I was watching the Daily Show last night and found out that a recent study, detailed in Science magazine, found out that only 40% of Americans accept the theory of evolution as correct. Out of the 34 industrialized countries surveyed, the United States had the lowest percentage of all countries except for Turkey.In other news, a whopping 64% of Americans apparently believe that creationism should be taught in schools alongside evolution.
Here is some other encouraging news about Americans, from this National Geographic survey of Americans aged 18-24:
- 63% cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.
- 88% cannot find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.
- 70% cannot find North Korea on a map of Asia. (hopefully more than that can find it on a map of the Korean peninsula...)
- 30% thought that the U.S.-Mexican border was the most heavily fortified border in the world.
- 50% cannot find New York state on a map of the United States.
- 74% thought that English was the most common native language in the world.
You can take the quiz yourself here. I won't bother mentioning that I scored 20 out of 20 (although I admit I guessed on the immigration question).
6 comments:
You'll notice that Iceland, land of my ancestors, is at the top of the list. Maybe you should move there. To find out what it's like, check out my new blogger friend Jared's blog: http://icelandreport.blogspot.com.
Anyway, I'm a little puzzled by the percentage of Icelanders who don't believe in evolution... nobody there is religious (I don't think) and they have a 99% literacy rate or something.
I'm afraid to take the test you linked to...but I suppose I should. I'll get a 21 out of 20 and then you'll know once and for all that Macalester is awesomer than Carleton.
Boo-ya!
Áfram Ísland!
I had heard this survey as well. Iceland's standing doesn't surprise me in the least. We have a pretty well-educated, progressive, and wealthy society up here.
Now how many Americans can find Iceland on a map of the world? Probably not many. A couple Americans have asked me if Iceland was not, in fact, a State in the Union.
(And once, when stranded at a truck weigh station on the CO-NM border, I heard a couple of employees debating whether Boston was north or south of New Jersey...)
Oh Jared, you're always so enthusiastic about your new home. I love it.
OK, not 20 out of 20. But, what does having to know where the original CSI was filmed have to do with my intelligence?
I think the CSI question was thrown in to show that Americans know a lot more about pop culture than current events and geography.
Hey, there is a broken link in this article, under the anchor text - National Geographic survey
Here is the working link so you can replace it - https://selectra.co.uk/sites/selectra.co.uk/files/pdf/FINALReport2006GeogLitsurvey.pdf
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