Yet again polls' portral of Brits is (how shall i put this delicately)...rather worrying. A poll commissioned by children's TV channel Jetix has revealed some rather interesting facts which have obviously been recorded as wrong in history - according to a third of school children. I mean who doesn't know that Winston Churchill, one of this country's greatest war time leaders and arguably the most clebrated British Prime Minister of the 20th century, was leading a double life as an astronaut.
One in three young people belive that he was the first man to walk on the Moon. Forget his defining "we will fight them on the beaches" speech. Instead he shall be remebered for taking "one small step for man, (and) a giant leap for mankind."
As if mixing up Churchill with Armstrong wasn't bad enough, the poll also showed that 72% were unable to identify the Moon in a series of pictures. (I mean, would you like me to draw you a picture? No wait....we already did that!) Of the 1,400 children polled online (aged 6-14), only 44% could identiy Saturn by its giveaway rings, two in five think that Mars is just a chocolate bar (get your minds out of your stomach) and a third thought its surface was blue. And when it comes to naming the planets in our solar system almost 60% didn't have a clue and less couldn't name them in order.
Despite this, there was some good news......nearly three quarters of children polled wanted to learn more about astronomy. See, its not a lost cause yet.
But seriously, putting aside my sarcasm for just a moment, it is worrying that a third of those children didn't even know Earth is an official planet! What exactly are they teaching young people these days? Is the educations department even aware of this? And exactly were does all the governments money for education go, because obviously it isn't in science.
(Originally posted March 20, 2008)
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