Teenage Soapbox

The New Media Journal ^ | July 31, 2009 | Will Fitzhugh

[NewMediaJournal]

I publish history research papers by secondary students from around the world, and from time to time I get a paper submitted which includes quite a bit more opinion than historical research.

The other day I got a call from a prospective teenage author saying he had noticed on my website that most of the papers seemed to be history rather than opinion, and was it alright for him to submit a paper with his opinions?

I said that opinions were fine, if they were preceded and supported by a good deal of historical research for the paper, and that seemed to satisfy him. I don’t know if he will send in his paper or not, but I feel sure that like so many of our teenagers, he has received a good deal of support from his teachers for expressing his opinions, whether very well-informed or not.

From John Dewey forward, many Progressive educators seem to want our students to “step away from those school books, and no one gets hurt,” as long as they go out and get involved in the community and come back to express themselves with plenty of opinions on all the major social issues of the world today.

This sort of know-nothing policy-making was much encouraged in the 1960s in the United States, among the American Red Guards at least.

[HiTech RedNeck]

How about creating a soapbox section for this kind of thing, with room on the blog for critiques.

[vpintheak]

Like the Country song by Montgomery Gentry says, “Lord I'm finding out so much more than back when I knew it all”

That about sums up the teenage mentality. Also the college mentality.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

My browser seems to have loaded the wrong title. So I've corrected it.

Teenage Soapbox Origins of the 1960s Marxist-Alinsky hippie street rabble and their ideological issue (children)-cum-Rat Party (formerly the traditional, patriotic Democratic Party)

Opinions on all sorts of matters about which they know almost nothing.

Feeeeeeeelings . . . .