With statistics like this, no state of affairs will surprise me. Perhaps needless to say, there's no reason to think whole 80% is reasonable; you'd expect a smooth gradient going across the 19%/80%, not through the 1% (which is lost in rounding I guess) but perhaps through most of the society, with only a small fraction of it being truly reasonable.
The educational system succeeded in teaching writing and reading, and not with much more, not when it comes to masses.
That doesn't seem too bad to me. It isn't trivial to prove the earth is flat. 10th percentile IQ seems to be around the functional illiteracy threshold. The military won't take them because as much as they have tried they can't seem to get that 10th percentile trained in just about anything. If such a person looks out into the distance, sees that things look flat and not like a sphere, and then watches some video with half-baked reasoning telling them they are right then I'm not sure how you could realistically convince them otherwise.
The assumption that everyone has equal capabilities can cause a lot of needless struggle and suffering. Similarly assumptions that an individual can't or won't grow or learn or improve can also lead to a lot of unnecessary struggle and suffering.
Both things: that everyone's capabilities (and limits) are different and individuals can increase their capabilities can be and are true.
So I can understand someone's concern that we have flat earthers, as well as your lack of concern.
It is trivial to prove the earth is round though which makes it trivial to prove the earth is not flat (which does makes it impossible to prove the earth is flat).
Travel to any large body of water. Mark a boat with lines showing how high above the water each line is. Have somebody else pilot the boat out to sea. You observe that the lines show the boat as if its sinking. They observe the lines staying at a constant height. It's because the earth is curved and the water between you is blocking sight of the lines.
To be convinced the Earth is flat is ridiculous on so many levels. You say they watch a youtube video confirming they're right in their primitive observation. OK, what about the easy availability of videos to the contrary?
It's not enough to be stupid to be a flat-earther. You need to deny official authorities, believe in a conspiracy, and have an arrogant attitude of thinking of yourself as smarter than other despite being an idiot. So this is not a problem of some people simple being born with inefficient brains.
More importantly, you seem to ignore the 9%. To seriously consider the earth maybe is flat is already pretty damn ridiculous.
> It isn't trivial to prove the earth is flat
Of course, because it isn't. If you meant it isn't trivial to prove it isn't flat, well, in general it is hard to disprove an idea that isn't specific. But take any actual model of flat Earth, describing the movement of the Moon on quite a low altitude and it's trivial to prove it's wrong simply by looking at the Moon and always seeing the same side regardless where you live.
This was an online survey with 1134 respondents. Comparable to a medium-engagement Twitter poll. It's surprising to me that you think this is representative of the perspective of the of your country as a whole.
Perhaps I'm not that inteligent myself ;) Then again, I never said it's my country, I'm from Poland. I could give Polish-specific examples of extremy stupidity, but the flat earth example I find the least controversial.
Earth is flat, not round
10% agree 9% unsure 80% disagree
With statistics like this, no state of affairs will surprise me. Perhaps needless to say, there's no reason to think whole 80% is reasonable; you'd expect a smooth gradient going across the 19%/80%, not through the 1% (which is lost in rounding I guess) but perhaps through most of the society, with only a small fraction of it being truly reasonable.
The educational system succeeded in teaching writing and reading, and not with much more, not when it comes to masses.