Dumb as a bag of hair.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:52 am

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/67 ... index.html

NEW YORK -- When the results of its latest survey came back, officials at the American Museum of Natural History were hardly astonished.

The survey was trying to find out how much people know about water. Turns out, not much.

Fewer than half of those surveyed answered correctly when asked how much of the planet is covered in water (about three-fourths). Hardly anyone knew how much of that water is drinkable (about 1 percent).

It's not the first time a survey has shown how little the public knows about science; the results of one museum survey in 1994 were so woeful, museum President Ellen Futter barely raises an eyebrow anymore.

"I haven't been surprised by the public's reaction since our first survey, when I saw that 35 percent of the adult population thought that humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs," she said.

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Leona Conner · Post by **Leona Conner** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:34 pm

I'm not surprised. Americans fail at history, too. Where I live ask anything about NASCAR or UT football and everyone know all there is to know. Ask about history, or any scientific field, and you're lucky to just get a blank stare, much less "you crazy? Who cares." When we moved here from Calif, my oldest was in middle school, she complained that the teachers couldn't answer many of her questions about science. In fact, the male teachers couldn't understand why a girl wanted to know about science, her female teachers just thought she was a weird yankee.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:07 pm

I hear you, Leona.

What's scary is those idiots are running the country!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:19 pm

The public schools are indeed a travesty, vouchers would be nice, let the families decide if they want the kids to go to public school or make other arrangements with the ten grand or so per year per student, but that makes too much sense.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:52 pm

A good teacher can have class anywhere. You can't throw enough tax dollars at a bad one to make them any better.

The trend is definately downward.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:54 pm

A good teacher can have class anywhere. You can't throw enough tax dollars at a bad one to make them any better.

No...but you can load them up with enough political grandstanding to make certain that no one with half a brain goes into teaching.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:58 pm

I'm not sure what you mean about the politics, but it's certain that our educators are not the caliber they used to be.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:09 pm

No Child Left Behind....(or the Congressman foley version...No Child's Behind left Alone!).

Holding teachers and schools "responsible" for kids who fail to learn. The problem is so much deeper than that.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:48 pm

No Child Left Behind....(or the Congressman foley version...No Child's Behind left Alone!).

Oh, that's good.

I agree. The problem is actually a complex one.

john · Post by **john** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:07 pm

Minimalist wrote:No Child Left Behind....(or the Congressman foley version...No Child's Behind left Alone!).

Holding teachers and schools "responsible" for kids who fail to learn. The problem is so much deeper than that.

look at the irish "hedge schools", when the brits decided that they could solve at least part of the "irish problem" by outlawing the teaching of irish language and history.

what we DON'T have anymore is a culture which supports learning.

and i'm not going to go any further than that, because it would be a fifty page diatribe.

j

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:45 pm

what we DON'T have anymore is a culture which supports learning.

What we have are a lot of kids who think that learning is un-cool and a lot of parents who think that learning is dangerous.

oldarchystudent · Post by **oldarchystudent** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:47 am

I spent the last 4 years teaching a drum and bugle corps here in Canada, and anytime we tour into the States we stay in highschools, sleeping on the gym floor. I am always blown away by how well the schools are set up, the facilities are huge and look very well stocked for sports. Your highschool football stadiums put a lot of Canadian university stadiums to shame. It seems every school has a marching band. You can barely find a music program that is worthy of the name here in Ontario, and there are cutbacks in just about everything EXCEPT the courses that lead to being a business analyst, computer programmer etc. That stuff gets funded.

So Canada, in the next 10 or so years will have lots of engineers, programmers and accountants, but will be kinda short on historians, musicians, poets and artists, and they will probably all be overweight as the support for physical activity declines.

We have issues here too……

Can you tell it makes me mad? I have 2 teenage daughters and we have had to work hard to fill the gaps to make them well rounded, independently thinking young women.

There is a great show from England on right now called “That’ll Teach Them” in which kids at the top of their class get sent to a 1950’s style English Grammar School. They can’t cut it. They fail tests, can’t spell and find the athletic and educational rigours too much. It’s very enlightening.

Cheers

Jim

Leona Conner · Post by **Leona Conner** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:13 am

Didn't you know that the most popular colleges in the states are the ones that still have sports as a major. The ones that have decided to return to academics are no longer considered power houses.

oldarchystudent · Post by **oldarchystudent** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:59 am

So you can graduate as a Bachelor of Football? Yikes!

Barracuda · Post by **Barracuda** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:55 pm

Geography! Most Americans have no concept of geography