What are they teaching us?

What the hell are they teaching us? Apparently, Americans are more educated but getting stupider: (from this article)

The survey found that education was the best predictor of who would do well on the questions. “However,” it said, “despite the fact that education levels have risen dramatically over the past 20 years, public knowledge has not increased accordingly.” About 27 percent of Americans are college graduates.

Look at what people couldn’t answer:

Only 69 percent of people in the latest survey could come up with Dick Cheney when asked to name the vice president; in 1989, 74 percent could name Dan Quayle. Fewer could name the governor of their state (66 percent now compared with 74 percent in 1989) and fewer could name the president of Russia (36 percent now compared with 47 percent before).

And you wonder why so many people don’t even believe in evolution! C’mon, the man shot someone in the face. The least you can do is remember his name.

0 thoughts on “What are they teaching us?”

  1. Anirudh

    You may be on to something. 69 percent remembered the chap who shot someone in the face(who did he shoot again?)

    Now I’m tempted to see if there’s a relation with the percentage of remembrances and face shootings. I’d guess it’s an exponential decay function but only one way to be sure.

    Hmm… where did I keep that darned crossbow?