John Berry <berry.joh...@gmail.com> wrote: > “Even amongst educated people the issue is still controversial. Research > has shown over and over that a person's opinion on a scientific issue, > whether it be evolution or climate change or what have you, has more to do > with their political identification than it does with their level of > scientific literacy. This is equally true for those who have the highest > level of scientific literacy in our society as it is for those who have the > lowest” he explained. > Perhaps that is true. I wouldn't know. However, it only applies to politicized subject such as evolution, climate change or cold fusion. When it comes to uncontroversial science, people with more scientific literacy have more solid opinions even about subjects they have not studied. They got a lot more out of the Scientific American than people without scientific literacy. For the same reason a farmer in Michigan will know a lot about how to grow a crop he has never grown, and cannot grow, such as a tropical fruit.
That may sound like a truism but it has consequences you may not have thought about. Members of Congress on science committees often have no scientific background at all -- not even at the high school level. Or if they had any, they have forgotten it. The extent to which they misunderstand science, and the depths of their ignorance, is difficult for a scientifically literate person to grasp. Talking to such people can be a shock. It is like talking to someone from the Middle Ages. They have no clue about things like lightning, buoyancy (why ships made from steel do not sink), weather fronts, the fact that insects do not have lungs, and a thousand other subjects that people like me learn as children. They lack curiosity. They may not even realize that anyone knows or cares anything about insect respiration, or that it might be different from animal respiration. Ignorance gives a person an oversimplified view of nature. It makes people think they know more than they do. The assume the answers must be simple. The more you learn, the more you realize how ignorant you are. You may think you have shared knowledge with other members of society, and a commonly agreed set of facts. That is not the case now and it never was. High school education was more rigorous in the U.S. before 1950, so we get the impression that people were more educated and overall standards were higher. That was not the case. Most people did not finish high school. See: http://www.safeandcivilschools.com/research/graduation_rates.php - Jed
