American schools have failed: 1 In 4 Americans Thinks The Sun Goes Around The Earth, Survey Says

How do school officials expect students to understand science when they barely understand that the earth is not flat?

Is the average American teacher subpar? Yes.

Obviously, the concept of the earth orbiting the sun is one that SHOULD BE taught with a living, moving demonstration with objects such as a basketball for Jupiter, a marble for the earth, etc.. The sun would ideally be eight feet in diameter, but balls that size are hard to come by. I myself used something smaller for the three-dimensional demonstration, and then I put up a bulletin board with part of a yellow butcher paper sun (with butcher paper flames). Also, the rotation of the earth on its axis should be taught by letting kids see (or, better yet, carry!) a globe that is turned slowly as it moves around the "sun" (which should be the biggest, roundest, most orange object the teacher can come up with).

What excuse is there for the legions of teachers who don't bother to make sure that their students understand these concepts? I am frequently appalled by the mental laziness of teachers.

As a teacher I was amazed at the percentage of my fellow teachers who would stand up in front of the class and recite a fact, and then think that their job was done regarding that fact.

Parents: most of your kids are receiving inadequate instruction in basic concepts. I urge you to support Common Core, and to hold teachers accountable for learning how to teach it. DON'T FALL FOR ALL THE WHINING THAT TEACHERS ARE DOING. They are college graduates. They should be able to figure out how to teach basic concepts.

See all posts re Common Core.
See all posts re lazy teachers.

1 In 4 Americans Thinks The Sun Goes Around The Earth, Survey Says
by Scott Neumann
NPR
February 14, 2014

A quarter of Americans surveyed could not correctly answer that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, according to a report out Friday from the National Science Foundation.

The survey of 2,200 people in the United States was conducted by the NSF in 2012 and released on Friday at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

To the question "Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth," 26 percent of those surveyed answered incorrectly.

In the same survey, just 39 percent answered correctly (true) that "The universe began with a huge explosion" and only 48 percent said "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."

Just over half understood that antibiotics are not effective against viruses.

As alarming as some of those deficits in science knowledge might appear, Americans fared better on several of the questions than similar, but older surveys of their Chinese and European counterparts.

Only 66 percent of people in a 2005 European Union poll answered the basic astronomy answer correctly. However, both China and the EU fared significantly better (66 percent and 70 percent, respectively) on the question about human evolution.

In a survey compiled by the National Opinion Research Center from various sources, Americans seemed to generally support science research and expressed the greatest interest in new medical discoveries and local school issues related to science. They were least interested in space exploration, agricultural developments and international and foreign policy issues related to science

Superintendent Amalia Cudeiro bans Obama speech from Bellevue schools

San Diego Unified School District allowed teachers and parents to decide for themselves whether they wanted students to see President Obama's speech to America's school children on September 8, 2009. La Mesa/Spring Valley school district outright banned the viewing of the speech, but that's no surprise, given that Rick Winet and friends have a majority on the board.

Up in Washington, Amalia Cudeiro started out her tenure at Bellevue School District by going on a "listening" campaign. But she doesn't think students should be allowed to listen to the President of the United States. No, that's not necessarily true. I'll bet she would have let the kids listen to George W. Bush or George H.W. Bush (the latter did address the nation's students during his term).


Politics Bellevue School District: We Didn't Ban Obama's Speech Because We're Right-Wing, Teabagging, Evangelical Racists
We Did It Because We Did Zero Research and We're Beholden to Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories
Posted by Dominic Holden
September 8, 2009

...Bellevue School District won't allow its students to watch the president's national address to students this morning.

The district's superintendent, Amalia Cudeiro, decided to ban—or at least suspend—classrooms from airing Obama's speech last Friday.

She posted a notice on the district's website, stating that "the tape will be made available to any teacher who wants to use it in a balanced discussion, so long as it fits within the education objectives of the class." And she sent district staff a message saying that, when she made the decision, "none of us had seen the script of the speech and we received multiple contacts from parents and community members who were concerned that this was going to be a political speech rather than just a motivational one."

But school district spokeswoman Ann Oxrieder says there was no evidence that the speech would contain inappropriate content.

Despite the uproar stoked by the radical right, other local school districts didn't block the speech, instead choosing to let parents or students opt out.

Was the Bellevue district concerned that the objections were based on rumors and speculation—and that there was no indication the speech would contain the socialist "indoctrination" messages that Glenn Beck and other right-wing pundits warned it would?

"At that time nobody had time to research," says Oxrieder. "We just knew that people were saying it was going to be a political message. We didn’t know where it was coming from. It was coming from our families."

Oxrieder doesn't know if the school district aired similar addresses to students by former presidents George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan.

"I don’t think there is any reason to worry because we have read the script now," Oxrieder says. Of course, they're still not airing the speech.

Keeping the riff raff out of the library in Aliso Viejo

I like to drive, so I've taken advantage of all the opportunities that have come my way to drive the length of California and Oregon. (I plan to set out eastward as soon as possible.) I've stopped in libraries in small and large towns in both states, and always was given an opportunity to use a computer.

Until today. I came to Aliso Viejo library, and asked to use a computer.

"Sure," the librarian said. "Right over there."

That was easy, I thought. Usually you have sign something. So I sat down and was faced with a computer screen that asked for my library card number. I looked for the "guest" option, but there wasn't any.

"Do you have to have a library card to use the computer?" I asked the librarian.

She was a real sweet-looking young woman, pretty, with a neat brown pageboy haircut. She smiled at me. "Yes," she said, but all you need is photo ID and proof of address to get one."

I don't have proof of address because I live in San Diego. "You don't allow people without library cards to use the computers?" I asked.

"No," she said.

I was appalled. What's going on in this place?

I had already begun to suspect that Aliso Viejo is hostile to people who don't live here. I learned, when I was staying at an acquaintance's home, that they tow cars at night even though the cars are parked in perfectly legal places. I guess they figure that most people who pay to get their cars out of impound will then go home and never come back. I, however, came back, and filed a petition to get a refund for my impound fees. I took photos of my parking space, proving that it was legal, and asked that the Sheriff of Orange County provide the video taken by the deputy who towed my car. I got a refund a few days later.

I'll bet Aliso Viejo gets some services and perhaps funds from Orange County and California and the federal government--so why do they think they can act like the whole town is private property?

I asked the librarian, "May I speak to the manager of the library?"

The librarian paused. Finally she said, "You can go over to the information desk and get a temporary computer pass."

The lady at the information desk got me set up at a computer in no time flat. I asked her, "Why did the librarian lie to me? I had to ask to see the manager before I found out that guests can use the computers."

She said, "We do try to discourage people who don't have library cards."

"You sure do," I said.