1 in 4 Americans unaware that Earth circles Sun


Recommended Posts

For everybody who are questioning this survey and want to know why the education system is so bad, you need to watch the documentary "Waiting For Superman" 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/

 

This is a great documentary about the USA school system, and why it is failing. Anybody who is interested in the failing school system, and anybody who will be voting on how to fix it, needs to watch it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, its on the internet, so it must be true.  Right?

 

You can discuss this all you want, but 2,200 participants in a survey will never be an accurate result for an entire country.  I mean, if you really think that 2,200 people speak for 308 million...then I have some ocean front property to sell you in Arizona.

 

Wow, Andre has been trying to discuss this with you in a polite, informative manner and this is the way you respond.  Doesn't not seem respectful and really diminishes your position.

 

The 2200 respondents are a sampling and may indicate trends.  The information is used to further additional studies to try and pinpoint what is actually occurring.

 

When reading the link posted by Vykranth, we can see the US is no better or worse on average than other western nations.  In fact, the information in the report also indicates that 1 in 3 Europeans did not know the earth revolves around the sun.  linked here again:  http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.pdf%C2'> see page 23

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, its on the internet, so it must be true.  Right?

Not sure if that "it's on the internet" argument is a strawman of my position or an attack on the credibility of the study based on the fact that it's available on a web site... none of which make sense.

 
You can discuss this all you want, but 2,200 participants in a survey will never be an accurate result for an entire country.  I mean, if you really think that 2,200 people speak for 308 million...then I have some ocean front property to sell you in Arizona.

The nice thing about statistics is that you can put numbers on how accurate and reliable your measure is, based on the population and sample size. The link I originally provided you with has good info on that. So, if you have an argument to make about either the accuracy or reliability of the results, then please show your numbers. Otherwise, you're just making empty claims.

 

By the way, you could probably find the level of confidence and accuracy of the study by looking at it, it should be indicated somewhere. Those numbers are proven mathematically.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As much as I enjoy the jokes about "dumb American's" as much as the next Brit, I'm really struggling to believe it really is as bad as this indicates...

 

OK, maybe down in the deep south, where everything goes via the bible first...

Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama - and the Bible Belt of the midwest (Kansas, Nebraska, OK, even Texas) -- you do see signs of that kind of blind following.  (instead of Southern Baptists, I call them Shiite Baptists) - they used to have a much stronger grip on things - in fact, a couple decades ago, businesses did not open on Sunday.

 

This thread, and every thread/blog/discussion that has happened and will happen will never make any headway.  I know this, but still like to have the discussion.  It is that rebel side in me that thrives on it.  That part of me who knows there is nothing the opponent can say which will trip me up, nothing I wont have an answer for, nothing they can topple.   I admit its low hanging fruit.  Like a guy walking into a gunfight with a Howitzer and the other guy has a single shot BB gun -

Then there is the other side; who wants to know the reason for their beliefs, not so much what they believe, but what made them believe it.  I always want an honest debate/discussion.

So many times, the faithful's emotions get the better of them, and any attempt at reason, logic, and honesty go right out the window.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sort of an ironic post in a thread about scientific ignorance in America.

Adrynlane, if done properly, a small representation of people can give a decent idea of a larger number's answers. - Its all about law of averages, the mean/median of a group.  Its purpose is to give a somewhat accurate idea when you cant go and ask 300 million people.

I dont see how you think this is in some way akin to making people believe in ocean front property in Arizona.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama - and the Bible Belt of the midwest (Kansas, Nebraska, OK, even Texas) -- you do see signs of that kind of blind following.  (instead of Southern Baptists, I call them Shiite Baptists) - they used to have a much stronger grip on things - in fact, a couple decades ago, businesses did not open on Sunday.

 

This thread, and every thread/blog/discussion that has happened and will happen will never make any headway.  I know this, but still like to have the discussion.  It is that rebel side in me that thrives on it.  That part of me who knows there is nothing the opponent can say which will trip me up, nothing I wont have an answer for, nothing they can topple.   I admit its low hanging fruit.  Like a guy walking into a gunfight with a Howitzer and the other guy has a single shot BB gun -

Then there is the other side; who wants to know the reason for their beliefs, not so much what they believe, but what made them believe it.  I always want an honest debate/discussion.

So many times, the faithful's emotions get the better of them, and any attempt at reason, logic, and honesty go right out the window.

 

If you're going to have blind faith, you might as well not have any faith at all.  Faith only has any meaning when you understand what your beliefs are actually about.  By far the large majority, of Christians at least, are only Christians because their parents were Christians, and their parents, and their parents before them. Very few have actually studied the tenets of the religion and understand what being a follower of it is meant to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Richard Dawkins says it best (obviously) -

"...Well, what if I'm wrong, I mean ? anybody could be wrong. We could all be wrong about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the pink unicorn and the flying teapot. You happen to have been brought up, I would presume, in a Christian faith. You know what it's like to not believe in a particular faith because you're not a Muslim. You're not a Hindu. Why aren't you a Hindu? Because you happen to have been brought up in America, not in India. If you had been brought up in India, you'd be a Hindu. If you had been brought up in Denmark in the time of the Vikings, you'd be believing in Wotan and Thor. If you were brought up in classical Greece, you'd be believing in Zeus. If you were brought up in central Africa, you'd be believing in the great Juju up the mountain. There's no particular reason to pick on the Judeo-Christian god, in which by the sheerest accident you happen to have been brought up and ask me the question, "What if I'm wrong?" What if you're wrong about the great Juju at the bottom of the sea?...."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.