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Re: [Phys-l] The percentage of Americans who....



In a message dated 11/10/2010 10:25:20 PM Eastern Standard Time,
marx@phy.ilstu.edu writes:

What is the source for these? How long ago were these surveys done?

I regret I don't have a source for these they were sent to me by a
colleague. I am not sure of the time frame either. So this may not be accurate.
But I think the state of education in America is clearly in a dismal state.
Education, especially in the public schools, has been under attack since
the onset of the Bi Partisan Neo liberal agenda in government. I think things
are better at the college level, though I am guessing physics professors
might have something to say about the level of knowledge of the students
coming from high school. Here is Florida where I live, the drop out rate is
staggering and ignorance is rampant. We can't continue like this without
disaster being imminent. I think Democracy and Science have no future in
America unless we change course. This seems like a problem educators should be
concerned about.

Bob Zannelli



The percentage of Americans who....

4%: 17-year olds who can comprehend a bus schedule
12%: Adults who said that Noah's wife was "Joan of Arc"
12%: 17-year olds who can arrange six common fractions in order of size
15%: Adults unable to locate US on a world map
20%: Sixth-graders unable to locate US on a world map
21%: Adults who think the sun revolves around the earth
26%: Teenagers unable to identify current vice-president
27%: Adults who say there should be a law against interracial marriage
30%: Adults who believe they've made contact with the dead
40%: HS seniors who identify Israel as an Arab nation
40%: Adults between 18 - 29 who don't know what nation George Washington
&
his
army were fighting
40%: Adults who say that some numbers are especially lucky for some
people
40%: Adults who don't know Germany was a US enemy in WWII
42%: Adults unable to locate Japan on a world map
42%: Adults who can’t name an Asian country “near the Pacific
Ocean”
49%: 17-year-olds who cannot place the Civil War in the correct
half-century
50%: Adults who believe that the accused are guilty until proven
innocent
50%: Adults who believe in UFOs & space aliens on earth
50%: 17-year olds unable to express the fraction 9/100 as a percentage
50%: HS students unaware of what the Cold War was
53%: Adults who don't know it takes a year for the earth to revolve
around
the
sun
56%: Adults who do not believe Darwin's Theory of Evolution
56%: Adults who think an electron is larger than an atom
58%: 13-year-olds who think it is illegal to start a third party
59%: Teenagers who cannot name the 3 branches of US government
59%: Teenagers who can name the Three Stooges
60%: Adults who have never read a book in their entire adult life
60%: HS students who don't know how the US came into existence
63%: Adults who believe earliest humans co-existed with dinosaurs
66%: Adults who don’t know how long a meter is
70%: Adults who believe in angels
77%: Adults who believe heaven exists
80%: Adults who fail a test of 7th grade English
84%: "College" seniors who don't know who was US president at start of
the
Korean War
87%: Adults who (in 1984) didn't know which side the U.S. supported in
Nicaragua
91%: Adults who cannot explain what a molecule is
98%: Teenagers who cannot name US Supreme Court Chief Justice


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Forum for Physics Educators
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l