One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth

From The New yor times....

Scientific Savvy? In U.S., Not Much

Dr. Miller, 63, a political scientist who directs the Center for Biomedical Communications at the medical school, studies how much Americans know about science and what they think about it. His findings are not encouraging.

While scientific literacy has doubled over the past two decades, only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert," he said in an interview. Most of the rest "don't have a clue." At a time when science permeates debates on everything from global warming to stem cell research, he said, people's inability to understand basic scientific concepts undermines their ability to take part in the democratic process.

and...

Dr. Miller's data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.

Scary part:

"Our best university graduates are world-class by any definition," he said. "But the second half of our high school population - it's an embarrassment. We have left behind a lot of people."

Do you think these figures and studies are accurate?

It is reality, scary but still reality. Even more:

Extent of Adult Illiteracy in the USA

Of great concern is the fact that the acknowledged 4% may be a ‘conservative’ estimate, to say the least. Other studies conducted by non-US agencies have placed the estimate of adult illiteracy at closer to 10%.

Source: Global Literacy in the 21st Century

Originally posted by a1ex

Do you think these figures and studies are accurate?

After some of the "discussions" I've had with people in the faith forums about evolution and other scientific facts, yes, I 'd say these studies are accurate.

No wonder we're all going to hell in a handbasket. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

How people can still believe the sun goes around the earth, and yet they use technology to get on the internet and insult people for using rationality is beyond me.

Jesus, that's shocking, what are they teaching the students. Im not a fan of way education is taught in my country, high school kids should learn about real life situations, like debt, financial, rights to. When I left school I didn't have a clue what stuff like "APR" meant, banks could just take you for a ride and you would have no clue what rights you have. Now we have almost every university student in up to £25,000 ($50,000) debt by the time they leave.

But to not know basic science for a large portion 1 in 5 is really terrible news for the future. I don't know what the statistic's are for the UK, hope not anywhere near as high as that for such a basic question. A problem i find with teaching in this country, most likely a problem in the U.S aswell, is they seem to employ anyone as a teacher. I always feel teaching a class is a talent and a talented teacher gets the best out of students. When i was at college, one teacher was fantastic at teaching would make the lesson entertaining and that reflected in my grades, i would get A's. Another teacher on a different course would show a slideshow and just go "get on with it", that's all you hear and my grades were much lower.

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
No wonder we're all going to hell in a handbasket.

People are just technology users and the products are made simple enough for people to use them without understanding how they function. This is a little amusing to me. In all honesty, it doesn't matter to me which object revolves around which. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west either way. That's the mentality that most people have. Since it really doesn't matter to them, they probably just space out in science class. There's stuff out there in space, but it doesn't change their life or make any difference at recess or lunch so they forget it.

Originally posted by a1ex

Do you think these figures and studies are accurate?

No. I absolutely do not. I need to know alot more about him and his 'studies' before I can say that he's accurate.

(for some reason I could only get the first page of the article).

How many people were surveyed? Was he diverse in his methods or did he pick and choose in order to skew? Does he have a political agenda or is he involved in any kind of politics?

Anyone can come up with any figure they want when it comes to surveys.
I'd have to know a lot more about him and his methods before I'd even give this a serious look at. The 'findings' are just too impossible to believe.

Originally posted by a1ex
Do you think these figures and studies are accurate?

I hope not, but it wouldn't surprise me. People in general don't seem to bright these days.

I know a fella who thinks a "thesaurus" is one of those monsters on "Jurassic Park".
Disturbing but true.

Whenever I see a study like this, I wonder how many people purposely answer obvious questions like “does the sun revolve around the earth?” incorrectly because they thought it would be funny. I’ve never met anyone who thought the sun revolves around us, even on the internet.

I would like to know what exact age group was targeted, because it seems very unlikely that this would be the same scenario for anyone between ages 18-35. I'm not sure how the school system was around 35+ years ago...so I can't speak for the adults who don't believe in evolution or don't believe that the earth revolves around the sun. Although...I am concerned that some of the more fanatical religious branches are brainwashing young persons into thinking that their version of science is more accurate than science itself.

