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US Adults Fail Basic Science Literacy
TaeKwonDood writes "Do you want the bad news first or the good news? The good news is that about 80% of Americans think science knowledge is 'very important' to our future. The bad news is most of those people think it's up to someone else to get knowledgeable. Only 15% actually know how much of the planet is covered in water (47% if you accept a rough approximation of the exact number) and over 40% think dinosaurs and humans cavorted together like in some sort of 'Land Of The Lost' episode. What to do? Pres. Obama thinks merit pay for teachers makes sense. Yes, it will enrage the teachers' union, but it might inspire better people to go into science teaching. It's either that or accept that almost 50% of Americans won't know how long it takes the earth to go around the sun."
There's a simple way to have the best teachers rewarded appropriately - you completely eliminate government schools. The cream will rise to the top in the private-sector schools, as it does now.
But then politicians wouldn't be able to take credit for it.
Wow you mean UK has declined so much already?
I thought the UK was ahead by a bit more than that.
> What I think is happening is that people are blaming religion, specifically Christianity, for all the problems of the world.
Nevermind the fundies PRAYING for you so that you don't have any little doubt in your
mind or apply skepticism to the "wrong thing". It's all about some other "external"
factors.
Anti-intellectualism starts on Sunday morning.
How people approach "enlightenment" is non-trivial.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
People who are exacting about grammar are doing it because it makes them feel superior. There is no other reason. Programming has nothing to do with it. Nor does logic.
I'm not talking about correcting things like; "I has cheeseburger" or "How you do driving?". I mean people who insist that "hyperbole" be pronounced "hyper-bowly", and that "begs the question" does not mean what 99% of English speakers understand it to mean. I mean people who insist on using the archaic "whom" in places, but who do not accept the use of "ye" as a second person plural, despite the fact that "you" is painfully overloaded in this context.
Grammar Nazis have only one purpose. Finding obscure and outdated conventions in the English language and bringing them up in a painfully transparent effort to appear intellectually superior. A true intellectual would be fascinated with something like Lolcatz. Grammar Nazis are merely thrilled at how much more superior it makes them feel.
May the Maths Be with you!