D’Oh! 1 in 4 Americans don’t know Earth circles Sun.

[another_liberal]

Source: R T News

The nation that put the first man on the Moon is failing to make the grade today when it comes to basic knowledge of the solar system and other fundamental scientific insight. That’s according to a new survey which concludes that while most Americans have a world of information at their fingertips, and show tremendous enthusiasm for new technology, they also lack fundamental knowledge of basic science.

Out of a total of nine questions on subjects related to physical and biological sciences, the average score in the survey was a narrowly passing 6.5 correct answers, according to a survey of 2,200 Americans conducted by the National Science Foundation. The result was announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held Friday.

For example, only 74 percent correctly answered that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

(snip)

Read more: http://rt.com/usa/science-education-survey-americans-178/

---

That does it. Enough of this: "God did it, and that's all you need to know about science" attitude toward teaching our kids how the natural World works. The next person who says that kind of nonsense in my presence gets shouted down big time!

[niyad]

1. wonder if those same people are members of the flat earth society

[another_liberal]

3. Tea Party members as well . . .

No doubt.

[Rozlee]

18. We have a teahaddist on the House Science Committee who claims that the Big Bang,

embryology and evolution are 'straight from the pits of hell.' (Rep. Paul Broun, R. Ga.) And he's a doctor! How can we expect our electorate to be well-informed if our leaders are batshit-crazy? Not a single politician down here in Texas will breathe that he believes in evolution if he wants to win an election in any Republican office. So, there goes one entire party and its members that can be consigned to the 19th century for the foreseeable future.

[FrodosPet]

61. What's really bad is, Broun used to be pro-choice, and even a Democrat

Of course, back in the 20th Century (and even now), southern Democrats were not like northern progressive Democrats.

He's a doctor, but no hospital in Georgia will let him practice - house calls only. OMG, his poor patients!

[Rozlee]

69. So either he's posturing for political expediency or he went to the Dark Side.

He might disprove evolution in his own microcosm. He's devolved.

[Tom Ripley]

71. He's posturing for the rubes in his district. He's a longtime conman.

[mwb970]

59. These are the same people who believe in trickle-down economics.

The ones who think evolution is a "lie from the pit of hell". (Does THAT guy know that the earth orbits the sun? He does chair a science committee in Congress.) The ones who think climate change is a hoax. The ones who think the Bible is literally true.

These are the Tea Party people. The ones who think Sarah Palin is a genius and Barack Obama is an idiot. The ones who think Fox "News" is literally true.

I blame right-wing media. As long as it stays the way it is, we will have these people with us. Not every conservative is stupid, but every stupid person in the land is drawn to the whining outrage and arrogant certainty of conservatism like flies to dog poop.

[pscot]

2. From Russia, with attitude

[another_liberal]

5. You have to admit, though . . .

We should be doing better than that, right?

[pscot]

12. The Russians are sore at us

for raining all over their Olympics, so they point out how stupid we are. Of course we should be doing better. It would be ineresting to know how many Republican congressmen believe the Sun revolves around the Earth.

[another_liberal]

13. Exactly as many . . .

I would guess there would be exactly as many as think their major campaign contributors want them to believe that.

[southerncrone]

27. Seems most of them think it revolves around their azzhole.

[liberalmuse]

4. We'll that explains everything.

25% of Americans don't actually exist. They're just a terrible Photoshop whose only real ability is to appear at the polls on Election Day and f*ck things up for the rest of us.

[Beachwood]

6. What really got to me was the other revelation about evolution

Fewer than half (48 per cent) knew that human beings evolved from earlier species of animals.

What a horrible science education we have give half of our nation.

[another_liberal]

9. No one should be allowed . . .

States may have the right to largely regulate education, but no one should be allowed to hand that dim-witted, Creationist crap to our children. It should be a crime.

BTW: Welcome to DU!

[hrmjustin]

44. It is a frightening statistic.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

7. We're fucked.

...

[DainBramaged]

8. 25% the same 25% that think government is too big and needs to die

[CTyankee]

23. "No PUBIC Option"!?

