From the NY Times (via Instapundit):
While scientific literacy has doubled over the past two decades, only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert," he said in an interview. Most of the rest "don't have a clue." At a time when science permeates debates on everything from global warming to stem cell research, he said, people's inability to understand basic scientific concepts undermines their ability to take part in the democratic process. . . .Dr. 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.
"Our best university graduates are world-class by any definition," Dr. Miller said. "But the second half of our high school population - it's an embarrassment. We have left behind a lot of people."
I thought we weren't supposed to be doing that, leaving children behind, that is. Maybe if we didn't spend so much time arguing about creationism versus evolution (80 years after the Scopes Monkey Trial), we could teach our high schoolers a few of the basics.
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