Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From NSF Report

[n2doc]

by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee on April 8, 2010 4:16 PM

In an unusual last-minute edit that has drawn flak from the White House and science educators, a federal advisory committee omitted data on Americans' knowledge of evolution and the big bang from a key report. The data shows that Americans are far less likely than the rest of the world to accept that humans evolved from earlier species and that the universe began with a big bang.

They're not surprising findings, but the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF), says it chose to leave the section out of the 2010 edition of the biennial Science and Engineering Indicators because the survey questions used to measure knowledge of the two topics force respondents to choose between factual knowledge and religious beliefs.

"Discussing American science literacy without mentioning evolution is intellectual malpractice" that "downplays the controversy" over teaching evolution in schools, says Joshua Rosenau of the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit that has fought to keep creationism out of the science classroom. The story appears in this week's issue of Science.

Board members say the decision to drop the text was driven by a desire for scientific accuracy. The survey questions that NSF has used for 25 years to measure knowledge of evolution and the big bang were "flawed indicators of scientific knowledge because responses conflated knowledge and beliefs," says Louis Lanzerotti, an astrophysicist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who chairs NSB's Science and Engineering Indicators Committee.

The explanation doesn't appear to have soothed White House officials, who say that the edit—made after the White House had reviewed a draft—left them surprised and dismayed. "The Administration counts on the National Science Board to provide the fairest and most complete reporting of the facts they track," says Rick Weiss, a spokesperson and analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

more

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/04/evolution-big-bang-polls-omitted.html

[Fumesucker]

1. The data shows that Americans are far less educated than the rest of the world..

That's basically what this survey shows.

[joeybee12]

3. Scary, isn't it? n/t

[Gman2]

5. No it doesnt. It says we are choosing to believe american exceptionalism

Just like every empire in history. We use heroes, and Gods, to justify our shining goodness. And truth, justice and the american way. Those that dont believe in science, think God made america, and what happens to it is of God. And now that america is failing, they double down, as they are questioning the existence of God, cuz our beliefs are false. It is Romulus and Remus all over again. And we are just as ignorant as any peoples in history. Stupid humans.

[Fumesucker]

8. But we are basically the only empire left..

And we are less educated than the rest of the developed world.

[Gman2]

10. We have often been less educated than others, but more brash.

The very raising of Euros is far different. They specialize at an earlyt age. They are far more invested in their careers. They almost all intern. And Euros dont allw family ties, or such to choose who is best suited to college. We are fucked up. And our disrespect for national interest, where industrial capacity is concerned, will likely find us having only a nuclear option if we are truly threatened.

[Ilsa]

2. Thank you very much for this article.

It looks like we are behind the rest of the industrialized world on keeping Science education separate from religious beliefs. I'm disgusted with this mess.

Stephen Hawking was recently in my state (Texas) for the dedication of an auditorium named for him at the Physics and Astronomy Dept at Texas A&M and to deliver a speech. It pains me to consider that he, for example, could know that there are so many people here would convolute even the most fundamental scientific knowledge with religious beliefs.

I hope some of the privately funded science education initiatives, like the advertised by EXXON and funded by golfer Phil Mickelson for training teachers stay on the side of science, not religious indoctrination masquerading as science.

[RainDog]

4. The report shows the religious right's influence in America is harmful.

THAT'S what they're really hiding... that America is harmed by coddling literalist assholes, by GIVING THEM RECOGNITION, by pretending there is ANYthing good that can come from treating them as anything other than idiots.

and Mike Huckabee wants to be idiot in chief. and Sarah Palin wants to be idiot in chief.

and Fox News is a corrosive element in America society because it provides a platform for this stupidity.

Teens who deny evolution - should they be able to graduate from high school? Isn't that another example of failing up?

[Gman2]

6. Further, it is a way for them to cast us as evil, in both realms.

We dont believe God made and protects America special, and we dont believe in the inferent Godliness of our country. And they beat us over the head with it. What a perfect weapon. We surely wont denounce science.

[RainDog]

7. what they object to is thought and analysis and a belief in human ability to solve problems

which, coincidentally, is the entire philosophy underlying democracy.

[JBoy]

9. I question anyone who claims scientific literacy

while at the same time allowing religious doctrine to trump their view of selected aspects of accepted science.

If they're OK with the massive cognitive dissonance that would result from that, I quite frankly couldn't trust their judgment.

[RainDog]

12. exactly n/t

[RagAss]

11. Let's boil this down shall we.....

Our children and grandchildren are victims...soon to be third world slaves to more educated nations.

And that is on us...that is what we did to them, by sitting back and letting these fucktard fundies have a voice.

Fuck Us !!!!