[William Seger]

32. I thought it was a Freudian slip, but apparently...

... it's a real issue with some 'baggers:

[CTyankee]

33. More than likely they think "public" is spelled that way...copied it off each other's signs...

I guess you could call them the "pubic subset" of the Tea Party movement...

[William Seger]

37. I dunno; "no pubic option" does seem to be on their agenda (n/t)

[CTyankee]

39. that would require a little ingenuity...

[awoke_in_2003]

41. Or they are protesting against sex changes...

Nah, they are just stupid.

[olddad56]

10. of that 25%, I would like to know how many voted for a republican...

I'm guessing that number is about 90% or >.

[benld74]

11. Face-Palm Head-Wall-Bang

[sadoldgirl]

14. Unfortunately it did not give the age

If these are only older people, I would not worry that much. After all everyone has to pass sooner or later. I am afraid though that this nonsense is also taught in schools.

[TRoN33]

15. 1 in 100 would be understandable...

But 1 in 4 is an embarrassment. It's an insult to basic intellect. Even Egyptians in 10,000 B.C. has known that Earth is circling the Sun.

[SoapBox]

16. Home Skool'n!

The Dumb and Dumber crowd teach'n their spawn to be Dumb and Dumber.

[Psephos]

36. not so fast

Every home-schooled person I know is quite intelligent, and they seem to be better than average at critical thinking, too.

[BlueStreak]

53. I think that depends on WHY they are home schooled

Some do it out of ignorance -- usually sustained by religious views -- and a fear that the real world will undermine the nonsense they believe in. And these are the ones who are most likely to not know basic things such as planetary relationships.

But there are others who go the home school route because they just don't think the schools provide a good education. The people I know like this are either Hippies or strong libertarians. Either way, they are not dummies. They walk to the bead of a different drummer for sure, but nobody would call them ignorant.

[Psephos]

72. Yes, most of them fall into the "hippies and libertarians" group.

And there's no question that there are some ignorant people in the home school movement.

Just as there are (do I have to say this?) in the public education movement.

I have always thought that school begins in the home. For a million years, humans were raised by a mixed-age group of related kin in a tribal setting. Shuffling kids en masse into buildings to sit on their asses quietly for six hours a day while surrounded and deeply influenced by same-age peers is...well, let's just say that it's fucking *unnatural* and for many children, cruel.

I don't see much in the industrial age to refute the idea that we are better served by time-tested ways of bonding to each other, eating, living in balance with our environment, exercising, and living out our life cycle in accord with what has been written in our genes, instead of what has been written in a policy manual or law book by someone we've never met, and has no biologic stake in outcomes.

It takes a lot of balls to say there is a privileged class of smart people (who by coincidence have exactly the same opinions as us!) who can and should tell parents how to raise and educate their own children. Yet that's what I hear too often.

More industrial-age fail, imo.

If universal public school sorted by age cohort is a robustly good idea, then it should be able to withstand a bit of free-thinking inquiry. Which is where I'm at these days...because it doesn't take a lot of observation to see that current schools are screwing a lot of kids over.

[BlueStreak]

73. I'm not sure about "most of"

I see a lot of people who are in the home school thing because they don't want their children's minds polluted with stuff like science and historical fact. This is tantamount to child abuse, in my book. So how do you separate the "good home schoolers" from the nut cases?

[fasttense]

63. You're lucky

Most of the home schoolers I've met in the South are very ignorant of evolution, science, astronomy and english.

[Lobo27]

17. I wonder how many of those 26% know things like...

Ocean water is salty, plants produce oxygen, that the moon affects the tides, that the earth is not a solid rock.

[Warpy]

19. This one bears reposting

[sakabatou]

30. +1

[Nolimit]

20. To be fair

The article says even less Europeans, 1 in 3, know that the Earth circles the Sun,

"Only 66 percent of people in a 2005 European Union poll answered the basic astronomy answer correctly"

[whopis01]

47. Wouldn't that be 2 in 3?

The article says even less Europeans, 1 in 3, know that the Earth circles the Sun,

"Only 66 percent of people in a 2005 European Union poll answered the basic astronomy answer correctly"

[Nolimit]

49. Correct.

My bad, I had changed part of my sentence without correct the other part.

