Is Voter's Knowledge of Science Enough?
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USA Today has an article that asks if the average voter has enough accurate knowledge about science to be able to intelligently vote on issues that require such knowledge in order to know what you're voting about?
Well, they included a link to a ten question true or false test that was designed to illustrate the point. In spite of the fact that this questionnaire was overly simplistic and downright lousy it does make the point. It is sadly true that most Americans could find the steering rack on a car they've never seen before faster than they could answer simple science questions.
Why is this? How about thinking about what teachers are paid. Teachers are given the responsibility of educating children yet they are among the lowest paid professionals in any field. They have to fight for every cent of funding and almost never do public schools and teachers have enough up to date quality materials and equipment to really make a difference.
I don't mean to disrespect any professional athletes but I have to ask why it is that pro football, baseball and basketball players can be paid millions of dollars a year to play a game and generate income for the team and franchise owners when education budgets, teacher pay and giving children the best possible education is allocated the lowest priority funding.
We Americans are and have always been proud of our country. We consider America to be the greatest nation on Earth yet when it comes to educating our children we've been falling behind for over fifty years now and it's not looking very good for the future.
If we don't get this turned around now, we're in for a really rocky road.
Technorati Tags: scientific issues, education, science knowledge, education budgets, teacher pay, voters
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Hi, Nice Article! I think voters have lot of knowledge on science that is what they voting for and for whom, They always think before selecting or voting anybody.
Lenores last blog post..Salinas, California
I shouldn’t ask I suppose but I’ve learned the hard way never to assume anything… You were speaking satirically right?
Sometimes I think that somebody needs to add buttons to wordpress comments so people can use tags like [satire][/satire] or [humor][/humor].
Those were about as easy as science questions come. OK, I had to guess at the lasers one, but the last science class I took was in 1993. It is worrying that anybody can leave school without getting 7-8 of those correct, and anybody who misses the last two should be forced to repeat high school in its entirety (although primary school might be a better bet).
They were overly simple I think. I know that because I knew the answers that modern science expects for all of them.
On the other hand, I do have issues with some of the questions…
#7 The answer to that one is in Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth”
I disagree with the time span suggested in #8 because I don’t believe that the Earth is that old.
#9 The origin of human kind can be found in Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image … “