We Americans are scientifically ignorant

[Demosthanese]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/s...d=2&ei=5070&en=631977063d726261&ex=1125547200

Having been through the public school system in various parts of the country, and having posted here, I can't say that I am surprised.

 

[NTKB]

American school systems are still running on a system which is based on a system over 150 years old. Reform is needed, and now. Its sad to see millions of dollars spent on worthless programs and billions on military endeavors and not more heading towards education. I only see this trend getting worse sadly as no one over here really cares...

 

[Angel_Mapper]

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

Dear god no... I refuse to believe we can be this stupid. wtf? That's incredibly saddening.

Great find. :tup:

 

[Derelan]

Move to Canada.

 

[Demosthanese]

I think that one stat may have been exagerated, or perhaps it was taken out of context by NYT, but overall the article seems valid, and I agree that people are idiots. High School students are more concearned with who is dating whom than they are about the electoral process or the benifits of stem-cell research.

 

[5eleven]

Congratulations, NT, you used the word "system" three times in the same sentence.

 

[TheWhaleShark]

There was a point not too long ago where this news would have caused me to feel more shame for my country and its piss-poor educational state.

However, I'm pretty much at my shame quota these days, so I'll have to go into shame debt for this one.

This is, of course, completely expected. Christ, we have school districts in southern states dragging up "creationism vs. evolution" despite the fact that it's been resolved for AT LEAST 100 years.

 

[Derelan]

High School students are more concearned with who is dating whom than they are about the electoral process or the benifits of stem-cell research.

I dont think that has been any different for the past thousand years or so.

Congratulations, NT, you used the word "system" three times in the same sentence.

-"Big game fever is reaching a fevered pitch as the fevered rivalry between Springfield U. and Springfield A&M spreads like wild-fever... This is writing?"
-"I'm sorry, Uncle Kent. I lost my thesaurus."

 

[Cap'n Beeb]

But....but...science isn't approved by Americhrist! Why are you trying to corrupt our children?

High School students are more concearned with who is dating whom than they are about the electoral process or the benifits of stem-cell research.

Indeed they are. I never fell into that OMG $$1 IS TOTALLY BANGING $$2 WHILE $$3 AND $$4 SUCK EACH OTHER OFF LOL SEX PENIS VAGINA DOODZ mindset though. And besides, my government class was fucking awesome.

 

[cracwhore]

Wow.

Neat.

 

[NTKB]

Congratulations, NT, you used the word "system" three times in the same sentence.

The cool part is that it worked... I think...

 

[Demosthanese]

Move to Canada.

There's no problems here. Move along move along.

I dont think that has been any different for the past thousand years or so.

And that makes it all better. Perhaps I should rephrase that. The typical highschool student doesn't know what impeached means and believe that Clinton never was Impeached. The typical HS student doesn't know the 3 laws of newtonian physics. The typical highschool student thinks sodium is salt, and hasn't a clue what happens when sodium is droped in water. The typical highschool student can't tell me why The Great Salt Lake is salty or even if The Dead Sea is fresh water. The typical HS student can't point to Vietnam on a map and thinks New Zealand is over by greenland.

Get the point? No?

 

[Thrash123]

This is, of course, completely expected. Christ, we have school districts in southern states dragging up "creationism vs. evolution" despite the fact that it's been resolved for AT LEAST 100 years.

woah there now, I would hardly call it "solved"

I do agree, however, that education in the US has been lackluster for some time now. Not much is going to change that; America is the land of the apathetic (to an extent).

 

[Rostam]

Schools all around the world suck, it's not just the US. The problem is that they try to give you some knowledge, while they should give you understanding. I'd say school makes you brain dead, thinking is not needed there. All you have to do to get the best scores is read and repeat that on a test. Meh, glad I'm out of all that.

On uni, are the ones in America really 'world class'? I never thought much of them, espescially because of the difficult way to get in one when you're poor.

By the way a lot more people in every country think the sun revolves around the earth. However, if I have my statistics right the US has an above average amount of citizens that don't realise that the sun is a star.

 

[Psychomorph]

Schools all around the world suck, it's not just the US. The problem is that they try to give you some knowledge, while they should give you understanding. I'd say school makes you brain dead, thinking is not needed there. All you have to do to get the best scores is read and repeat that on a test. Meh, glad I'm out of all that.

Thats exactly my point Rostam. That really bugged me as in the Colledge (dunno to what german Gymnasium is equivalent in U.S.) I wanted to learn in a subject I was bad at and the teachers couldn't tech me, it was just a competition of who answers good what the teacher asks.

School is better than nothing, but it's bullsh!t.


It kinda made me laugh as I found out in germany the schools teach math stuff in the 5th class, which is teached in russia in the 2nd class, muahah.
German schools aren't the best either.


Often americnas that visit/live in/work in europe, asia and other, say that the U.S. sucks about the international education.
A person my family knows lives in america and he says that stuf that happens in the world (irag, middle east, afrikan wars/conflicts) are mostly even not mentioned in the U.S. media, which is freely reported about in europe.

 

[Rostam]

My experience with a highschool in Texas was this: They would teach everything about the state and the country. I didn't read anything about... well, anything important. But the amount of information about all kind of stupid and sometimes small conflicts in which the US had a part was huge. I remembered thinking how small the world was, if you would be raised there.

Then again, in Holland it isn't much better either. For 3 fricking years our history classes were about the second world war. I remember getting mad at that, there was so much more I wanted to know about and I knew school wasn't going to teach me.

 

[Demosthanese]

Ignorance is bliss, neh? I feel somewhat like I've been cheated out of what I could have been in most every field. Chess is a great example of this: I play against most any American I know at my age, and I maintain parity or flat out trounce them. I play online against people from elsewhere in the world, and I get walked all over. The chess club instructors were about the same level that I was :/

 

[Saladin]

eh... i went to a southern private school.... for rich white and jew kids...i was like the only arab there....yeah...if i didnt...i would prolly end up in the school in georgia that made the biggest fuss about evolution in textbooks..and the damned sticker on the books....****ing cobb couty...

anyhoo, we arent all ignorant..just most of us...thats why they pump gas into our suv's demosthanese....

and on another note, i love angel mapper's sig.

 

[Psychomorph]

I don't uderstand angel mapper's sig.

 

[Saladin]

its the burger king dude...hes awesome.

his presence freaks you out and then gives you free food.