Other Opiates - What kids know.

National Review Online ^ | September 3, 2002 | Mark Goldblatt

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

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September 3, 2002, 9:00 a.m.
Other Opiates
What kids know.

By Mark Goldblatt

t's a freshman writing assignment I give every semester: Respond in your journals to the following quotation: "Religion is the opiate of the masses." After the students copy the words into their notebooks, I ask them to name the author. I do this now out of a mixture of curiosity and masochism; very likely, none of them will know. In the ten years I've been assigning the quotation, only five students have immediately identified Karl Marx as the author - and all five were foreign students. So as usual, in the semester just ended, after the initial silence, I offered them a hint: The author was German.

They pondered this for a moment. Finally, an older black student named Maxine raised her hand. "Was it Martin Luther?"

The class roared with laughter.

Their reaction puzzled me. It didn't seem such a bad guess. Luther was German, and he did write about religion. As Maxine glanced around, another student tapped her on the shoulder. "Don't you know he was a brother?"

The reason for the laughter suddenly dawned on me. The entire class had assumed Maxine meant Martin Luther King - their jaws dropped as I explained who Martin Luther was.

That moment has stuck with me because it highlights what, to my mind, are the two great problems with students now entering college. The first is familiar enough: They don't know what they should know. The second is more subtle yet even more worrisome: They assume they know much more than they actually do know. In this instance, not only did the students fail to identify arguably the most famous quotation of the last two centuries, or to recognize the name of the leader of the Protestant Reformation, but they felt secure enough to laugh at an educated guess far closer to the mark than they realized.

Through the years, we've grown accustomed to New York City's students lagging behind the rest of the country's on standardized tests; accustomed, as well, to American students getting blown out of the water by their peers in Far East or European countries - or, indeed, in any country where hunger does not eclipse education as a parental concern. Less familiar are surveys in which American students show markedly higher rates of satisfaction with the poor education they are receiving; they are, in other words, utterly ignorant of their own ignorance.

It is a trend that should worry us because, unlike in the past, ignorance is no longer tempered with humility. Rather, after years of psychotherapy disguised as pedagogy, ignorance is now buoyed by self-esteem - which, in turn, makes students more resistant to remediation since they don't believe there's a problem. This resistance, indeed, is part and parcel of a wholly misplaced intellectual confidence that is the most serious obstacle to their higher education. For the last two decades, I've taught freshman courses at CUNY and SUNY colleges in the city; the majority of my students have been products of the city's public schools. I am saddened, therefore, to report that more and more of them are arriving in my classes with the impression that their opinions, regardless of their acquaintance with a particular subject, are instantly valid - indeed, as valid as anyone's. Pertinent knowledge, to them, is not required to render judgment.

Want to scare yourself? Sit down with a half-dozen recent public high-school graduates and ask them what they believe. Most are utterly convinced, for example, that President Kennedy was murdered by a vast government conspiracy. It doesn't matter to them that they cannot name the presidents before or after Kennedy. Or the three branches of government. Or even the alleged gunman's killer. Most are convinced, also, that AIDS was engineered by the CIA - even though they cannot state what either set of initials stands for. Most will voice passionate pro-choice views on abortion - even though they cannot name the decision that legalized it. Or report the number of judges on the Supreme Court. Or define the word "trimester." Most will happily hold forth on the hypocrisy of organized religion - even though they cannot name the first book of the Bible. Or distinguish between the Old and New Testaments. Or state the approximate year of Jesus's birth (a trick question). Most will bemoan global warming - even though they cannot name three greenhouse gases. Or convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius. Or say what planetary phenomenon causes seasons.

Let me stress that I'm not talking about stupid kids - though yes, as painful as it is to acknowledge, there are in fact stupid kids. But in this case I'm talking about bright kids, talented kids, curious kids - kids who will occasionally concoct ingenious, if wrongheaded, theories to compensate for what they don't know. Several years ago, for instance, a student of mine suggested that a semi-colon got its name because it drew attention to the words around it. She thought the spelling was: "See me colon." Clearly, if she's clever enough to come up with that, she's clever enough to learn the proper use of semi-colons; it's just that no teacher ever bothered to correct her punctuation.

She, and students like her, have been robbed - and not simply of the instruction they should have received through 12 years of primary and secondary schools. They have been robbed of their entrée into serious cultural debate. Robbed even of the realization that they are stuck on the outside looking in. They are doomed to an intellectual life of cynicism without ever passing through knowingness, a life in which they grasp at platitudes to resolve momentary disagreements and do not possess the analytical wherewithal to pursue underlying issues.

