[Yardstick]

*Bump*

[maxwell]

Hey good article, Cowgirl. Read the title and thought it was about gluesniffing or something but wasn't TOO disappointed... ;)

[headsonpikes]

And who says public schooling is a failure?

These clowns will be GREAT voters; they're unlikely to suspect a thing!

[ladylib]

Okay, college professor, Guess What? Kids don't decide what they will learn in the shitty public schools they have to attend. It's really not their fault. They just go along with what they are told to go along with, and they do their damndest to learn the crap that is ladeled on them, Why? Because they trust the shitheads who are in power, that's why. I really get pissed when the higher ups in education denigrate the incoming freshman class. Do something about it if you're so unhappy about it. Okay????

[alisasny]

Recently I thought about putting a sign on the fridge for the benefit of my two young ones...

MOVE OUT WHILE YOU STILL KNOW EVERYTHING

They are only 6 and 10 but damn do they know everything...LOL

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[HassanBenSobar]

Ahh, what's all this higher learning good for anyway? All this fancy education just turns out a bunch of elitist, unproductive snobs. Chairman Mao was right: intellectuals are enemies of the people, and should be sent off to labor camps. Better yet, let's do what Pol Pot did to them....

/sarcasm off

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...

[Congressman Billybob]

This is a very sad, very serious, very important article. And it is still current. In the three years since this was written the problem of a vacuum in college freshmen where the basic knowledge ought to be, has only gotten worse.

Competent thinking -- on any subject -- has to be based on facts. Absent that, the grow-up student cannot be a competent mother or father, employee or employer, teacher or student, citizen or leader.

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest column: "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Click for latest book: "to Restore Trust in America"

[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.

[Hugin]

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.

Ah, the NEA's work is done!

[opinionator]

Marxism is the opiate of the masses.

[carpio]

bump

[dd5339]

My wife and I are doing a bunch of research now on how we want to home school our children, (our daughter is 9 months old). Currently we are reading, "The well trained mind". It is making a very persuasive arguement for a true classical education. The more that we read of it, the more we are leaning that way.

For those interested in home schooling the book is a interesting read.

Semper Fi

[Irene Adler]

"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."

I have taught on the university level for 20 years, and both of these statements are painfully true. The second is especially telling. Today's students really think they know a lot....seriously.

So do the public school certified-education-major teachers who "teach" them.

[Interesting Times]

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.

The cultural shift from honoring earned self-respect to handing out free "self-esteem" wasn't an accident.

You aren't likely to object to your indoctrination -- or even notice it -- if you can't think rationally and lack the humility to wonder if the things you believe are really true.

[wardaddy]

Luther Bump!