As a newcomer to retirement, I am doing a senior audit of an economics course at our local community college. It is an eye opener. Most of the other students in this class are in their early 20’s & 30’s. It is disheartening to observe the lack of critical thinking and the general lack of basic skills. Watching them try to do math (93 - 41 =??) without a calculator is sad. Handwriting is atrocious, and by their own admission cannot read their own writing. They become jazzed when they realize that the trend is more government intervention and potential handouts. Several want to eventually become computer hackers, others want to enter the animation and movie making industry. The professor is in his 50’s and he is also disappointed in the recent crop. My only hope is that this is not the norm. For my generation and their sake.
Never mind students entering a college; you should speak to some of the affirmative-action recipients of college degrees. There are now two tiers of each degree: a real one, and one where the recipient belongs to any of the “preferred” groups.
The media said George W. Bush received “gentlemen’s Cs” in college (implying they were unearned); they stopped this when it was revealed that his grades were higher than Al Gore’s. Now we can have a “minority A”; this covers any grade for any course for which a woman or minority received college credit. If they can prove otherwise, then they can be treated as full adults; otherwise, they have the cloud of suspicion hovering over them...