Long post. I bring it to illustrate how a science education would change the tone of American politics. This is excerpted from a book I am working on.

Before we go further, we have to clarify for the purposes of our discussion what we mean by science and what approach to faith we will take. Both science and theology have many terms, that when used, mean very specific and carefully defined ideas. Precise language is essential because without it, one can quickly lose the point, or be led to understand something completely different than what is being said. Unfortunately, everyday communication is rarely so technical. Much unnecessary conflict between scientists and believers comes from the misuse of technical words by confabulating them with their everyday meanings. Consider the following (painfully inadequate to a scientist) definition provided by a popular dictionary.

Science is, according to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, “knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world.”

So science does not address specific truths and specific laws as well?
What is this scientific method anyway? Worst of all, is the “especially as obtained by the scientific method” part because this implies there is at least
some science that was not obtained and tested through the scientific method. I don’t recommend suggesting this definition to a scientist any more than I would recommend suggesting that some pork is kosher to a rabbi.

Definition: Science means the body of knowledge about, and consistent models of, natural phenomena as only obtained and rigorously tested through the scientific method, or the act of obtaining such knowledge or creating such models through the scientific method.

This immediately implies that something which is outside of the scientific method is automatically neither science nor scientific. Now, “not scientific” does not necessarily mean bad, wrong, useless or untrue. For instance, the notion that one should treat animals compassionately has nothing to do with the definition of science, but has everything to do with ethics. Even though Shakespeare’s sonnets are not taught in Physics 101, they do beautifully express how some people feel about their spouses. On the other hand, “not scientific” means just that, and it can cut two ways. If an idea can not be approached by the scientific method, then it can never be either supported or denied by science