A few weeks ago I highlighted this relevant finding from the massive amount of data contained in Pew's annual State of the Media report. And Chris highlighted the results of this separate survey. The posts grabbed the attention of a reporter for Science and the news nuggets are featured in the latest edition of the magazine with some quick analysis from me.
SCIENCE OFF THE AIRNearly half of Americans cannot name a "role model" scientist, living or dead. And only 11% can come up with the name of a living one, according to a survey released last week by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. And whom do they think of most often? Bill Gates and Al Gore. Each was named by 6% of the sample, on a par with Albert Einstein. Most respondents also reported that citizens' ignorance of science is "a detriment to our nation."
A possible source of the problem emerged from another study released last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. It found that for every 5 hours of U.S. cable television news, only 2 minutes are devoted to science or the environment. By contrast, the same period contains 10 minutes of celebrity news and nearly half an hour on crime.
Given the priorities in their major news outlets, "it's not surprising that in polls, few Americans rank climate change or the environment as a top political priority or even a major national problem," says Matthew Nisbet, a social scientist at American University in Washington, D.C.
Environment
Politics
Comments
This is sad. Most Americans can name a TV evangelist, infomercial salesman, or sports analyst but almost half can't name a scientist. This really shows how uninterested in science Americans have gotten. The same is most likely true with politics. I wonder how many Americans can name a television political pundit but not their local representatives.
Posted by: Aaron | April 1, 2008 12:00 AM
I really don't understand why I should give a shit whether people can name scientists. People can't name the people on the road crews that fix potholes, but they sure as fuck are willing to have tax dollars go to fixing the roads. I am more interested in whether people understand all the shit in their lives that they wouldn't have if it weren't for science, than whether they can name any scientists.
Posted by: PhysioProf | April 1, 2008 2:31 PM
More than a day later, and my comment pointing out that the question was not about living people, or even scientists still hasn't been published. Not a surprise, since a comment I made many months ago never got published.
To recap, in case this one makes it through somehow: The question asked "...who would you say are the science role models for the youth of today in America?" A general category (e.g., teachers), a deceased person (e.g. Einstein), or even a science popularizer (e.g., Bill Nye), seem like perfectly good answers to me.
Posted by: MRW | April 2, 2008 9:10 AM
MRW,
I will check into why your previous comment didn't make it through. There's an automatic moderating function that tags certain words or phrases as junk.
--Matt
Posted by: Matthew C. Nisbet | April 2, 2008 9:18 AM
Don't try too hard. As long as it remains missing, I can pretend that it was an incredibly eloquent statement that I only coarsely summarized.
Posted by: MRW | April 2, 2008 10:46 PM