[elleng]

21. Doing their best to keep the populace ignorant.

[MyNameGoesHere]

22. 1 in 4 amurkans vote repiglican't

regardless if it is detrimental to their survival. Darwin already covered this. Just sit back and wait.

[valerief]

24. questions from table 7-8

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.pdf

QUESTIONS, TABLE 7-8

Physical science

The center of the Earth is
very hot. (True)

The continents have been
moving their location for
millions of years and will
continue to move. (True)

Does the Earth go around the
Sun, or does the Sun go
around the Earth? (Earth
around Sun)

All radioactivity is man-
made. (False)

Electrons are smaller than
atoms. (True)

Lasers work by focusing
sound waves. (False)

The universe began with a
huge explosion. (True)

Biological science

It is the father’s gene that
decides whether the baby is
a boy or a girl. (True)

Antibiotics kill viruses as well
as bacteria. (False)

Human beings, as we know
them today, developed from
earlier species of animals. (True)

[sakabatou]

31. I hate this question

The universe began with a
huge explosion. (True)

I didn't. It was an expansion of time-space. Not an explosion.

[valerief]

34. I'll bet a male wrote that question. They love their explosions. nt

[sakabatou]

35. We sure do

[valerief]

38. Ha! Proof! nt

[southerncrone]

25. Ignorance is so much easier than learning.

"I don't want to have to TRY to do anything." should be the new Amurikan motto.

The dumbing down of Amurika has worked very well for the Repukes, but to our ultimate demise, I suspect.

[jtuck004]

26. Or, might be more STEM propoganda...

Because it is often accompanied by self-serving "we must have more STEM courses" because "We must have more science grads" when you read further.

If you say so. Employing 100% of the ones graduating today? What about jobs for all the out of work folks? Wonder how one is going to pay for all that wonderful work they might do if their neighbors don't have jobs to do so? If there is such a shortage then we need a training program to put adults who have a degree already through the short course to do the work. Or maybe there isn't such a need?

Or maybe it has to do with the fact that at least 1 in 4, perhaps more than that, have trouble understanding what it is you are asking or why you are bothering them? I'd need more info.

Gallup does the the same poll, btw, and it is done in Europe as well - http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/new-poll-gauges-americans-general-knowledge-levels.aspx

Gallup found 1 in 5 here, or slightly better.

Wonder if this is solely a difference in sampling, or if there is some pressure from people who want to find the worst case scenario so they can get more funding to get paid for correcting it.

[Ian David]

28. The Earth does NOT revolve around the Sun. The Earth and the Sun both orbit the barycenter...

the solar system's center of mass, along with all the other planetary objects.

Since 2008, that center has been OUTSIDE the Sun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barycentric_coordinates_(astronomy)

[whopis01]

48. Well that will be true in about 8 minutes or so at least. n/t

[Phlem]

29. Yep. This is what we're dealing with folks.

-p

[TeeYiYi]

40. Dogs and cats, living together...

...make hedgehogs! Amirite?...



TYY

[NastyRiffraff]

42. Not surprising

Given that:

• 39% of American people believe that God created the universe, the earth, the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and the first two people within the past 10 000 years.
  
• 40% believe that dinosaurs lived at the same time as people.
  
• 50% believe that the only reliable way to know for certain about what happened in the past is to have a reliable historic record written by someone who was an eyewitness.
  
• 65% believe that archaeological findings have confirmed the authenticity of the people and incidents recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible.
  
• 52% believe that the theory of evolution proposes missing links and speculates about how humans developed but does not have strong factual evidence to support it.
  
• 50% believe that the Bible describes the creation of life exactly as it occurred in six days.
  

BTW, just what do those who don't know about the Earth/Sun relationship think a year is? Or a day? Or do they think the Earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around us?

[AikidoSoul]

43. Yep

"Or do they think the Earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around us? "

[CrackerJohn]

45. Holy fucking chocolate-covered Jesus on a popcicle stick! Are people really that stupid?

Wait, never mind. That explains FOX Noise.

[cloudbase]

46. Today is Gallileo's birthday.

Not much progress in 500+ years for some. I guess they haven't evolved.

