The Flat Earth Society

Here’s a story that was made for the blogosphere. Hopefully, it is not a hoax. For those of who are inclined to think that the millennial generation is lacking in smarts, this story confirms our bias. Of course, sometimes bias is true.

Anyway, as though to show what a good job American educators are doing, a new survey has discovered that a third of today’s millennials are not persuaded that the earth is round. They belong to the flat earth society. Apparently, their teachers never taught them about scientific facts, or about Christopher Columbus… though the round earth has probably been banned from school, on the grounds that it offends that flatheads among us. Besides Columbus is being erased from textbooks because he was a colonialist, racist, imperialist something.

Anyway, here’s the story, from CBS Pittsburgh:

A new survey has found that a third of young millennials in the U.S. aren’t convinced the Earth is actually round. The national poll reveals that 18 to 24-year-olds are the largest group in the country who refuse to accept the scientific facts of the world’s shape.

YouGov, a British market research firm, polled 8,215 adults in the United States to find out if they ever believed in the “flat Earth” movement. Only 66 percent of young millennials answered that they “always believe the world is round.” Science teachers across the U.S. will be shaking their heads after learning that nine percent of young adults answered that they have “always believed” the planet was flat.

Another nine percent said of young adults said they thought the planet was spherical but had doubts about it. In a disturbing display of indecision, 16 percent of millennials said they weren’t sure what the shape of the planet was.

Overall, only two percent of the respondents said they always thought the Earth was flat without any doubt. YouGov found that age was directly connected to Americans’ views on the shape of the world. Seventy-six percent of adults age 25-34 say they’ve always believed the Earth is round, compared to 82 percent of ages 35-44, 85 percent of ages 45-54, and 94 percent of adults 55 and over.

You would be hard put to find better evidence of the corruption of the American educational system. And they worry that Donald Trump does not have a good handle on facts.