I recently read that The
National Science Foundation had done a study which found that 1 in 4 Americans
did not know that the Earth revolves around the sun! Instead they thought that
the opposite was true and that the sun revolves around the Earth. I admit, it was a little shocking at
first. But after I had allowed enough
time to pass, I was finally able to somewhat come to terms with this oddly
alarming little “factoid”. OK, so maybe
it was really the half bottle of red wine that allowed this information to go
down a little easier. But whatever the
case, I knew that this was something that I wasn’t going to simply ignore. How could I?
The gauntlet had been thrown down at my feet. I knew I now had a new challenge in my life
that wasn’t related to farming oranges.
A secret mission (if you will), to make sure that everyone I know wasn’t
a part of this 25% group, who didn’t know what the rest of us did about that
whole “Earth-sun relationship”.
Like you, I have seen the
“reporter on the street” type segment on the late night talk shows, where the
reporter has a picture of someone, for example, The Vice President of the
United States, and shows it to people walking by and asks them to identify the
face. The big laughs of course come when
the person on the street either misidentifies the person on the picture or has
no clue who it is at all! Before, I would simply just shake my head and
say…”wow, that’s pretty sad.” I also used to just make myself believe that
these people just weren’t interested in things they probably should…like who
the top people are that are running this country. But now with this whole “1 in 4 people”
statistic, I can no longer just “let it go”.
I believe that for us to survive as a species, we have to at least have
a few basic principles about the world around us be understood by everyone (or at least more than 75%) in
this “classroom of life”. I know some
of you might just be thinking that this is rather silly to rant or even blog
about, but in all seriousness, we need to start somewhere with a “back to
basics” approach. I am almost afraid of
what the statistics would be if The National Science Foundation were to ask
people what direction the sun rises and sets.
And NO, pointing in the general direction with your finger does not
qualify as a legit answer. I guess the
part that bothers me the most, is that these are not “Jeopardy level” questions
we’re dealing with, but instead basic information that was known to people for
hundreds, if not thousands of years (depending on who you believe had the
knowledge first), without the benefit of today’s technology and education. I guess my hope was that even though we are
living in 2014, and we still don’t have the flying cars that the cartoons of my
childhood promised we would have by now, that at least all of us would be smart
enough to "outwit", I don’t know... a
caveman perhaps? Or maybe even someone living in the early 1500’s, before
Copernicus revived the idea of the Earth revolving around the sun?
Well, for you “25%ers” out
there, here is where you can take full advantage of a farmer’s good will who is
eager here to help. I have outlined a few
answers to some general questions that would be good to know for your own
working knowledge. And as a bonus, the
next time The National Science Foundation “comes a callin’”, you can dazzle
them with your worldly knowledge. So if
you’re ready, here we go...
1.
The moon is not
made of cheese.
2.
Fire is hot and
can burn you under the right conditions.
3.
Water is
generally wet and can be found in the ocean, lakes and rivers.
4.
Money still
doesn’t grow on trees.
5.
Buffalo wings
aren’t made with real buffalo.
6.
The Kardashians
will always be annoying.
And the
bonus question…
7.
The War of 1812
actually began in… 1812.
So there you are, some
additional information that is sure to come in handy for those 1 in 4 people in
America who didn’t know that the Earth goes around the sun. Too harsh?
I don’t think so. Imagine what
the world would look like if we just hit the ol reset button and started
everyone off with some good, solid, basic knowledge of the world and began to
work our way forward. Who knows, maybe
if we did, there would have never have been any need for answer #6 above. Just a thought anyway.
As always, thank you for reading,
and keep praying for California rain!
I’ll see you in the groves,
-Farmer Tony
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