1 In 4 Americans Thinks The Sun Goes Around The Earth, Survey Says

[drunkenshoe]

I saw this in a comment of the article about the planets joseph posted. This can't be true, right. It looks...hyped up to me. Also apparently China beat everyone on human evolution, including Europe. (%70) I can't imagine the result, if it was done in where I live. *Cry.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/02/14/277058739/1-in-4-americans-think-the-sun-goes-around-the-earth-survey-says

A quarter of Americans surveyed could not correctly answer that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, according to a report out Friday from the National Science Foundation.

The survey of 2,200 people in the United States was conducted by the NSF in 2012 and released on Friday at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.

To the question "Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth," 26 percent of those surveyed answered incorrectly.

In the same survey, just 39 percent answered correctly (true) that "The universe began with a huge explosion" and only 48 percent said "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."

Just over half understood that antibiotics are not effective against viruses.

As alarming as some of those deficits in science knowledge might appear, Americans fared better on several of the questions than similar, but older surveys of their Chinese and European counterparts.

Only 66 percent of people in a 2005 European Union poll answered the basic astronomy question correctly. However, both China and the EU fared significantly better (66 percent and 70 percent, respectively) on the question about human evolution.

In a survey compiled by the National Opinion Research Center from various sources, Americans seemed to generally support science research and expressed the greatest interest in new medical discoveries and local school issues related to science. They were least interested in space exploration, agricultural developments and international and foreign policy issues related to science.

[GSOgymrat]

I'm not surprised.

https://youtu.be/M2fHQ9eULzk

[stromboli]

Bear in mind that America is a very big country with an ocean to the east and west and a whole lot of real estate in between. The population, divided among 50 states, is quite diverse. If you were to go to a progressive state like Massachusetts you would probably find a much lower percentage of people that believe the sun goes around the earth than in the Appalachians, for example. So if you do a lump number out of 300 million and come up with 75 million scattered throughout that think that way, it isn't quite that bad.

And hopefully people running things are a little smarter than people drinking moonshine and eyeballing their cute little first cousin's assets, if you know what I mean.

[drunkenshoe]

Exactly, what I thought.

[GSOgymrat]

<--------- from Appalachia. 

[stromboli]

<--------- from Appalachia. 

Oops. Well, I'm from the backwoods of Utah, so there is hope for all of us.

:57:

[drunkenshoe]

I am so curious about a real hardcore bible belt place in the USA. Seriously. I'd like to visit.

[PopeyesPappy]

In the same survey, just 39 percent answered correctly (true) that "The universe began with a huge explosion"

If you asked a Nobel winning cosmologist this question they'd probably answer false too because the Big Bang wasn't an explosion.

[stromboli]

I am so curious about a real hardcore bible belt place in the USA. Seriously. I'd like to visit.

Trust me Shoe, it is not a place you would feel comfortable in.

[PopeyesPappy]

I am so curious about a real hardcore bible belt place in the USA. Seriously. I'd like to visit.

I suggest Fields of the Woods bible park near Murphy, North Carolina.

[drunkenshoe]

Trust me Shoe, it is not a place you would feel comfortable in.

Is it really that bad? You mean for what I would see or possible things that I would experience?

From outside, I'm just a 'white' looking little woman, with a pony tail and nerd glasses wearing sweat pants and sports shoes or a shorts with a suitable top according to the weather. Most people in the States don't even get I'm a tourist, if I don't say it. But then I have just been to a couple of blue states. They just say, 'you have a British accent'. (I don't have a British accent. I just don't have an American accent.)

Dunno, I am just really curious. I'm curious about Iran or Israel too though.

[drunkenshoe]

Guys, I am not thinking about wearing a tee that reads on "Hello, I am an atheist!" on a background of the American flag.

[PopeyesPappy]

Is it really that bad?

Just try not to talk about religion and/or politics and you'll (probably) be fine.

[drunkenshoe]

Just try not to talk about religion and/or politics and you'll (probably) be fine.

OK. Sticking to the blue.

E: Someone will ask me "where are you from" and it would go down there. What am I going to do, "I'm a private person!". Lol. Well, may be I dunno. Just not me I guess. I'm too transparent and outgoing sometimes.

[TomFoolery]

To be fair, I think probably at least 1 in 10 of those 1 in 4 probably answered wrong just to be a smartass.

We are also a country that worships college football players (some of whom can barely read) more than college professors, so yeah.