in a country under an authoritarian regime? [speaking russian] >> translator: i should say that the doubts and suspicions and accusations for pressuring the

public opinion come from all, all the -- all sides from kremlin who accuse us of being foreign agents and undermine the system as well as from opposition activists who question the -- [inaudible] i'm going to be talking about the kremlin propaganda, but opposition represents a series of challenges because this is a crisis of reality perception which is an issue for russia since we -- [inaudible] [speaking russian] >> translator: of the future. because of the suppression of freedom of debate and free competition, the very idea of democratic transition is dead today. and that created for russia the

position, a very difficult challenge. it is the depth of the understanding, of the means to understand what is going on. and in our research, i claim that what is important is not the reliability of the data which we receive and to the extent which sociology is a science, this data correct. the problem is the interpretation of what's going on. and after this introduction, i'm going to move to the, to describe the state of mind of the public opinion. everything that i'm going to show you are going to be result of the national russian representative researches which

are conducted not every month, more frequently and sometimes less frequently in russia. .. [inaudible] in other words, this is a very complex. it is a sensitive. so if you would put the last one to use, you can see deep trough

in the 1990s. [inaudible] all the industries when putin came to