|
NeedToUseYou -> RE: My fellow citizens scare me... (2/23/2009 10:15:54 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Hippiekinkster
"Is it more logical to be a Christian? Is religion the natural choice of a smart person familiar with more of the evidence? Not according to a broad consensus of studies on IQ and religiosity. These studies have consistently found that the lower the IQ score, the more likely a person is to be religious"
http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence%20&%20religion.htm
Even worse,
"Half of all Americans believe they are protected by guardian angels, one-fifth say they've heard God speak to them, one-quarter say they have witnessed miraculous healings, 16 percent say they've received one and 8 percent say they pray in tongues, according to a survey released Thursday by Baylor University."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/19/half-of-americans-believe-in-angels/
And, to top things off:
"Dr. Miller's data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/science/30profile.html?_r=5
Explain to me why Conservatives think cutting funds for education is "cutting out pork"? Oh, wait, they'll gladly fund idiotic pseudo-science like "Intelligent Design" but when it comes to real knowledge, they rant about taxes and Teacher's Unions and anything other than their own anti-knowledge bias, which seems to go hand-in-hand with religious fundamentalism of the Xtian variety.
Unbelievable. Our "Golden Age" of Education came right after Sputnik.
The problem with your reasoning in regards to education, is that all those basic fundamental pieces of knowledge are taught in every school in the US. Those basic pieces of knowledge would be readily collected by anyone interested in educating themselves outside of school as well. You could easily pick up all of the correct answers by watching 1 discovery channel documentary a week, or reading discover magazine every now and then. Those sources aren't exactly the peak of scientific knowledge, however, point is anyone at all interested in learning, would have picked those little bits of knowledge up outside of school even. So, ultimately you can't really blame the education system, and that level of ignorance, as the only cause would be a total lack of interest in learning. So, money, will not fix that.
So, obviously the problem isn't primarily the facilities, or even teachers, the problem it would appear to me would be lack of interest in being educated. Thus dumping money at a kid who has no interest in learning, because he comes from a family of idiots will most likely fail, and we are truly growing to be a nation of people that select and wallow in their own selected ignorance.
While I agree adequately funded schools is a requirement for a public education based system, I don't think most of the problem, outside of horror story cases, is because of funding.
I mean access to information is more available now than any other point in history, realistically, once one learns to read, with the internet you could educate yourself completely if you wanted to.
Overall,my point is that level of ignorance of basic facts taught by the 5-6th grade and readily available, is voluntary. One simply must not pursue learning at any level to remain that ignorant into adulthood.
So, it is ultimately a cultural issue, rather than a funding issue.
|
|
|
|
