24 Feb 26% Americans Unaware the Earth Orbits the Sun..Really??
Does the Earth go around the sun, or does the sun go around the Earth?
“When asked that question by +National Science Foundation IIP , 1 in 4 Americans surveyed answered incorrectly. Yes, 1 in 4. In other words, a quarter of Americans do not understand one of the most fundamental principles of basic science.”
“Only 48 percent knew that humans evolved from earlier species of animals.”
“Americans actually fared better than Europeans who took similar quizzes — at least when it came to the sun and Earth question. Only 66 percent of European Union residents answered that one correctly.”
I read this in my news feed this morning and thought really! 26% people of one of the so called smartest country in the world don’t know, Earth revolves around the Sun.What the hack, where the hell they spent $69.8 Billion (yes with a B) of education funding (2013).
“When asked that question by +National Science Foundation IIP , 1 in 4 Americans surveyed answered incorrectly. Yes, 1 in 4. In other words, a quarter of Americans do not understand one of the most fundamental principles of basic science.”
“Only 48 percent knew that humans evolved from earlier species of animals.”
“Americans actually fared better than Europeans who took similar quizzes — at least when it came to the sun and Earth question. Only 66 percent of European Union residents answered that one correctly.”
I read this in my news feed this morning and thought really! 26% people of one of the so called smartest country in the world don’t know, Earth revolves around the Sun.What the hack, where the hell they spent $69.8 Billion (yes with a B) of education funding (2013).
While pondering this thought, I thought do they really need to know about where the hell is earth in the orbit and what it is revolving around? In day to day life I would say 90% of people don’t use this knowledge. I know about earth revolves around sun but in my life so far, have I applied this knowledge to benefit me or others? May be in my geography or Astronomy exams but hard to find any example when this was really used in my professional career.
I guess lots of thing we study are not used in our chosen profession but it is good to have basic understanding of various streams (science, maths, literature etc.) in early life so we can choose what interests us and make living out of it.
Back to the survey, Only 2200 people (from 313.9 million population) were surveyed which is really low to make a judgment call like this.
So few lessons,
- Not everything you learn will be useful in your later or professional life.
- Initial reactions are not always correct, put your logic in to it and you might change your views.
- Americans are not so dumb as this article/survey portrays.
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