# Ignorance of the General Public **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437 "2011-12-16T18:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/21 "2011-12-19T11:42:00Z")
This page lists several credible polling sources (Gallup, Pew, Harris) - follow the links to specific polls. [http://science.drvinson.net/polls](http://science.drvinson.net/polls) > [@](#): > > A substantial number of people throughout the world appear to be unable to answer simple, science-related questions. Many did not know the correct answers to several (mostly) true/false questions designed to test their basic knowledge of science. > > The ten assertions below were phrased as questions asked of American adults in 2004. The correct answers follow in parentheses. The percentage of those surveyed who answered correctly follows. > > · Does the Earth go around the Sun or does the Sun go around the Earth? (Earth around Sun) 71.0% > > · The center of the Earth is very hot. (True) 78.0% > > · All radioactivity is man-made (False) 73.0% > > · It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl (True) 62.0% > > · Lasers work by focusing sound waves (False) 42.0% > > · Electrons are smaller than atoms (True) 45.0% > > · Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria (False) 54.0% > > · The universe began with a huge explosion (True) 40.0% > > · The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move in the future (True) 77.0% > > · Human beings as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals (True) 50.0% > > Source: National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 (Arlington: National Science Foundation, 2006). Chapter 7: “Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding,” Figure 7-7, pg. 7-18. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/22 "2011-12-19T11:59:04Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > This page lists several credible polling sources (Gallup, Pew, Harris) - follow the links to specific polls. > > [http://science.drvinson.net/polls](http://science.drvinson.net/polls) The only one there that really upsets me is the one about antibiotics. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/23 "2011-12-19T13:24:48Z")
And I can see that two questions could be taken as faith-based (start of the universe, humans developing) and so would receive “unscientific” responses, no matter how much information the person had received previously. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/24 "2011-12-19T15:22:24Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > English isn’t even the second most commonly spoken native language; Spanish is. True, but English is the most spoken language…just not natively. So it’s easy to see where the error comes from. > [@obbn](#): > > I would have probably guessed that Muslim was the dominating ethnic group in Indonesia, but why would the common person know this? > … The dominating what-now? > [@obbn](#): > > I went to The Gambia once and I am certain that 999 out of 1000 wouldn’t have a clue where The Gambia is located. Why should they? I know where it is. So if we can find one more person who knows without looking, you’ll have to bring that number down. > [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > And I can see that two questions could be taken as faith-based (start of the universe, humans developing) and so would receive “unscientific” responses, no matter how much information the person had received previously. Just to be a prick, I answer that the sun goes around the Earth and that the universe did NOT start with an explosion. For the former, all motion is relative, and there’s nothing wrong with defining the Earth as the origin of a coordinate system. In an empty universe, the Sun goes around the Earth just as much as the Earth goes around the Sun. For the latter, it wasn’t an explosion, but an expansion. ‘Explosion’ makes it seem like matter was flung out into space by some sort of rapid oxidative process. But in reality, space and time itself was created. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/25 "2011-12-19T16:03:52Z")
Regarding geographical ignorance: this is true. The reason? Very few US highschools teach geography anymore, and the world news on US TV is pretty pathetic. I watch the TV Globo News (Brazil), and there is much better coverage of world affairs. I think that this is intentional-the ruling class in the USA likes the fact that the underlings are kept ignorant-it allows them to keep their grip on power. And, despite the trillions blown on education, the results keep getting worse. This is also intentional-the “education” business wants more and more funding-which it justifies by citing the abysmal achievemnt test results. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/26 "2011-12-19T16:30:38Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I just checked out the poll - it was a telephone poll, heavily skewed to landlines, slightly skewed to the south. > > I found no indication that answers such as “1783”, when the treaty was signed, or “England” would be accepted as correct, or at least not included as “Some other date/country”. > > So, I have my doubts about this poll. This is even more frightening. As mentioned in the thread on long distance service, many landline users are older and went to school when they still taught history and geography. I nearly always knew all the answers to the history, geography, and science questions in the original Trivial Pursuit. Now the sports and entertainment baby boomer edition? Don’t ask. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/27 "2011-12-19T21:22:16Z")
Re: The geography study, keep in mind that at the time of the survey, the Iraq war was much more in the news and Indonesia had recently been hit by the biggest tsunami in living memory. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/28 "2011-12-19T21:40:50Z")
No polls, but I would like to share an anecdote. My friend and I were discussing how ill-informed the average person was and he was much more pessimistic than I. To prove the point, he said that we should call his girlfriend - high school graduate, a little college - and ask a not-so-difficult question, but not a complete gimme. I suggested that we ask her to name one of the cities that the US droppped an atomic bmob on in WWII. Her response: Pearl Harbor ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/29 "2011-12-19T22:30:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > So long as the common man isn’t forming opinions about Iraq and Islam and voting for people based on those opinions, I’m totally okay with the common man not being able to locate Iraq on the map or know where Muslims tend to live on the globe. Why would be able to point out a country on a map be a condition of having an opinion. I can know quite a bit about a movement, religion etc.. without knowing precisely where they are located on a globe. Their actions are more important to me than knowing exactly where they are on a map. