Survey says most Americans believe 'Arabic numerals' shouldn't be taught in school
A survey meant to “tease out prejudice among those who didn’t understand the question” found that more than half of Americans believe "Arabic numerals" should not be taught in schools.
If you don't know, these are Arabic numerals: 1234567890.
The Independent reports the survey was conducted by market research firm CivicScience, asked 3,624 respondents: “Should schools in America teach Arabic numerals as part of their curriculum?”
The poll did not explain what the term “Arabic numerals” meant.
2,020 people answered “no."
29% of respondents said the numerals should be taught in US schools, and 15% had no opinion.
On Twitter, CivicScience CEO John Dick called the results "the saddest and funniest testament to American bigotry we've ever seen in our data."
72% of Republican-supporting respondents said Arabic numerals should not be on the curriculum, compared 40% of Democrats, the Independent reports, despite there being no significant difference in education between them.
