Ellis,
I really wonder about these surveys. I'd sure like to know the exact question. Sadly, much of the general population has a very poor working knowledge of history or even a timeline that places events in correct order. I've observed a common paradigm in people who don't highly value education. They think history started back in the early 18- or 1900's. Anything before that, was thousands or millions of years ago ("back in the Flintstone age"). They often don't distinguish between 'thousands' or 'millions' and even 'billions' of years ago.
My wife and I call these people
Jay-walkers (after the Jay Leno bit where he asks questions of people on the street). He gets answers such as, 'Jesus was born in 1835,' or 'Jesus was born 50 million years ago. The same answers come for questions about the Civil War, the Roman Empire, or George Washington.
I find that if you take enough time, and ask the right questions, sometimes you can get a more reasonable response. Still not very encouraging....
I just saw one of those "50% surveys" last night (video of evolution lecture), I'll see if there's a reference.
=
"Do you suppose they might be concerned about the potential of unreason to undermine American civilization?" -redewenur
I sure hope they're concerned, I know I am!
Rede, that second link was scary.
It was so logical that it almost had me converted!Those other teachers need to give the kids better debating/logic skills. More on that link later, maybe.
~SA
