Despair for the human race

[DrLove42]

They just read out some survey results on the radio.

Anational survey of school kids (aged 5 to 10)

8% think Tulisa from nDubz invented Penecillin
6% think Stephen Hawkin is a hairdresser
25% dont know Newton discovered gravity
25% thought Boris Johnson was a pop star
20% thought Einstein had been on Britains got Talent recently

But 80% knew that Mark Zuckerberg invented facebook

[Wolfshade]

This would have been better if there was at least one apostrophe in that ;)

While it is distrubing let us not forget that these are 5-10 year olds.
What penecillin is, how it works and who invented it is probably not taught nor within their grasp. Most of them are probably just have calpol if they feel ill without any thought to what the active ingredients are.
Similiarly with most of these, ok they don't know BoJo but then could you name the mayor of another city? I've met three and can't remember their names.
Arguably James Maxwell's work is more important to Einstein and yet even fewer people know who he was.

We live in a society that laudes celebritard over everything else. Where recognition goes to the enterainer not necessarily the person who has the greatest contribution to a specific field.
That's how come Martin Rees isn't lecturing to 100,000 packed out stadia but generic manufacture band are.

[Psychosplodge]

It's not really surprising. It wouldn't surprise me if you raised the age groups, but I Wolfie's right on the mayor thing.

[Wildeybeast]

This really isn't surprising at all. Most kids that age no and care very little about anything beyond their immediate world. The challenge is making sure they aren't like that when they hit 18.

[Wolfshade]

This really isn't surprising at all. Most kids that age no and care very little about anything beyond their immediate world. The challenge is making sure they aren't like that when they hit 18.
It is because of this that I think maybe national service isn't a bad thing, most former army memebrs seem to have self respect and respect for others...

[DarkLink]

While it is distrubing let us not forget that these are 5-10 year olds.
What penecillin is, how it works and who invented it is probably not taught nor within their grasp. Most of them are probably just have calpol if they feel ill without any thought to what the active ingredients are.

Yeah, I don't know why anyone's surprised. They probably barely know what aspirin is, let alone penicillin. They're probably lucky to have ever heard Newton or Einsteins name in anything more than passing, and it probably wasn't part of a conversation relevant to whatever they were doing.

[Wolfshade]

A lot is reliant on the parenting and the childs natural inclinations. As a child I'd rather watch Open University programming than cartoons. My father often recounts that the one day he came home from work and I gave him a 15 minute speil of how blast furnaces work, something I have no recollection of.
There is a movement within education in this country to discuss the implications rather than being taught facts. While I agree critical reasoning is important and the ability to debate is similarly so, you still need to have knowledge.
But then arguably, from my academia what do I use regularly?

[Psychosplodge]

My father often recounts that the one day he came home from work and I gave him a 15 minute speil of how blast furnaces work, something I have no recollection of.

Ah you see if I'd have done that, I'd have probably been corrected on any points I got wrong...

[Wolfshade]

Is this where you tell me you are from a family of cutlers?

[Psychosplodge]

There's certainly some in there. Though the heavy steel works are in there too.

[Wolfshade]

Cool, I thought that it was one of these stereotypes that everyone's dad in sheffield works with steel, but all the Sheffieldians I know that's what there fathers do/did

[Psychosplodge]

lol, well my Dad and Grandad did , but not since before I was born. And I think my nan and at least two great-nans worked in cutlery production...

[Wildeybeast]

It is because of this that I think maybe national service isn't a bad thing, most former army memebrs seem to have self respect and respect for others...

There are plenty of ways to instil self respect and respect for others without sending them to get bits of their body blown off by IED's in some desert on the other side of the world. I'm not sure what that would teach them.

[Wolfshade]

There are plenty of ways to instil self respect and respect for others without sending them to get bits of their body blown off by IED's in some desert on the other side of the world. I'm not sure what that would teach them.

Not necessarily seeing front line action c.f. Switzerland

[Wildeybeast]

That's only because Switzerland doesn't have an army. What's the point in national service in this country if you aren't sending them to fight? If we are saying the army are the only ones capable of raising children properly you might as well just go down the route of replacing teachers with soldiers like some idiot politician suggested.

[Psychosplodge]

I don't knoe I can think of some former class-"mates" that would have achieved far more by walking at the front and finding an IED than anything else they'll ever do.

[Wolfshade]

You aren't necessarily sending them to fight. Perhaps more in line with the territorial army did, support logistics that sort of stuff.
I'm certainly not saying that the army are the only ones capable of raising children properly or at all. What I am saying is that there seems to be a significant proportion of children/young adults that have little respect for other members of society or themselves and that a way to instill such respect/self discipline could be through a military style experiance/service.
The idea of troops being teachers is perhaps not as silly as it sounds if (and only if) they have the relevant training and qualifications, after all there is nothing stopping me from leaving my job and becoming a science/maths teacher.
Other suggestions could include that prospective parents require a license showing that they have requiste skills to have children and bring them up.
All children a brought up in boarding schools away from parental influence for a truely egalitarian society.
But such ideas punish those who are capable parents and are beyond the pale for most people

[Psychosplodge]

I think licenced reproduction sounds good. Develop a male pill so both parties can take equal responsibility.

[Wildeybeast]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA