The Cult of Ignorance in America Anti-Intellectualism

After leading the world for decades in 25-34 year olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12th place. The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly 50% of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are foreigners, most of whom are returning to their home countries


The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. A surprising 77% didn't know that George Washington was the first President; couldn't name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence; and only 2.8% of the students actually passed the citizenship test. Along similar lines, the Goldwater Institute of Phoenix did the same survey and only 3.5% of students passed the civics test


According to the National Research Council report, only 28% of high school science teachers consistently follow the National Research Council guidelines on teaching evolution, and 13% of those teachers explicitly advocate creationism or "intelligent design


18% of Americans still believe that the sun revolves around the earth, according to a Gallup poll


The American Association of State Colleges and Universities report on education shows that the U.S. ranks second among all nations in the proportion of the population aged 35-64 with a college degree, but 19th in the percentage of those aged 25-34 with an associate or high school diploma, which means that for the first time, the educational attainment of young people will be lower than their parents


74% of Republicans in the U.S. Senate and 53% in the House of Representatives deny the validity of climate change despite the findings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and every other significant scientific organization in the world


According to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 68% of public school children in the U.S. do not read proficiently by the time they finish third grade. And the U.S. News & World reported that barely 50% of students are ready for college level reading when they graduate


According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important


According to the National Endowment for the Arts report in 1982, 82% of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later only 67% did. And more than 40% of Americans under 44 did not read a single book--fiction or nonfiction--over the course of a year. The proportion of 17 year olds who read nothing (unless required by school ) has doubled between 1984-2004


Gallup released a poll indicating 42 percent of Americans still believe God created human beings in their present form less than 10,000 years ago


A 2008 University of Texas study found that 25 percent of public school biology teachers believe that humans and dinosaurs inhabited the earth simultaneously.

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CrimsonNagus said:

This is what happens when you have a government that forces teachers everywhere to teach to the lowest common denominator. No child Left behind, common core, and other programs like these, are complete nonsense. Instead of helping the children that are slow, it drags down the ones that normally would excel. Trying to force every kid into the same cookie cutter learning method is destroying education at all levels.

If a kid is truly excelling at a certain subject then a school should be free to encourage and prove more opportunities for that student in those areas of study. If a kid is struggling then a school should be free to hold them back and spend more time with them but, no, must push them through the system to check off that federal check box. Can't let anyone, good or bad student, stray from the mandated path. Only thing that matters is those standardized test scores so we get or funding next year.

If the civics test was part of the SAT/ACT then I bet that percentage would be a lot high but, only if you asked during testing week. "Teach the test" is the public school motto these days.


The poster formerly known as RollTide1017

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