No wonder the GOP hates education and wants to cut spending on education. To them, unless it's in the Bible, it doesn't count. While this is a unique and daring approach to building a country that can compete it may struggle when other countries focus on education. It's the dumbing down of America, brought to you by our good friends, the conservatives.
Conservatives, particularly those with college educations, have become dramatically more skeptical of science over the past four decades, according to a study published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review. Fewer than 35 percent of conservatives say they have a "great deal" of trust in the scientific community now, compared to nearly half in 1974.The conservatives can take special pride knowing that they aren't alone with being both educated and fearful of education. Pol Pot and his gang were all part of the educated elite in Cambodia. How'd that all work out?
"The scientific community ... has been concerned about this growing distrust in the public with science. And what I found in the study is basically that's really not the problem. The growing distrust of science is entirely focused in two groups—conservatives and people who frequently attend church," says the study's author, University of North Carolina postdoctoral fellow Gordon Gauchat.
In fact, in 1974, people who identified as conservatives were among the most confident in science as an institution, with liberals trailing slightly behind, and moderates bringing up the rear. Liberals have remained fairly steady in their opinion of the scientific community over the interim, while conservative trust in science has plummeted.
