Americans don’t accept evolution

Polls for many years have shown that a majority of Americans are at odds with key scientific theory. For example, as CBS poll this month found that 51 percent of respondents believed humans were created in their present form by God. A further 30 percent said their creation was guided by God. Only 15 percent thought humans evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years.

Other polls show that only around a third of American adults accept the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe, even though the concept is virtually uncontested by scientists worldwide.

“When we ask people what they know about science, just under 20 percent turn out to be scientifically literate,” said Jon Miller, director of the centre for biomedical communication at Northwestern University.

He said science and especially mathematics were poorly taught in most US schools, leading both to a shortage of good scientists and general scientific ignorance.

US school students perform relatively poorly in international tests of mathematics and science. For example, in 2003 US students were ranked 24th in an international test that measured the mathematical literacy of 15-year-olds, below many European and Asian countries.

Scientists bemoan the lack of qualified US candidates for postgraduate and doctoral studies at American universities and currently fill around a third of available science and engineering slots with foreign students.

The larger article is very important but I found these statistics frightening.