PLN 10-2 (20)

While skimming through some interesting posts, one caught my eye that was posted by Dave Warlick titled How Much does this Really Matter? which talks about how many people in the United States don't understand science but how many people believe in pseudoscience (pseudoscience is a theory, methodology, or practice that is considered to be without scientific foundation).

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF, www.nsf.gov/statistics), the average U.S. citizen
understands very little science. For example:
66% do not understand
DNA, “margin of error,” the scientific process, and do not believe in
evolution.
50% do not know how long it takes the earth to go
around the sun, and a quarter does not even know that the earth goes around the
sun.
50% think humans coexisted with dinosaurs and believe antibiotics kill
viruses.

On the other hand, according to the NSF, the general public
believes in a lot of pseudoscience.
88% believe in alternative
medicine.
50% believe in extrasensory perception and faith healing.
40% believe in haunted houses and demonic possession.
33% believes
in lucky numbers, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, and that UFOs are
aliens from space.
25% believes in witches and that we can communicate with
the dead. *

He asks a question at the end that states "Should we be concerned?" I believe we should be concerned because maybe being able to obtain this knowledge isn't a necessity in someones work, but this shows how little education was given to them or how little knowledge matters to them. The only way we will be able to understand our world is by having the knowledge to understand what we already know or think we know. Many things we believe in like ghosts and witches comes from our religion. We might never know if this is true, but to be able to back up your thought, you need to be able to support it with some kind of evidence and knowledge that we already know. In schools like mine, we are taught many subjects not only to figure out what we want to do in our life but also to be able to use some of this knowledge that we accumulated sometimes in our lives. Around the world, people are using the knowledge we know to help improve our lives. You never know when this useful knowledge is going to be needed. Knowledge is power! You can't improve our world without knowing the many important facts science provides for us.