Has anyone ever said anything more stupid than this?

[Mass_Liberal]

Poll question: Has anyone ever said anything more stupid than this?

This girl in my earth science class asked, "Aren't the sun and the moon the same thing?" My teacher laughed for a bit. Then he realized she wasn't joking. He proceeded to stare at her for a full minute. The class was in shocked silence for at least that long.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Is her last name Bush?

[ET Awful]

2. I'm sure Bush has said dumber . . . .

I'd just have to track it down.

[baldguy]

23. "I want to be President of the United States,"

The really sad part is 60 million people took him seriously - twice.

[Sequoia]

3. A previously home-schooled blonde girl no doubt

who learned about creationism since God created the lesser sun to rule the day, and the lesser sun to rule the night.

[cruadin]

4. Wait a second---wait a second. Are you saying that...

they're NOT the same thing?





;)

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

5. They used to be

A long time ago. Way long.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I went to high school with a girl like that

We had to do research papers in Biology and she wrote hers on why black people are not as intelligent as whites. Her bibliography consisted of KKK brochures and a book by a scientist in California who really believed this intelligence difference nonsense. He claimed white people had larger brains!! I forget his name, but this was the early 70s and his work was very controversial back then. I believe he has since been discredited. But for years, every time I heard anything about this guy I remembered that stupid girl in high school and how she really believed him.

[Spinzonner]

10. Possibly Shockley

Nobel Prize winner as inventor of the Transistor:

http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/shockley.html

Just goes to show. Stupidity and brilliance can coexist in the same brain.

[rug]

30. That sounds right.

There was another around the same time in Massachusetts, Herrnstein (?) I think

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Isn't this the guy

who got Einstein's brain? And he wanted to clone humans from it?

[PennyK]

42. His name was William Shockley I believe.

[tigereye]

50. sounds like Jensen?

I remember a big debunking of that when I first took psych classes in college in the mid 70s.

[AlCzervik]

7. please tell me you're kidding, please?

[Mass_Liberal]

12. ...

Fraid not.

[pres2032]

8. "If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."

That is the dumbest thing ever spoken.

[Mass_Liberal]

11. ?

What is that in reference to?

[baldguy]

24. "Don't think about that sentance for too long..."

"...or blood will come spurting out of your ears."

Lewis Black

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. That's the first thing I thought of, too!

[pres2032]

35. that's when the left side of the brain

looks at the right side and says, "it's dark in here...and we may die."

[JohnKleeb]

9. oh man, I oont think so

[ikojo]

13. I thought Jenna had already graduated college

What is she doing in your high school class?

[Thor_MN]

27. Teaching it....

[Lenape85]

14. And this happened in a Massachusetts?????????????

[WindRavenX]

16. ohh ouch

That hurt to read. Is this really the state of science in our schools? x( x(

[Shopaholic]

18. Years ago a cheerleader asked what day of the year Christmas

was on that year. We told her Friday. She said, --no, not the day of the week--the DATE (like we were the stupid ones). Did I mention she was a cheerleader?:eyes:

[ContraBass Black]

25. In the third grade, I once asked the date of Haloween.

[Xipe Totec]

17. Context?

The sun and moon are both celestial objects. They are both made of matter. They both influence the tides. In that context they are the same.

The sun is a gigantic ball of mostly ionized hydrogen. The moon is solid rock. The sun is hundreds of thousands of times larger than the moon. The sun generates light, the moon reflects it. In that context they are different

[Mass_Liberal]

22. I'm fairly sure

that she meant that they are the same body of mass.

[rug]

32. Boy, are you a killjoy

[Xipe Totec]

37. LOL!

Thanks :hi:

[Carni]

19. Nope! Most idiotic thing ever said = "Bush is a good President AND....

he's leading the nation in the right direction"

Hands down...the dumbest idea/thought/statement in the universe!

[rucky]

36. Was that a Dianne Feinstein quote from today? n/t

[OhioBlue]

20. I had to argue with 3 friends and finally show them a pic

of the United Kingdom before they believed me that it was surrounded by water. One friend wanted to drive from France to Germany to England. I asked how she was going to drive to England when it was an island (I know it may not be the correct term, however...) They seriously thought it was in Continental Europe right beside France. ALL THREE!!!!!

[ContraBass Black]

26. Maybe she was going to take her car through the chunnel.

[kick-ass-bob]

48. Think she wonders why Hitler didn't just drive his tanks there

instead of bombing England?

You should've mentioned that...
:)

[OhioBlue]

57. I did mention D-Day

and asked them if they remembered the footage/movies showing all the troops and artillery being moved into France via water craft - their response was "yeah - cause they went for the shore" - sigh. They're sweet people, all in their early 20's - just made me sad that they didn't know where England was.

