{"id":656,"date":"2008-08-14T03:56:42","date_gmt":"2008-08-14T08:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/?p=656"},"modified":"2008-08-14T03:56:42","modified_gmt":"2008-08-14T08:56:42","slug":"do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/archives\/656","title":{"rendered":"Do As I Say, Not As I Do"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/tech\/science\/2008-08-11-science-savvy-americans_N.htm\">Are we science-savvy enough to make informed decisions?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Let me guess:  no.  I mean, really, is this a gimme or what?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Seventy-six percent of Americans say presidential candidates should make improving science education a national priority, according to a national Harris Interactive survey of 1,304 adults in November and December. Results were released this spring.<\/p>\n<p>But only 26% believe that they themselves have a good understanding of science. And 44% couldn&#8217;t identify a single scientist, living or dead, whom they&#8217;d consider a role model for the nation&#8217;s young people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So at least some of those possessing marginal scientific literacy recognize that science education is important.<\/p>\n<p>It boils down to this \u2014 if you can&#8217;t make the informed decision yourself, then you&#8217;re going to fall for whoever can lie most convincingly.  And I think that accomplished liars have an advantage.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a link to a <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.usatoday.com\/sciencefair\/2008\/08\/test-your-scien.html\">quiz<\/a>, which looks like the NSF Science and Engineering Indicators quiz.  Unfortunately, we are told<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>10 or 11 right: You are a geek!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maybe some small part of the problem is that basic science competency is being identified as geeky, though somehow I doubt that <em>USA TODAY<\/em> is the arbiter of cool amongst today&#8217;s teens.<\/p>\n<p>Udate:  commentary at <a href=\"http:\/\/physicsandphysicists.blogspot.com\/2008\/08\/are-americans-science-savvy-enough-to.html\">Physics and Physicists<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are we science-savvy enough to make informed decisions? Let me guess: no. I mean, really, is this a gimme or what? Seventy-six percent of Americans say presidential candidates should make improving science education a national priority, according to a national &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/archives\/656\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,40,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-politics","category-science-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}