Political scientist finds about 75% of adults 'don't have a clue' about basic science concepts.I always thought the sun revolved around me!
By Cornelia Dean / New York Times
CHICAGO -- When Jon D. Miller looks out across America, which he can almost do from his 18th-floor office at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, he sees a landscape of haves and have-nots -- in terms not of money, but of knowledge.
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 percent to 25 percent of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert," he said in an interview. Most of the rest "don't have a clue."
... 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.
Nevertheless, some people proudly display their "alternative scientific" opinions:
What about monkeys?Fortunately, it appears that 25% of the population still constitutes a "critical mass" for continued growth in knowledge.
Something to ponder: If the human being evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? Are the ones existing not good enough to make it to Homo sapiens status? Were there quotas?
Hallie Robertson
Dearborn Heights
Now, about those high tech job requirements to replace manufacturing jobs going to China....