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/30 "2011-12-19T23:06:43Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > No polls, but I would like to share an anecdote. My friend and I were discussing how ill-informed the average person was and he was much more pessimistic than I. To prove the point, he said that we should call his girlfriend - high school graduate, a little college - and ask a not-so-difficult question, but not a complete gimme. I suggested that we ask her to name one of the cities that the US droppped an atomic bmob on in WWII. > > Her response: > > Pearl Harbor Well, that was pretty easy - everyone knows the Germans did that! ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/31 "2011-12-19T23:38:31Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I know where it is. So if we can find one more person who knows without looking, you’ll have to bring that number down. > > Just to be a prick, I answer that the sun goes around the Earth and that the universe did NOT start with an explosion. For the former, all motion is relative, and there’s nothing wrong with defining the Earth as the origin of a coordinate system. In an empty universe, the Sun goes around the Earth just as much as the Earth goes around the Sun. For the latter, it wasn’t an explosion, but an expansion. ‘Explosion’ makes it seem like matter was flung out into space by some sort of rapid oxidative process. But in reality, space and time itself was created. I could point to The Gambia (it’s easy to remember too, because of it’s inside Senegal)! There we go, 2 out of uhm…a coupla people! I answered the same to the earth-sun question and the “explosion” question. Badly phrased, and sadly seems in support of **emoticorpse’s** point, which is disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/32 "2011-12-19T23:52:31Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > For the former, all motion is relative, and there’s nothing wrong with defining the Earth as the origin of a coordinate system. **In an empty universe,** the Sun goes around the Earth just as much as the Earth goes around the Sun. That’s a pretty long way to move the goalposts, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/33 "2011-12-20T00:58:37Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > Inspired by a post from kanicbird in another thread, where he/she thought it was significant that the general public didn’t know that mercury was dangerous. > > I’m pretty sure I’ve read credible surveys that show disturbingly large percentages of people demonstrate much more blatant ignorance than that. For example, [here](http://aer.aas.org/resource/1/aerscz/v10/i1/p010101_s1) is a survey that shows 78% of college students consider astrology to be scientific. I remember reading other articles that showed amazing ignorance of basic facts, like the earth going around the sun, by the general public. > > But I’m only one man. I would like to ask my fellow Dopers to post links to their favorite example(s) of credible surveys that show amazing ignorance of basic facts — scientific, geographic, historical, etc. Note that I’m not looking for “Jaywalking” type of stuff, although I think some of those are hilarious. I’m talking about scientific surveys. > > Thanks for your participation. Surely you know that ignorance is not at all the same as being uneducated. Take your example of mercury. If you educate that person and inform them of what it can do to their health it is then up to them to avoid mercury because of its dangers. However, if they then ingest it that is ignorance. Same goes with language, jaywalking, and many of the other examples in this thread. In some countries people do cross the street not in the crosswalk and it is normal to them. Then they get to the US and cross that way and it is jaywalking. Tell them where to cross and now they are educated. If, however, they decide to cross in the middle of traffic and get squished… well there’s your ignorance. Point is, people come to the US never having been educated to the laws and ways and standards of this country. That doesn’t make them ignorant. I don’t really know if these polls are any indicators of ignorance… more like lack of education. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/34 "2011-12-20T01:03:12Z")
_Tenderness_. I’m pretty ignorant. That’s all I know. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/35 "2011-12-20T01:53:31Z")
My son spent a year at the University of Malta. Few had clue where it was. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/36 "2011-12-20T02:03:29Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > My son spent a year at the University of Malta. Few had clue where it was. It’s in Malta, right? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/37 "2011-12-20T02:04:32Z")
I am surprised people don’t know mercury is dangerous. I remember as a kid people were _overly_ concerned about mercury, such that they said breaking open a thermometer to play with the mercury was akin to signing your own death certificate. Yes, mercury can be absorbed through the skin, and yes it is toxic. But playing with the contents of one thermometer as a child is, quite frankly, highly innocuous. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/38 "2011-12-20T02:11:18Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > This page lists several credible polling sources (Gallup, Pew, Harris) - follow the links to specific polls. > > [http://science.drvinson.net/polls](http://science.drvinson.net/polls) Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks very much. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/39 "2011-12-20T02:15:05Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I know where it is. So if we can find one more person who knows without looking, you’ll have to bring that number down. Yup, except for a few very small island nations, I can name all the countries on a blank world map, including Beckybeckybeckystanstan. Actually only takes a couple hours to learn, and often comes in handy. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437/40 "2011-12-20T02:15:40Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Surely you know that ignorance is not at all the same as being uneducated. > > Take your example of mercury. If you educate that person and inform them of what it can do to their health it is then up to them to avoid mercury because of its dangers. However, if they then ingest it that is ignorance. > > Same goes with language, jaywalking, and many of the other examples in this thread. In some countries people do cross the street not in the crosswalk and it is normal to them. Then they get to the US and cross that way and it is jaywalking. Tell them where to cross and now they are educated. If, however, they decide to cross in the middle of traffic and get squished… well there’s your ignorance. > > Point is, people come to the US never having been educated to the laws and ways and standards of this country. That doesn’t make them ignorant. I don’t really know if these polls are any indicators of ignorance… more like lack of education. No, that is just wrong. Ignorance is not knowing something, not ignoring it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-of-the-general-public/606437.md?page=3)