Scientific Illiteracy in America
In a 1995 interview, Carl Sagan said:
We have designed our civilization based on science and technology and at the same time arranged things so that almost no one understands anything at all about science and technology. This is a clear prescription for disaster.
These were prescient words, and since Sagan’s day the situation has only gotten worse. A new survey shows the depth of the problem: American Adults Flunk Basic Science.
ScienceDaily (Mar. 13, 2009) — Are Americans flunking science? A new national survey commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences and conducted by Harris Interactive� reveals that the U.S. public is unable to pass even a basic scientific literacy test. …
According to the national survey commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences:
* Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
* Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
* Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered with water.
* Only 21% of adults answered all three questions correctly.
