The current study also analyzed the results from a 10-country survey in which adults were tested with 10 true or false statements about basic concepts from genetics. One of the statements was "All plants and animals have DNA." Americans had a median score of 4. (The correct answer is "yes.")
They state that Americans have a median score of 4 as if that statistic by itself has some meaning. Their implication is that Americans doubt evolution because Americans don't know as much about genetics as non-Americans. However, they failed to state the median score of any non-Americans. What was the median score of those from other countries? I suspect that they didn't give this statistic because this statistic wouldn't support their opinion. If the median score for other countries was also 4 or near 4, then ignorance of genetics is not the explanation for Americans' skepticism about evolution. I also noted that they didn't try to compare the median score of Americans who don't believe in evolution with the median score of Americans who do believe in evolution. Again, if the evolutionists generally have a much higher score, they would have some support for their smear that only people who are ignorant of biology are skeptical of evolution.
I'm also curious why they used median scores and not average scores. I'd like to see the distribution of scores. I suspect that they'd like us to believe that scores were a normal distribution around that median. I also suspect that the real scores were much more scattered.
Science alone is not enough
But the problem is more than one of education—it goes deeper, and is a function of our country's culture and history, said study co-author Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in California.
“The rejection of evolution is not something that will be solved by throwing science at it,” Scott said in a telephone interview.
In other words, Americans don't doubt evolution because we lack knowledge of science. This guy is admitting that the problem isn't ignorance of biology. Instead, he's just upset because educated people believe something different from what he believes.
The article makes clear that there are fanatics on both sides of the issue. In this article, most of the attention is given to the pro-evolution fanatics and advancing their point of view. Personally, I have no use for the fanatics on either side of the issue. Evolution is one of the least likely areas of research to produce anything useful. People care about evolution because they are asking science to tell them who they are. I think science is a poor tool for telling me who I am.
Bill
Interesting comments. Thanks for sharing. I can agree with much of what you have said.