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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > April > 24
Monday, April 24, 2006
Americans not deep thinkers?
Probably my favorite non-education blog is SciGuy written by Eric Berger, a really bright science writer at the Houston Chronicle. Eric is really well read and always finds interesting new studies, reports and surveys that say something important about Americans.
Last week, he spotted two fascinating education-related tidbits.
First, Eric notes a survey that says a majority of Americans are not “intellectually curious” about important issues like politics, science and the arts. Just 40 percent of respondents said they kept up with these matters regularly by reading about them or following them in other media.
Eric speculates that Americans are perhaps too busy to pay attention. But if the survey is a true reflection of American attitudes, this also indicates a failure of education. Why are young American learners not inspired by history, democracy and art? It always makes me cringe to hear young people say how much they detest taking history, for instance. If this feeling is widespread, it suggests we are doing something wrong when we teach kids these subjects which should be exciting and inspiring.
Also, check out Eric’s post about another study that shows a direct link between how much television kids watch and how much they eat. The more they watch, the more they eat. One more reason to shut of TV and send the kids outside to play.
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