Scientifically Illiterate and Innumerate

The following article by Robert Bryce examines the question: why are Americans so easily swayed by politicians and others when it comes to energy matters?

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=2210

The answer to this question is unsettling:

• A 2007 study by Michigan State University determined that just 28 percent of American adults could be considered scientifically literate.
  
• Indeed, while most moderately cultured people will be familiar with the Bard’s A Comedy of Errors or The Merchant of Venice, the laws of thermodynamics -- the rules that ruthlessly police the world of energy -- are considered by most people to be the domain of nerds and wonks. Thus, the first law of thermodynamics: energy is neither created nor destroyed; and the second law: energy tends to become more random and less available -- are relegated to the realm of too much information. For most people, basic physics is seen as nerdy, beyond their ken, too troublesome to learn.

We are quickly losing the ability to understand the physical world around us along with the technology that we employ each day to function in our modern society. Science and math are the pathways to future advancement. We must encourage our young students to study these fundamental fields.