Originally posted by Lethys
Whenever I see a study like this, I wonder how many people purposely answer obvious questions like “does the sun revolve around the earth?” incorrectly because they thought it would be funny. I’ve never met anyone who thought the sun revolves around us, even on the internet.

I second this, this cannot possibly be accurate. I live out in the boonies where people are supposedly dumbed down and I've never met a person who would honestly think that the sun revolved around the earth.

bahahaha stupid Americans!

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[edit on 10-7-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by cheeser
bahahaha stupid Americans!

Back at ya!!!

We have our dummies and so do YOU.

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[edit on 10-7-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

THIS is the reason it is so easy to peddle junk science to the populace. Look at everyone posting and following the Steorn "free energy" device. Note, it does not work, did not work and still is not working.

Why was it so easy to convince most of America that the -=key spooky music=- Government perpetrated 9/11.











If we would pay attention in high school I think we would be a lot better off.



So am I really wrong in wanting to call one in five ATS posters idiots?

It's all true - and it's scary. Here's an interesting article called "The new age of ignorance". It's well-written and worth a look...

The new age of ignorance

One of the things that strikes me about the new internet era of 2007 is how desperate people are to come across as intelligent and 'expert' on every subject that comes up, from stem-cell research to auto racing to gardening. In this age of "just google it", people sometimes annoyingly consider themselves "lowdown infallible" just because they can type a few words into google and read up on a subject for 7 minutes.

You'd think the first step would be to understand the basics of the solar system.

I remember in high schoool, junior year, i had my AP Biology class that had 15 of the top 20 people in our class, our teacher was a young guy, 1st year and caome out and asked bur we all belived and what not, not one of the 20 or so students in that class beleived in creation.

Now compare that with what it was in my freshman year, on level bio class it was about a 50/50 split and firce debate. My g/f in highschool and i weren't able to talk after that class every day. lol. The teacher was also a joke, i could have taught the class better.

Also, my sisters went to christen middle/high schools for thier whole life, and thier math/science skills are blahhhh... My sister is in her sophmore year at college and is having her first real scince class that talks about cellular structure and DNA and these types of subjects. I learned these things in 7th grade, albit i was in an Internatial school over sees, what i learned that year was about the same that i got to re-learn in my freahman year of HS.
Now what i fear is that in the heart of the country, the bible belt is were you have the scariest situations.

In this age of "just google it", people sometimes annoyingly consider themselves "lowdown infallible" just because they can type a few words into google and read up on a subject for 7 minutes.

Well it worked for these guys:
Burglars struggle for 75 minutes to crack open safe; the safe is then easily opened after they find a computer in the building and do a search on google on how to crack a safe.

Just humor....

Originally posted by a1ex

In this age of "just google it", people sometimes annoyingly consider themselves "lowdown infallible" just because they can type a few words into google and read up on a subject for 7 minutes.

Well it worked for these guys:
Burglars struggle for 75 minutes to crack open safe; the safe is then easily opened after they find a computer in the building and do a search on google on how to crack a safe.

Just humor....

Amazing. LOL. I guess it does work for some!

... WHAT?! *sprays beer out nose*

I knew the American education system was horribly lacking... but I didn't know it was THAT bad!

Okay, I used to scoff at Americans for their nievity, but now I'm worried about them... tell you what, when it's time for YOU to have children, you come on up here to Canada. Get those kids a real education... then move back down when you're done and you can dominate the rest of them. If this information is real, then your kids won't have a problem crushing the competition down there.

No wonder so many of my fellow Canadians take over Contract Bids down there.

I was always wondering was Jay Leno shows Jaywalking true or we´re the stupid ones just people from streets. Well, now I know =D

Originally posted by dbates

Since it really doesn't matter to them, they probably just space out in science class. There's stuff out there in space, but it doesn't change their life or make any difference at recess or lunch so they forget it.

That's a pretty lame excuse for being ignorant, but one that I hear all too often.

[edit on 11-7-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]