Russian Women Discussion

RWD Discussion Groups => Odds and Ends => Topic started by: DaveNY on May 27, 2018, 10:45:26 AM

Title: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: DaveNY on May 27, 2018, 10:45:26 AM
10 simple questions on science and engineering. None of these questions requires a college degree in science or engineering to understand. My wife and I, both have science degrees, had no problems and got all correct.

How did the USA population do? Surprisingly well. We often hear in the news how stupid the US population is in comparison to Japan, China and India yet on this test we beat these 3 countries, some rather badly. We did lose to Canada, the winner. We also lost to #2 Israel, #3 the EU and #4 South Korea. Finishing fifth of eleven in a general knowledge science and engineering quiz isn't bad especially when you consider we beat China, India and Japan..

http://www.businessinsider.com/science-questions-quiz-public-knowledge-education-2018-5

(http://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5b05c88d1ae6621c008b4957-1536-768.png)

Quote
Every two years, the National Science Foundation is required to tell the president how the US is doing in regard to science and engineering.

"As economies worldwide grow increasingly knowledge-intensive and interdependent, capacity for innovation becomes ever more critical," the NSF says in its latest report, titled
"Science & Engineering Indicators 2018."

The news is OK, but not great. Americans are increasingly interested in environmental issues, the report says, and relative to previous years, they're expressing more concern
about climate change and humanity's role in it. They also trust scientists more than roles in any other institution aside from the military.

But the US lags behind dozens of countries in the rate of awarding bachelor's and advanced degrees in science, technology, math, or engineering.

The American public also isn't doing much better on 10 simple questions the NSF asks to test the public's understanding of science.

Scroll down to see the questions the NSF asked for the latest report, see how many answers you can get right, and then compare how 11 countries who asked the same science questions performed.


Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: krimster2 on May 27, 2018, 11:25:58 AM
simple test...
but in the USA we have school districts where > 90% cannot pass basic reading and math literacy test
so I would question the number for the usa, it seems high to me, what particular geographics/demographics were involved
in some parts of the country, many of our esteemed citizens wouldn't even be capable of reading the test, let alone answering it...

Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: DaveNY on May 27, 2018, 11:42:32 AM
simple test...
but in the USA we have school districts where > 90% cannot pass basic reading and math literacy test
so I would question the number for the usa, it seems high to me, what particular geographics/demographics were involved
in some parts of the country, many of our esteemed citizens wouldn't even be capable of reading the test, let alone answering it...

Agreed there are definitely parts of the US where just reading the quiz would be a problem. Same problem in parts of China, India and Russia also. I really surprised Japan and Switzerland did so bad. Japan has always been shown to do so well in the STEM areas of testing. Switzerland is such a rich country with a well educated population why did they not beat the US? 
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: BillyB on May 27, 2018, 12:08:30 PM
How did the USA population do? Surprisingly well. We often hear in the news how stupid the US population is in comparison to Japan, China and India yet on this test we beat these 3 countries, some rather badly. We did lose to Canada, the winner. We also lost to #2 Israel, #3 the EU and #4 South Korea. Finishing fifth of eleven in a general knowledge science and engineering quiz isn't bad especially when you consider we beat China, India and Japan..


Having high intelligence among citizens is great but education in a country is not as important as a nation's system to allow people to excel. That is where America is by far and away #1.

America needs people will low education to flip burgers at McDonald's and keep menu items at $1 in price. We also need farm labor. We don't need those people to spend 8 years in college wasting time when they could be productive in the work force. Low cost food benefits all in this nation and immigrants help out with that. Our agricultural industry also feeds many other nations for their benefit. We could reduce down to a small agricultural industry like Switzerland and increase the average intelligence level of American citizens but that would be a bad thing.

US citizens and immigrants benefit from the environment America provides for them to excel. We want citizens and immigrants like Einstein to come here and be all they can be.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: SANDRO43 on May 27, 2018, 04:35:30 PM
10 simple questions on science and engineering...My wife and I, both have science degrees, had no problems and got all correct.
So did I - without a science degree - and Italy is not even in the chart :( :D.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: SANDRO43 on May 27, 2018, 04:40:40 PM
America needs people will low education to flip burgers at McDonald's and keep menu items at $1 in price. We also need farm labor.
Yes, re-educate your Blacks to the joy of cotton fields, and keep Mexicans from encroaching on their God-given mission ::).
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: DaveNY on May 27, 2018, 04:53:46 PM
Yes, re-educate your Blacks to the joy of cotton fields, and keep Mexicans from encroaching on their God-given mission ::).

