In a survey last year, four-fifths of Americans surveyed could not correctly define "molecule." This is not good news for educators who worry that Americans are ill prepared to compete with other nations and understand political choices involving science. Behind those disturbing numbers lie another, more encouraging, set of poll results intimately tied to the college curriculum. Americans' overall score in science literacy ranks second in the world among developed nations, behind only Sweden. That is in large part because of this country's unusual system of requiring many nonscience majors to take at least some science courses. All of these polls figure in a lively debate on the best way to teach science to nonscience students. Some professors argue that these courses should emphasize analytic skills and the thinking and reasoning behind scientific concepts.