[Moral Compass]

50. The hard 25%

There seems to be a hard percentage of roughly 25% that will vote for the most horrific candidates, support the most noxious policies, and aggressively support actions that will harm their neighbors, friends, and even relatives.

I would argue that the 25% of people that are so ignorant as to not know that the earth revolves around the sun is that 25%.

We, the 75% should do everything we can to settle these folks down, convince them that they are being listened to, and then make sure that nothing they believe is right and proper is made local or national policy.

Too often we let the stupids get in positions of power and influence because many of us cannot be bothered to fill city council, school boards seats, and other important roles that are not all that glamorous--but are very important and, often, very influential.

Here is Texas we have had the spectacle of a Texas Board of Education that are trying to warp Texas textbooks (and by extension the nation's textbooks) to include creationism, a positive spin on slavery, and editorial elimination of any discussion of the harm and injustice of state sponsored racism.

I've seen interviews of the members of this board. I guarantee they still believe that the sun orbits the earth, evolution is a sham, global warming is not real, whites did not oppress the native americans, and that whites are on the verge of becoming an oppressed minority.

This is the Republican base.

[another_liberal]

62. The researchers were too kind . . .

I would guess that these researchers were too kind to ask Americans questions about their historical knowledge. A recent survey of American college freshmen found that only a small minority knew the Civil War happened in the Nineteenth Century.

[Frank Cannon]

65. 25% of Americans are barely sentient enough to tie their shoes.

That does always roughly seem to be the figure whenever statistics are quoted as to people believing in stupid, crazy shit in this country.

[TroglodyteScholar]

51. 1 in 4 Americans???

That's more than half of us!

[another_liberal]

54. Is that an example of Biblical math?

If so, it must be true.

[Kennah]

52. I didn't know the GOP was down to only 25%. Great news!

[blkmusclmachine]

55. 100% of that extremely ignorant population of inbred "Flat Earthers" is Republican.

[Kablooie]

56. The earth doesn't circle the sun.

It ellipses around the sun.

[kentauros]

57. The thing to remember,

even though you'd think something as simple as this should have been learned by everyone in grade school, is that science isn't everyone's natural aptitude. It's not simply the fault of fundamentalists teaching the Bible in place of standard curriculae. Some people just don't understand simple scientific or mathematical concepts.

For example, back when I was married (to a Canadian) she kind of stunned me when I learned that she thought there was air everywhere in space. She'd never learned that it was a vacuum out there. Who knows, she may have been taught that at some point, but science wasn't her forte, and so that knowledge was lost.

Whereas I was brought up in a family that loved science, even though I also don't have the brain for it (calculus is just too damn weird for my mind, same with inorganic chemistry.) And so, I don't have a big interest in history, unless it's on ancient art and mythology of the Mediterranean, or the Connections shows by James Burke. Other than that, I could not care less.

So, if the questions above were on history knowledge, would that mean I am (and anyone else that's not a history buff is) an uneducated fundie?

[MrScorpio]

58. Huh, what?

[Exultant Democracy]

60. The bottom quarter of American minds. I wonder what it is like to be them?

Brings to mind Plato's cave?

[another_liberal]

64. Damn!

You nailed that one, my friend.

[randome]

66. Caesar believes those people are idiots.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]A 90% chance of rain means the same as a 10% chance:
It might rain and it might not.[/center][/font][hr]

[Loaded Liberal Dem]

67. Bill Maher says 18%

3:48 in

[damnedifIknow]

68. I find that 48 percent is somewhat encouraging

on the evolution question. That's almost half so maybe progress is being made.

[Grins]

70. And note the Crazification Factor...

If 74% answered correctly, then 26% answered incorrectly.

26%? Where did I hear that percentage before...?

Close enough:

In his seminal post on the Crazification Factor, John Rogers used the 2004 Obama/Keyes senate race as a measure: “Keyes was from out of state, so you can eliminate any established political base; both candidates were black, so you can factor out racism; and Keyes was plainly, obviously, completely crazy. Batshit crazy. Head-trauma crazy. But 27% of the population of Illinois voted for him. They put party identification, personal prejudice, whatever, ahead of rational judgement. Hell, even like 5% of Democrats voted for him. That’s crazy behaviour. I think you have to assume a 27% Crazification Factor in any population.”