They are lost generations. It's too late for them to catch up. But we owe it to their children to do better.

- Mark Goldblatt teaches at SUNY's Fashion Institute of Technology. His new novel is Africa Speaks. This essay first appeared in the New York Post three years ago.

[Mr. Mojo]

they were taught the half-assed whole language method of reading

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the "whole language method?"

[mamelukesabre]

Kids really are getting dumber these days though. I've noticed it, and I'm sure others have too.

Some of the things you hear kids say really makes you shake your head. Here are some examples that make me a chuckle.

"in like flint"--the phrase is "in like flynn"

"butt naked"--the phrase is "buck naked"

"oral sex is not sex"--thank you bill clinton

"tastes like ass"--the phrase is "tastes like sh1t", this one really cracks me up big time. They can't even cuss right any more. LOL

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

The author is simply stating the way things are.

The teachers are to blame...for buying into the NEA criminal socialization schemes over the past 40 years. We have examples of schools that work all over the country. The Jesuits have been teaching successfully for hundreds of years....(or else!). What works is known. There's no excuse.

Politicians are to blame for continuing to bow down to the powerful teachers' unions and funnel increasing $$$ into their failed schools.

Parents are to blame for not disciplining their own children and for buying into the current news/media version of world history, junk science and moral relativism. For choosing to remain young (immature) and be their kids "buddies" instead of doing the tough job of laying down the rules and being the parents.

Grandparents are to blame. How did the "greatest generation" come to believe that their grandmothers were weak, that abortion was acceptable as a means of birth control, that the family structure that worked for thousands of years was flawed and that this generation was wiser than all that came before? How did they forget the faith that brought them through the darkest years of the war and readily surrender their Bibles, their Christianity, their humility, their joy...for shallow vanity and bitter cynicism? Kinsey? Dr. Spock? TV? Social Security? Forgetting, in their post-war self-contratulating to thank the One responsible?

The ACLU is to blame, along with the USSC...for the lie of Church-State separation that crept into our schools, our courtrooms and public squares. Making it acceptable to discriminate based on religion, frightening pastors into silence when the Bible contradicted a current candidate's politics or lifestyle.

The Church is to blame. Parishioners expecting guidance from their pastors too often found pastors finding guidance not from God, but from the world. The Church, and the world, underestimated the influence of the most powerful propaganda tool the world has ever known... TV.

Those who so quickly condemn religion should spend as much time studying the Bible as they do the TV guide.
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him ...Prov.13:24.
Kids get this. They don't want parent "buddies" or teacher "buddies"...they need adults who behave like adults to help them grow up, to teach them, discipline them.

Kids test the limits. If there are no limits, there is no growth. As young adults they lack the self-control necessary to say no to the temptations in life...lack the courage to stick with tough studies or real work, lack the inter-personal skills to make real friends or form the more complex bonds with the opposite sex required for true intimacy and marriage, lack the ability to set goals; gaining acceptance through "fellowship" with other angry "victims"...unable to outgrow "peer pressure" they conform to fad after cultural fad, exploited by adult "users" (poverty pimps, political activist profs, etc.), and exploiting others they join the collective...safe at last, introspection no longer required, parroting the simple old socialist talking points, decade after decade, though millions die, Hollywood glorifies and history proves the lie of their "faith"...they follow blindly...because it's easy, because they are too steeped in instant gratification and flush with peer acceptance to have to think, because the truth would condemn, not free them....and the quiet moments between raves and rants must be dulled with drugs, food, wine, sex, pain...

...while we ignore our own blessings, move across country from our kids, choose to look the other way or lock our doors...and turn the channel.

Imho.

[supercat]

"tastes like ass"--the phrase is "tastes like sh1t", this one really cracks me up big time. They can't even cuss right any more. LOL

Is it that, or has the idea of tasting other people's derrières been made socially acceptable? Given some of the other stuff the [bleep]ing [bleep]er[bleep]ers have put into the curriculum, that wouldn't seem out of the question...

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

It never ceases to amaze me that even conservatives occasionally chime in their support of leftist anti-intellectualism.

I think the author is stating that his students mistakenly think they're capable of intelligently discussing most anything...when they know frighteningly little. He's shocked at their arrogance and ignorance...he is not supporting this sloppy thinking and B.S. masquerading as wisdom and learning.

Have you ever listened to G. Gordon Liddy talk about his Jesuit school education? They all learned....the old-fashioned way. No classes on "self-esteem," no teacher's union, no school board, no parents threatening lawsuits, no Ritalin, no "boys and girls are the same," no new math. They learned.

