I'm Shocked! 18% of Americans Believe the Sun Orbits the Earth!

The Story From Gallup

Probing a more universal measure of knowledge, Gallup also asked the following basic science question, which has been used to indicate the level of public knowledge in two European countries in recent years: "As far as you know, does the earth revolve around the sun or does the sun revolve around the earth?" In the new poll, about four out of five Americans (79%) correctly respond that the earth revolves around the sun, while 18% say it is the other way around. These results are comparable to those found in Germany when a similar question was asked there in 1996; in response to that poll, 74% of Germans gave the correct answer, while 16% thought the sun revolved around the earth, and 10% said they didn't know. When the question was asked in Great Britain that same year, 67% answered correctly, 19% answered incorrectly, and 14% didn't know.

HOW THE HELL DOES THIS HAPPEN!
i'm serious, i don't understand how people in any modern industrial society do not understand that we go around the sun.

i digress...
my point was that this shows the sad state of science education. how can we expect people to understand something that's a bit more complicated (evolution) if they don't have the basic knowledge that the sun is at the center of our solar system and we're orbiting around it.

Why are you shocked?

In a recent survey 11% of Americans couldn’t find the USA on a world map. Now THAT is shocking! Only 71% could point out the location of the Pacific Ocean on a map and 75% of them had no idea of the population of the USA.

So, I don’t find it shocking that 18% think the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Mikey

Why are you shocked at this?

I have family like this who are very very into the bible. They shun information when it is not from the bible and basically block it out or mentally rewrite the information to conform with the faith they hold in the bible.

They have an attitude towards science as a silly rambling of an incoherent child.

These are the people who are in that 18% if not more, I find 18% to be small considering the amount of people I know who are that way.

Some old timers who haven’t had the opportunity for a ‘good’ education by public ‘schooling’ believe the earth is not round and the waters of the ocean would spill over the edge of the earth. According to my mother who has been thinking about this since last night, our world is located inside the earth, which has an opening on top and rotates around a stationary sun.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


I'm not surprised in the slightest. As an educator, I believe that Western societies are teaching a vast amount of useless information to young people. Instead of wisdom about the impact of life on the environment and how we can limit destruction, we teach 'know-how' and a low level list of 'facts'. Students lose interest when they have to memorise lists to be educationally successful. Scientists do not help when there are disputes or contradictions in information as basic as the composition of diet. For example is alcohol good for your health or deleterious? I am still unsure about the answer due to so much conntradictory evidence. Is the bird flu going to kill 120 million people or a few hundred? Can global warming be limited or are we too late for hundred of millions of deaths? There is confusion out there...

!00% of the people who think the Sun revolves around the Earth voted for Bush, think Sadam was responsible for 9/11, would willingly give up their rights in exchange for 'feeling' safe as opposed to being safe, and plan on voting for Hillary.

Aint edumacation grate!!

Nope not surprised in the slightest.... And it's not just yanks, it's a bit embarrassing to say, but at a family BBQ my mother (totally sober) when asked where the moon went at night she replied "it goes behind the Sun" completely sincerely. Ah well least I turned out maladjusted.

Little viewing for y'all

reply to post by Now_Then


LOL, My favourite ones on that are:

How many sides does a triangle have?
Eh, eh..None, Oh no, it has one, one side!

And also the one,

What money do they use in the United Kingdom?
Eh, American money!

But this You Tube is scary, these people don’t know anything about September 11, even when asked, “what date did September 11 happen” they cant answer it right.

YouTube Link

Mikey

very embarrassing but not very surprising. The USA is portrayed as a country of big cities, big lights, great technology and all the advances of a modern society, yet there are still many areas and sections of this country in which people live at a poverty comparable to some third world countries. I don't know the cross section of the population that was sampled for this survey, but that number could be higher or lower depending on how it was conducted.

reply to post by worldwatcher


Well these sort of videos would be fairly easy to make, just so long as your patient enough and have enough storage available. Simply ask the same questions to as many people as possible and not use the intelligent answers. I did re watch a couple of times to see how often the question was in the same shot as the answer - the ratio was fairly high - so we can presume those people were genuinely dumb on the subjects they were asked about. But it's not all doom and gloom (God PLEASE don't let it be all doom and gloom!!
) I bet for every dumb answer there are 5 correct ones deleted from existence.

edit: same would go for the surveys, stats can be spun like a puppy on a sheet ice incline

[edit on 21/2/2008 by Now_Then]

reply to post by worldwatcher


Sorry, but I live in one of those cities surrounded by 5 universities one Ivy League and there is no shortage of morons here. Actually, one of the most intelligent acquaintances I have here is what could be referred to as a "bible thumper" from Nebraska.