Most of those jobs can already be automated or soon will be. Picking cotton was automated over 50 years ago and as for the jobs that supposedly employ illegals they're rapidly declining.

More and more fast food outlets are using automated kiosks to place orders and take payments. Automated machines are being developed to prepare the food. Give it a decade and Big Macs will be prepared by automation rather than humans.
e
Uber is testing automated cars, as is Google and others. Another decade or two and there go human jobs for taxis, couriers and such. Maybe even jobs for drivers of 18 wheelers. Think how many people that will leave unemployed?
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: ML on May 27, 2018, 04:56:16 PM
I got all correct, but had to give good guess to one question.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: JayH on May 27, 2018, 04:57:13 PM

How did the USA population do? Surprisingly well.

They must have  shown the answers to them prior to test ! :) :welcome:
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: Anotherkiwi on May 27, 2018, 06:43:23 PM
So did I - without a science degree - and Italy is not even in the chart :( :D.

Ditto!  And New Zealand isn't on the chart, either.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: DaveNY on May 27, 2018, 07:11:40 PM
My wife was really surprised by how bad Russia did, 33%. All her friends, male and female, have university degrees. My wife taught high school math and physics and according to her the most difficult questions were at no more than grade 9 or 10 level for Russia science classes.

She was saying that most of the participants for this quiz couldn't have come from large cities with good universities. They must have been from smaller cities and towns outside of Moscow and Spb.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: BillyB on May 27, 2018, 10:13:58 PM
Yes, re-educate your Blacks to the joy of cotton fields, and keep Mexicans from encroaching on their God-given mission ::).

People are free to get educated or forgo education in America. No pressure. There's a purpose and  job for everybody here.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: Boethius on May 27, 2018, 10:34:06 PM
My wife was really surprised by how bad Russia did, 33%. All her friends, male and female, have university degrees. My wife taught high school math and physics and according to her the most difficult questions were at no more than grade 9 or 10 level for Russia science classes.

She was saying that most of the participants for this quiz couldn't have come from large cities with good universities. They must have been from smaller cities and towns outside of Moscow and Spb.

Most of those questions are grade 7 & 8 in the part of Canada where I live.  I think the only one that is not is the evolution question, which is a grade 10 unit.

My husband says your wife likely lived in a bubble, with parents who are "Soviet middle class", and all her friends are educated.  He said he is not surprised by the result, he could ask the same questions in Moscow and would not be surprised to get a 33% response.  He also said "and in this bubble, many are quite ditzy as well". 


This is who conducted the survey in Russia -

http://www.hse.ru/ (http://www.hse.ru/)

I highly doubt those in big cities were not included.
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: DaveNY on May 27, 2018, 11:45:00 PM
Most of those questions are grade 7 & 8 in the part of Canada where I live.  I think the only one that is not is the evolution question, which is a grade 10 unit.

My husband says your wife likely lived in a bubble, with parents who are "Soviet middle class", and all her friends are educated.  He said he is not surprised by the result, he could ask the same questions in Moscow and would not be surprised to get a 33% response.  He also said "and in this bubble, many are quite ditzy as well". 


This is who conducted the survey in Russia -

http://www.hse.ru/ (http://www.hse.ru/)

I highly doubt those in big cities were not included.

There are definitely places in Moscow and Spb where one can find those with little education. Moscow has plenty of residents who are from the countryside, from the stans and the illegals. Among these groups of people I wouldn't be surprised with a result of 33%.

However for those who have completed high school in Moscow I'd find a result of 33% difficult to comprehend. My wife is equally as baffled. According to her anyone who has completed high school in Russia should get at least 80% on the quiz.

Of course I say the same thing for anyone who has completed high school in the US and I know for a fact that there are students who not only don't know what electrons and atoms (#5) are, they couldn't read and understand the questions to begin with.   
Title: Re: We're not as smart as we thougt.
Post by: BillyB on May 28, 2018, 09:02:13 AM
However for those who have completed high school in Moscow I'd find a result of 33% difficult to comprehend. My wife is equally as baffled. According to her anyone who has completed high school in Russia should get at least 80% on the quiz.


It's possible more and more people are seeing Russia doesn't provide an environment that allows them to maximize their talents so why study? How well kids study also depends on how hard parents push. Maybe there's less pushing going on.