[TrogL]

54. Apparently there's a tunnel

[OhioBlue]

56. I did see something on PBS or History Channel

about drilling for a tunnel - I'll admit, I'm not worldly enough to know if it is operational. The point being that all three thought England was part of Continental Europe - that it shared a border with France.

[HEyHEY]

21. A girl in my highschool once asked

"Is china on earth?"

[Guaranteed]

45. ????? LOL nt

[Left Is Write]

28. She's been taking lessons from Junior, hasn't she?

I'd like to believe you're kidding, but I have an idea you are dead serious.

[Thor_MN]

29. My sister asked me if we fought Germany or Japan in WWII

She was a senior in High School at the time.

[serryjw]

31. What F*CKEN grade are you in?

Did she vote for Bushit?

[Flying Dream Blues]

34. Well, one day at lunch a 17 yr. old fellow student asked...

"What do they put in milk?" Silence, dumbfounded stares ensue. "You know, how do they make it?" Maybe it's just me, but I thought that was pretty dumb.

Edit to add: this was about 30 years ago...so you can't blame it on MTV.

[Guaranteed]

43. LOL I think some people just need to get out more. nt

[Ellen Forradalom]

38. Thanks for reminding me

that all those trips to the museums with my five-year-old son are not a waste of time.

[tsakshaug]

39. Earth Science

Is one of the harder science to teach because of the large number of misconceptions. I had more bazaar questions teaching this than chem or physics. One kid thought that on the equator it alternated day and night every 15 degrees of longitude. Another figured if it was warmer when you head south, the south pole must be real warm.
It is amazing how many people in the real world cannot explain how we get seasons.
Dinosaurs were killed off by humans..lots of fundie stuff to dispel.
only thing that is similar in physics is that heaver things fall faster than light things (disregard air resistance)

[Guaranteed]

44. Lol yeah, we killed 'em off, with machine guns. nt

[Aiptasia]

40. read some employment applications sometimes...

if you want a good laugh. We got one in at Barnes and Bobo that said, "Desired Salary? (in $K):"

The response was, "What does 'K' mean?"

[lpbk2713]

41. Only one of the many priceless gems.....

This is actually still on file at whitehouse.gov with all the other press releases....

"Remarks by the President at the Signing of H.R. 4613, the Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005 Room 350, Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building"

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." .... GWB 08-05-04

[tjwash]

46. Does she think Chicken of the Sea is made with chicken as well?

nt

[BiggJawn]

47. OBVIOUSLY Home-Schooled...With "Creation Science"...

And "Intelligent Design"...

"Cold-hearted Orb,
who rules the Night.
removes the colours from my Sight...."

[Strawman]

49. Worse than a college geography class I took once

Mostly full of people going for teacher certification. Several people in the class could not locate Canada on a map during a quiz the teacher gave at the beginning of the class to "see where everyone was." I live in Detroit. Canada is less than a 30 minute drive from where I took this class.

[DelawareValleyDem]

51. Daily. Have you read the text of Bush's speeches?

[naturalselection]

52. When I taught high school

I had a student seriously think that jackalopes were real. I couldn't hold back and the other students couldn't either. I will never forget it.

[psychopomp]

53. Yes, they have

"But, I love you."
"What, this knife?"
"Can I get paid for that?"


You get the idea. Context is everything.

[denverbill]

55. "Quit talking to me. I'm trying to walk."

From a young lady at a baseball game who apparently was having trouble listening to her friend as she walked around through a crowd of people.

[skygazer]

58. I've had several people ask me what state Vermont is in

I've also been asked at work how many eggs are in a dozen. :wtf:

[NoPasaran]

59. A few years ago

I had a crew wiring up a studio in Baton Rouge. One of the guys refused to believe that we were on the eastern bank of the Mississippi and argued vehemently until I finally showed him on a map. Remember that long bridge you drove across coming into town? What did you think you were crossing, Einstein?

Needless to say, he grew up in Louisiana.

[Xithras]

60. Not stupid, uneducated. The association is actually easy to make.

I once heard the same thing from one of the seven year olds in my sons cub scout den. From his perspective, when the sun was bright it was daytime, and when it got dimmer it was nighttime. Nobody had ever told him any different, so that's the logical conclusion that his mind had drawn.

That night, I pulled out my model solar system and gave all of the boys a lesson in basic astronomy. They LOVED it, and in less than half an hour they all knew the basics of suns, planets, moons, and gravity. I laughed when I first read your post, but then I wondered "How long would that little boy have gone on believing that if I hadn't corrected him?"

We know nothing until someone teaches it to us. As a teacher myself, I can say that your teacher was totally out of line laughing at her in front of the class. He should have realized how that association was made and gently corrected her, or should have done what I did and turned it into another educational opportunity.

[barb162]

61. makes me wonder why she still isn't in the first grade