"Many thousands of university students have answered the bat-and-ball puzzle, and the results are shocking. More than 50% of students at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton gave the intuitive—incorrect—answer. At less selective universities, the rate of demonstrable failure to check was in excess of 80%."
Higher education? I don't think so!
I disagree.
I think the most important part of the article isn't what's written, but how the writer manages to get people to fall into his trap.
Step 1: Find a math question that's known to trip up people because the intuitive answer is wrong.
Step 2: Ask the question to students without hinting to them that there's anything special about the question. Record answers.
Step 3: Write an article announcing "HEY! MOST [INSERT GROUP HERE] GOT THIS SIMPLE QUESTION WRONG! WARNING! WARNING! TAKE YOUR TIME! DON'T GO WITH YOUR FIRST RESPONSE!"
Step 4: Allow readers to feel good about themselves because, with warning, they correctly answered the question the [GROUP] missed.
Imagine if you had questioned the Harvard students first and then told MIT students "More than 50% of Harvard students got this simple logical question wrong. A bat and ball cost $1.10 . . . " Well, my guess is an overwhelming majority of MIT students would get the question right.
It's not about being smart (although less than 50% is better than the less than 20% at 'less selective universities), but about being forewarned and given the chance to upstage a disliked group or a group with a superiority complex.