Certainty In Spite of Facts

I find it amazing, although I probably shouldn't, that so many people are absolutely convinced of things in spite of evidence to the contrary.  Let me give you an example -- people all over the US have expressed the belief that our public schools are failing and are in crisis.  They say that the evidence in support of this belief is that students in the US do not score at the top of the heap on international tests.  They continue to say that our country is in danger because our students aren't number one in the world on these tests and they say that our students are performing worse now than in the past.


They continue to believe this even though the data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that our scores on international tests have never been at the top, and in spite of the fact that our scores have improved each time our students have been tested.  Let me state that again: our scores get better each time our students are tested.  Our students are performing better on international tests now than they have ever performed.


Here's another statistic: the number of Americans with some college education has increased from 10% in 1940 to 56% today.  Again, we aren't number one in the world in terms of college degrees obtained.  But this hasn't hurt our GDP.  It is still well above China and Japan, the next closest countries.  


So, I'm appalled that so many people still argue that our schools are failing and that these failing schools will hurt our economy and make us less competitive.  Where is the data?


I'm particularly struck by this when I think about the assumptions of people like Columbus when they set off to explore.  Columbus and his backers were certain they would find lots of gold when they landed.  Some European explorers were so certain they would find gold that they forced the natives to work in mines that failed, over and over again.  And what about the US invasion of Iraq, which American leaders said was necessary because the Iraqi government had weapons of mass destruction and American lives were at risk?  Where was the evidence of that?  Plenty of people at the time expressed doubts, but more people wanted to listen to those saying we had to invade.  Tragic.


I guess it's not news that people can be misled, quite easily, when someone speaks with authority.  It's depressing, though, that humans haven't learned to demand evidence.