The Dumb States of America

[Humodour]

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/08/17/1533234/kentucky-lawmakers-shocked-to-find-evolution-in-biology-tests

 

If this keeps up (and let me be clear: it has kept up for the many years now that I've been observing science education policy in the US), it looks like the US will be facing a future (how far away I've no idea) where the "liberal" (I know, I know, this is an evil word in US vernacular) and generally coastal (east-west) areas continue to teach some cutting edge science and output top-notch inventors, engineers and scientists, while the inner areas that are heavily Republican produce higher and higher percentages of graduates that have no understanding of even the most basic concepts of science (because this anti-science push extends to climate science as well, rather than being limited to just biology).

 

Now that's a scenario that is even more alien to me than the current culture wars (which generally seem to involve conservative dullards spreading the notion that gay people eat babies, Muslims are terrorists, and being open-minded is un-American). What would it mean to for the USA to be comprised of states on the outskirts of the country which are liberal democracies, while states on the inside are more like Sharia law governed Arab states?

[Hurlshort]

You are pulling a lot from a small blurb, and it shows a real lack of knowledge about how schools actually work in the US. No matter how stupid the legislators are in a state, the teachers are still holding college degrees. All this means is that teachers have to tread carefully around subject areas like evolution, you aren't going to find any credentialed science teacher in the country simply ignoring it.

 

So relax, kids will continue to get all that close-minded garbage where they always have, in the home.

 

You also don't seem to understand what the Republican party leadership believes. These are not dumb guys. Romney has this to say about evolution and education:

 

 

[Blarghagh]

It's not like the school tests and books are worth anything anymore. Most kids do their studying on wikipedia.

[Gorgon]

I should hope not. Wikipedia is where you find out which books to get.

[Orogun01]

If by that you mean that's where you copy paste your reports, then yeah.

[Hurlshort]

If by that you mean that's where you copy paste your reports, then yeah.

 

I don't think anyone does that anymore, at least successfully. I'm pretty sure every teacher has caught on at this point. We actually take classes on how to teach students to use internet sources properly, how to go deeper than wikipedia, how to sift through all the trash online, etc.

[mkreku]

I once fooled an American guy on a MUD that because I was from Sweden, which is very far north, I would eat a penguin for breakfast the next morning. I have never been able to do that to any other nationality.

 

It says nothing about anything, but I thought it was funny.

[Tale]

Did you convince him that you do this regularly? I mean, as a one off, I can see someone doing it.

[Hurlshort]

So Swedes don't eat penguins for breakfast?

 

 

 

Is it more of a dinner course?

[Gromnir]

some guy mk meets via a mud is evidence o' american stoopidity?

 

...

 

really?

 

*snort*

 

is all kinda best university lists. one such list we sees often is located at following link : http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp

 

the aforementioned list focuses much on research universities, so it is bound to baffle or irritate some folks. nevertheless, is at least a place to start when wondering 'bout the tech acumen o' nations. is many USA flags, no? 54 o' top 100 universities is in USA.

 

now, am gonna admit that we is rather disappointed with public school education in the post nclb era-- well-intentioned legislation largely backfires. we got loads o' folks graduating from public schools that can't write an essay with any skill and thinks ohm's law is probable a tv drama from nbc. am bothered by the failures... but not too bothered.

 

and as for the silly notion that science gets ignored in red states...

 

HA!

 

is amazing what folks outside the usa is willing/wanting to believe. yeah, there is plenty o' evils that exist in this nation (as somebody who grew up at pine ridge, we got first-hand experience o' too many American Tragedies,) but the wacky conclusions people arrive at via internet spawned snippets is baffling. good scientists would be requiring significant empirical evidence before arriving at such far-flung conclusions as the thread originator has, no?

 

HA! Good Fun!

[mkreku]

Did you convince him that you do this regularly? I mean, as a one off, I can see someone doing it.

 

The full story is actually that we were playing together and he asked me where I was from and when I answered Sweden, he asked where that was. I explained to him that it is one of the most northern countries in Europe, further north than Siberia. He was very intrigued by this but I wanted to play so I started answering his question more and more outlandish, he just never caught on. The penguin story came from him asking what we did up there in all the snow and I answered that we hunt for penguins and run from polar bears, "and, in fact, I caught a penguin today that I will have for breakfast tomorrow". I was copy-pasting this whole conversation to my guild I was in at the time.. it was hilarious. I wish I could find the logs.

 

So Swedes don't eat penguins for breakfast?

 

No, they're much faster than they look.. the bastards.

 

some guy mk meets via a mud is evidence o' american stoopidity?

It says nothing about anything, but I thought it was funny.

 

Did I use too big words for you?

 

is not mean anything

*snort*

 

just funny story

HA!

 

Better?

 

is all kinda best university lists. one such list we sees often is located at following link : http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp

 

I don't think anyone is going to argue against the best universities in the world being in the USA. Still, it's easy to argue against that list.

