[Wongboy]

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She probably doesn't realize this but being educated can help you do a better job raising your child. For example, it's hard to make good money in this world if you're more ignorant than a 15th century 10 year old.

[/ QUOTE ]

My guess is that the majority of 10 year olds living in the 15th century (1401-1500), would generally not know that the world was round. The majority of children at that time had no formal education and a large number of adults believed that the world was flat. However, I am not aware of any scientificly valid survey that was conducted on this subject at any time during the relevant time period.

I agree that it is a good idea to know facts that may not be extremely relevant to your daily life. However, we see enough examples of people who do not bother to learn facts that are very relevant to their daily activities, that I cannot get too upset with someone who chooses not to focus on information which they believe to be non-useful. For example, it would be nice for:

An internet message board poster to learn the spelling of common words such as ridiculous, lose / loose (these are 2 different words), etc;

A poker player to understand that the likelihood of an outcome is not dependent on what happened last hand (assuming a fair and adequate shuffle has occurred);

A blackjack player to learn the underlying principles and basic strategy for the game they are playing.

These are examples where people are routinely ignorant of information that is very relevant to their activities. I find this much more disturbing than someone who does not know the shape of the planet that we live on.