Doc wrote:Of course not every single young person is a slothful idiot, but the trend in poor spelling, lack of common sense, heightened laziness, etc. can not be disputed. TV, video games, computers, MTV, pop music, etc. are certainly factors. Teaching to the test, instead of teaching what's necessary is a problem that contributes to the problem as well. Of course, I would say poor parenting is the root cause, letting their kids over-indulge in all these things (and a push for money by adults in education with the testing fad) which takes the burden off the young generation - which may prove your point - it may not be the kid's fault after all. Touche'.
You guys are all missing it.
The reason for education's woes is what we expect of it. 100 years ago, only the well-off were college-educated. A kid had to live in an upper-middle-class family to be likely to finish high school. Most people learned a trade by apprenticing to a master, and spend their lives working with their hands.
After WWII, new prosperity changed our expectations. We came to expect every kid to graduate high school, even going so far as to making it a legal requirement for them to attend school until age 16. Some kids were not academically prepared for it, and some kids' families were not culturally committed to it. So, the schools had to make it easier to get through. This, of course, meant school became boring to the kids who were disposed to being well-educated.
Starting 30 or 35 years ago, we started expecting school to become social training grounds, in addition to teaching the fundamentals of language, history, mathematics, and science.
Also after WWII (which was, of course, after the Depression), new propsperity led to new acquisitiveness. The acquisitiveness (which is not at all wrong) led to greed (which
is wrong) in those who could not control it, and this led to the desire to acquire more. This, coupled with the desire for independence on the part of women, has led to families where both parents expect to be able to hold down careers. The "career" of raising a family lost its appeal, because of how it was considered by both women and men.
Now, raising kids is a matter of spending money, just like everything else. If there is a problem to be solved, we spend money and hire a professional, instead of circling the family wagons and putting in the time to sort it out ourselves. We bring in the psychologist, the school counselor, the therapist, the babysitters (i.e., teachers) of all persuasions and expect them to address the issues.
We've forgotten so much how to be self-sufficient that we've even forgotten how to raise our own kids to be adults.
ALL those influences have had an effect, and that effect is that kids today feel detached from their families and identify more with their peer group than with their parents. They have seen how greed is destructive, and they foolishly equate acquisitiveness with greed. They have lost all sense of value in property, particularly family property, because they see property and acquisitiveness as being the same. The result is that they are even greedier than their parents without realizing it.
Groups are not creative. People are creative. But 100 years ago, intellectual creativity was the domain of a few, though wisdom was common. Now we expect creativity from everyone, and wisdom is uncommon. Look at our music schools. Innovation is what defines art, not beauty.
Colleges are now like high school used to be. Everyone feels like college is their birthright, and that any college degree is the ticket to a life of luxury. We have forgotten what it is to be educated.
The real problem, of course, is selfishness. That is one thing our kids are learning from us all too effectively. But the solution is selflessness from within, not imposed selflessness from without, as preached by those who would makes us more generous by coercion, and by those who want to abdicate the responsibility for curing the problem to others.
Rick "as selfish as the next guy" Denney
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