Tue 30 Aug 2005
While we’re having highly nuanced conversations on Ephblog about Williams and higher education, every once and awhile it’s good to step back and think about how rare that is in the U.S. According to an article entitled, “Scientific Savvy? In U.S., Not Much,” that ran in today’s New York Times,
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.
A sobering thought.
August 30th, 2005 at 11:14 am
re: the Earth revolving around the Sun, that’s pretty much in line with the rest of the scientific educational policy of the current administration, so I’d expect those numbers to only get worse (or better, from the perspective of a Biblical literalist).
August 30th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
If they would have attentively taken Professor Don Beaver’s History of Science course, Copernicus to Einstein, then they would have the answers and a lot more.