So I'd hold off on that whole "majesty of the enlightened city" nonsense before you start to sound like one of these fools yourself.

reply to post by Mikey84


People are morons. This is why democracy always devolves into tyranny of the masses. The representative republic was working just fine until every drunk, half-tard and reality television fan decided they should go out and vote too.

This is how we get prohibitive laws oppressing everyone for the failures of the few from mandatory seat belts to firearm restrictions and we get support to invade Iraq when the people who came at us were Saudi.

Because a psycho shot up a school nobody should have a gun and because some Saudi hijackers killed thousands of people we should invade Iraq. Makes sense to way more people than it should.

I notice that a lot of people are also just plain "flabbergasted" when asked a question that they really *should* know, and they end up answering wrong.

Countless times I have been asked questions about bands I love, or movies I have watched countless times, or anything that *should* be in my general knowledge, but because I have been asked suddenly and had no idea I was about to be asked this seemingly simple question, I just said the first thing that popped into my mind. Which was inevitably wrong, even just by a little bit.

I don't find it so unbelievable that if some people were asked, "Does the sun revolve around the Earth??" that they answer, "Yes!! I mean .. wait... NO!". and the questioners just take the first answer.

As for some Americans not being able to find America on the map?? Wow. That's just... Wow. Have they never seen an atlas before? I really don't know what to say to that

Oh God, what is with you guys?

Firstly, all the people on here saying 'why are you surprised?', and then the video everyone's seen 100 times and has been posted here more times than I can count. Clever.

Now, do you guys ACTUALLY believe these numbers? I've lived and been to almost every single state. Those numbers are NOT right. And believe it or not, but that video is bogus too. How many people do you think he had to talk to to get those highlights?

C'mon now. You're basically saying that almost 1 out of every 5 people doesn't know something as basic as that? Please.

Don't believe everything you guys read, or you're just as bad as the people who ACUALLY believe the Sun goes around the Earth.

i was watching some game show, hosted by meatloaf (yes the singer) yesterday while waiting for my car to be serviced. one of the segments included who is the person in the picture. showed a series of photos, combination of pop culture and history. they showed a photo of presdient eisenhower and a young woman actually said that he was hitler! the other women on the on the panel did not recognize him as well!

granted, pres. eisenhower is not really known today, but to call him hitler !? hell, hitler is one of the most recognizable people with that mustache and to get him wrong as well!?

i really do worry for the next generation when things like this appear to be turning up more and more.

have good day!

reply to post by bigbert81


well, i really don't see much reason to question gallup. the raw data is there, their sampling and whatnot are quite solid...

and the numbers seem shocking...

but then again, i remember some of the people in missouri...
in st. louis you had quite a few people that would say the sun goes around the earth because they were bible-believing geocentrists...
but in the rural parts you'd get people who hadn't been properly schooled...
even in the urban areas...
so......
i guess this highlights a need to emphasize science education...

FWIW, It's not just an American thing. The EU fared worse on that same question.



Scientific literacy is on the rise: Since 1979 the percentage of scientifically literate adults has doubled in America and is higher than (e.g.) Canada, Europe, and Japan. Azzamattero'fact, Americans lead the world in scientific literacy I'm Shocked!



Have you guys seen all those 'science questions for the average man on the street' videos for countries other than the U.S.? Equally hilarious. Take the average sensationalistic bent of a reporter, add editing and some carefully chosen statistics and you can make any point you'd like. I'm Shocked, shocked I tell ya.


Superstar, from your link:

These results are comparable to those found in Germany when a similar question was asked there in 1996; in response to that poll, 74% of Germans gave the correct answer, while 16% thought the sun revolved around the earth, and 10% said they didn't know. When the question was asked in Great Britain that same year, 67% answered correctly, 19% answered incorrectly, and 14% didn't know.

Looks like pound-for-pound we Bible thumpin' cousin' lovin' Nascar watchin' evolution non-believin' morons are still the intellectual champs. Cool. Your shock had me worried there for a minute (let me know the next time somebody decides to do a telephone survey of a 1000 people or so... could be important.)

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Ok, religion might be one thing. You've got a point there.

However, how and where was the poll administered? To what demographic? etc. etc. You can't just believe any poll you read.

Hell, I remember a study done by Princeton, or Harvard, or some other Ivy League that found that about 20% of the studies out and about are incorrect. I'll try to find a source to show you, but you get my point.

South Park Quote

one fourth of the population is retarded, let's take a test sample: There's four of us, you're a retard, that's one-fourth.