[aberaussie]

"It never ceases to amaze me that even conservatives occasionally chime in their support of leftist anti-intellectualism. Maybe homeschooling will help, though I don't know a lot of Moms who can teach their kids calculus. Oh well... "

Well, this mom can't teach her son calculus, but at 16 years old he is at the local community college, dual enrolled full time in an engineering program - taking
his first semester of calculus. Homeschooling for ten
years has protected him from being dumbed down and has
freed him to learn at his own pace - which is pretty fast.
There are lots of options, letting kids languish in public schools is not a good one!

[Yeti]

They are doomed to an intellectual life of cynicism without ever passing through knowingness, a life in which they grasp at platitudes to resolve momentary disagreements and do not possess the analytical wherewithal to pursue underlying issues.

~ cynical and mean-spirited ~

[tet68]

Ever body knows that Opie ate green beans and fried chicken
cooked by Aunt Bea.
It sure didn't give him the Trotskys.
Kids today! I swan.

[HassanBenSobar]

Oh, I agree. I detest the watered-down public school curricula/policies/nonsense, and I'm glad to see any and every weapon used to dismantle the whole idiotic system.

I posted what I did not so much because the article decried education, but more because I anticipated (and I hate to say this--am I exaggerating too much?) the usual attacks on intellectuals. (Probably should have saved it for some other time!)

Oh, for the record, I have nothing against home schooling. I DO utterly hate the present public school system, and even more so the corrupt leftists who run it.

[Freedom2specul8]

"She, and students like her, have been robbed - and not simply of the instruction they should have received through 12 years of primary and secondary schools. They have been robbed of their entrée into serious cultural debate. ."

"~ cynical and mean-spirited ~ --yeti"

Students have been robbed. The lessons and important historical facts that have been left out of the curriculum for the past at LEAST 40 yrs hasn't helped. The friend Gummy and I referred to, says the education went into a downward spiral back in the early 20's - 30's. Do you agree?

[GummyIII]

is now buoyed by self-esteem - which, in turn, makes students more resistant to remediation since they don't believe there's a problem.

I believe this sentence is the key....where did they learn this attitude? I don't believe they learned it from public schools or public school teachers. There are probably many public school teachers with the same attitude. Where did they learn it? Figure that out, change it, and we'll get somewhere. (I would give a hint...but...)

[SR71A]

is now buoyed by self-esteem - which, in turn, makes students more resistant to remediation since they don't believe there's a problem.

I believe this sentence is the key....where did they learn this attitude? I don't believe they learned it from public schools or public school teachers.

Of course they learned it from public school. They were handed straight "A"s from the public schools, without having to earn them. Grade inflation. They "earned" these grades by sitting like good little drones for 12 years absorbing everything they heard without questioning any of it, or being asked to produce any original thought or work.

[Freedom2specul8]

"unlike in the past, ignorance is no longer tempered with humility. Rather, after years of psychotherapy disguised as pedagogy, ignorance is now buoyed by self-esteem "

Ignorance may have been humiliating for most, and still is for some. However, I remember kids bragging about not caring about school. Remember the song "the wall" by pink floyd? Very popular song when I was in junior high. Excerpt "we don't need no education"...

At least some elementary schools do indeed reward incorrect answers.. I know that from experience.

What is the entire point of the article?

[GummyIII]

Of course they learned it from public school. They were handed straight "A"s from the public schools, without having to earn them. Grade inflation. They "earned" these grades by sitting like good little drones for 12 years absorbing everything they heard without questioning any of it, or being asked to produce any original thought or work.

I went to public school, but thankfully had parents who made sure I learned....I lived at the library. Now, think....who "governs" the public school. Don't say the feds....states still have a choice to refuse federal money and keep total control of their schools. Actually they can give all control to the local systems if the local system choses to use only local funds for their schools. Let's even say the locality is willing to forgo state and federal monies....who CONTROLS the schools? Who puts them in control?

[Freedom2specul8]

HA HA It's the SCHOOL BOARDS FAULT!

[Freedom2specul8]

:) Because WE HIRE THEM to do the job so we don't have to.

[GummyIII]

Deja vous????? Grin....

[Freedom2specul8]

Yeah and then yeti just LEFT us.. :)

[GummyIII]

Is Yeti a male????

[Freedom2specul8]

I think so...I wasn't sure, but something was written in the past day or two that indicated yeti might be a guy.