A Book with a Kernel of Truth—and a Grain Silo of Nonsense

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | September 30, 2020 | George Leef

[karpov]

Every so often, a leftist thinker breaks free from the orthodoxy to point out that policies favored by “progressives” can have adverse consequences. When that happens, it’s worth paying attention.

We have such an instance with the publication of The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer, a writer and one-time academic whose work has appeared in leftist publications such as The New Republic and Jacobin.

He proudly proclaims his Marxism, saying that what all good Marxists want is a better, more equitable world. While he sees a lot to complain about—America still allows capitalism, after all—his particular target in the book is the way our education system overemphasizes academic credentials. We excessively reward those who are good at getting them at the expense of people who lack academic ability.

DeBoer calls his book “a prayer for the untalented” and it strikes a sympathetic chord as he discusses his efforts at teaching students who just aren’t smart. It isn’t their fault that they aren’t academically inclined, the author argues. Some kids are blessed with smartness and some aren’t. Moreover, it is folly to pretend that the answer for those who aren’t is to find better schooling that will turn them into smarties. That is a break with most of deBoer’s fellow leftists who have boundless faith in our education system to solve any problem, provided that we give it enough money.

We push students who are lacking in academic ability to stay in school, taking classes that make them miserable, and then we tell them that they need to go to college unless they want to be regarded as failures. But the process of getting into and then through college is also a hardship for those students.

[alexander_busek]

DeBoer calls his book “a prayer for the untalented” [...]

My wife and I have multiple academic degrees and titles and speak half a dozen European languages fluently - but generally end up calling an electrician when a light bulb has to be changed.

Neither of us can play a musical instrument, or even only carry a tune when humming.

I can't drive, and my garden looks - despite my best efforts over many years - like a blight has struck it.

My point: There are different kinds of "talent."

Regards,

[imardmd1]

Yeah. A leftist with your talents can display his/her ignorance of practical matters in a dozen European languages. Would learning Japanese and Urdu be a help to them and others?