 

One of the best universities in the world lies in Moscow. On that list it is ranked number 74 (80 if you use the 2012 version). 74'th place in the world is not bad.. except they produce a stunning amount of Nobel prize winners and math/physics scientists and professors. So why are they not ranked higher? A simple click reveals why:

 

http://www.shanghair...tate University

 

"Data unavailable" seems to be the most common descriptor on that page. Now click on any American university and compare the tables. Not easy to rank when 90% of the data is missing.

 

Also, this list puts a big emphasis on published articles and cited researchers. Since Russia and the Eastern bloc publishes their findings in other media channels than the western world, and they usually don't bother to translate it to English.. Well, I think you get the point.

[obyknven]

is all kinda best university lists. one such list we sees often is located at following link : http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp

 

Okay.

 

https://www.acmicpc....rld Finals 2012

[Enoch]

http://science.slash...n-biology-tests

Good rule of thumb: When a headline describes somebody as a "lawmaker" or "legislator" or similar title, the person in question is nearly always some unimportant back-bencher with no real influence. If he or she was at all influential or famous, the headline would've said "Speaker of the House" or "Education Committee Chairman" (etc.) or the legislator's actual name.

[Malcador]

Another good rule is to not take Slashdot submissions too seriously.

[obyknven]

Long-Range Ordered Carbon Clusters: A Crystalline Material with Amorphous Building Blocks

Lin Wang, Bingbing Liu, Hui Li, Wenge Yang, Yang Ding, Stanislav V. Sinogeikin, Yue Meng, Zhenxian Liu, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Wendy L. Mao.

http://www.sciencema...96/825.abstract

 

Quantum teleportation and entanglement distribution over 100-kilometre free-space channels

Juan Yin, Ji-Gang Ren, He Lu, Yuan Cao, Hai-Lin Yong, Yu-Ping Wu, Chang Liu, Sheng-Kai Liao, Fei Zhou, Yan Jiang, Xin-Dong Cai, Ping Xu, Ge-Sheng Pan, Jian-Jun Jia, Yong-Mei Huang, Hao Yin, Jian-Yu Wang, Yu-Ao Chen, Cheng-Zhi Peng & Jian-Wei Pan.

http://www.nature.co...ature11332.html

[Rostere]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19284017 - an interesting article about knowledge about wealth distribution. It turns out Americans have a very different view about wealth distribution in the US compared to the facts. It's not strictly American stupidity since they don't compare the US to other nations, but anyway...

[mkreku]

From that article:

 

"The reality is that the bottom two buckets together, the bottom 40% of Americans, own 0.3% of the wealth; 0.3%, almost nothing, whereas the top 20% own about 84% of the wealth."

 

"In fact, when we did this experiment another way and we showed people two distributions of wealth, one based on the wealth distribution in the US and the other based on the wealth distribution that is more equal than Sweden, 92% of Americans picked the improved Swedish distribution."

 

Haha, that is hilarious. 92% of Americans would choose the improved Swedish model if they had a choice, yet on this very board the right wing nuts try to ridicule our socialist system. I find that highly amusing.

[Gfted1]

92% of people want more free stuff? SHOCKING!

[Gorgon]

They would get it if not for the rich paying next to no taxes.

[mkreku]

92% of people want more free stuff? SHOCKING!

 

Look here they come already

 

Don't worry, ignorance is bliss. You will be fine.

[Gfted1]

Look here they come already

 

Don't worry, ignorance is bliss. You will be fine.

 

Of course I will, I support myself. Being surprised people want things for doing nothing is at the same level of being surprised water is wet and that its dark outside when your location on Earth rotates away from the sun.

 

Again kids, its not everyone elses job to raise you. Its your job.

[Hurlshort]

That article doesn't really establish what that 0.3% wealth that the bottom 40% share looks like. These aren't people living on the streets, they are people with food, clothing, shelter, cell phones, cars, TV's, and a bunch of other nice things. So excuse me for not weeping for the inequality of wealth in the US.

 

This is coming from a guy who lost his shirt when the housing bubble burst, by the way.

[Gorgon]

Money is entirely imaginary. Mobs with pitchforks aren't. Even the Ceasars knew enough to make sure all the citizens of voting age were bought off.

[mkreku]

That article doesn't really establish what that 0.3% wealth that the bottom 40% share looks like. These aren't people living on the streets, they are people with food, clothing, shelter, cell phones, cars, TV's, and a bunch of other nice things. So excuse me for not weeping for the inequality of wealth in the US.

 

Wow, you actually believe this, don't you? Ignorance really IS bliss!

 

If I told you that 10% of the population in the US are not even food secure, would you believe me?

[Gorgon]

It's a common misconception that Americans believe their poor are better off than elsewhere, so my American studies professor used to say anyway.