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Dumb and Dumber

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injest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html?_r=1&ex=1203656400&en=c890bc759b2111be&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

This is an article about anti education bias in the US...


"Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge, she said, but they also don’t think it matters.

She pointed to a 2006 National Geographic poll that found nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t think it is necessary or important to know where countries in the news are located. So more than three years into the Iraq war, only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map"

"In part, she lays the blame on a failing educational system. “Although people are going to school more and more years, there’s no evidence that they know more,” she said.

Ms. Jacoby also blames religious fundamentalism’s antipathy toward science, as she grieves over surveys that show that nearly two-thirds of Americans want creationism to be taught along with evolution.

Ms. Jacoby doesn’t leave liberals out of her analysis, mentioning the New Left’s attacks on universities in the 1960s, the decision to consign African-American and women’s studies to an “academic ghetto” instead of integrating them into the core curriculum, ponderous musings on rock music and pop culture courses on everything from sitcoms to fat that trivialize college-level learning. "

Artiste:
You are right, in some ways!

Or should I say : all?? !! Since at times, I think that too!!

There are many, many faults with the present educational system(s) and those who create it, including us all too as citizens need it!!

You want to know my experiences and views??

Hugs!! Keep care!! WE educate too on Bettermost, thank goodness!! And educate ourselves too!!

brokeplex:
In many, if not most, American homes the value and importance of civics is not a lesson taught to children by their parents. The schools then make courageous efforts to take up the slack, but without a interest in learning, those lessons are memorized and soon forgotten. And regretably some of the teachers themselves do not seem to understand the basic workings of government or how elections are conducted in the US.

The amazing lack of knowledge among college graduates about the facts surrounding the workings and the history of the US Constitution astonishes me, and that says nothing about the same knowledge deficit concerning their state and local issues.

Some time ago, I had a friend, who ran political campaigns, starting out like me mostly as a volunteer. In time because of his expertise, he was selected as the Political Director of the Republican Party in my state. I tried to have lunch with him at least once per month, and I remember something he said to me about 20 years ago while we were at lunch. He was talking about a recent visit he had made to the Political Science Dept in our alma mater, and his meeting with some graduate students and faculty. He made the comment that his discussion with students and faculty made him realize that the theories taught at the gradate level in that University's Political Science Dept had absolutely no bearing or resemblance to the real world of elections and governance that we both knew. He then gave me examples that made me laugh out loud. The theories taught to those interested in the subject were so abstract that they were meaningless in the real world. I have thought of the those words many times over the years when I note the opinions of commentators on TV, radio, internet opining about elections and electoral strategies.

The subject of civics, like geography, or math, must be made interesting, challenging, and relevant in order to have an impact on children. But, most of all, parents must be convinced that these are subjects which are worthwhile to teach children. Unfortunately, it is fashionable to be loudly cynical about the validity or usefulness of understanding politics. I personally have never known ignorance to be a desirable condition, once upon a time, those who were "ignorant" were ashamed of their ignorance and sought to change their condition. Today many seem to wear their cynical ignorance on their chests like a badge.

brokeplex:

--- Quote from: injest on March 03, 2008, 12:34:15 am ---yes and if you want to learn more as an adult, you meet two types of people...pseudointellectuals who sneer at you as being a dumb yokel or people that think you are being uppity....

 :-\

well you do meet some nice people that are patient and try to help. I am always so happy to meet them..

--- End quote ---

Adult education has always been one of the strengths of the American democracy. We simply can not have a functioning democracy without an informed electorate. I don't understand anyone who would sneer at an adult who wished to learn more about their world. I worked as a volunteer teaching reading some years back, and found it to be one of the rewarding times in my life as an adult.

Another point you raise is the anti-educational mindset of so many these days. Studies are showing that in many areas in the big cities children who wish to better themselves by learning are made fun of by their contemporaries. Somehow it has become the norm that learning is not only not useful but harmful. This is a recipe for disaster.

brokeplex:
why do you sound so "conservative" to me tonight? are you voting in Tuesday's primary?

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