College Seniors No More Knowledgeable Than 1950s High School Grads

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 12/19/02 | Scott Hogenson

[Theodore R.]

You are talking about exceptional people of each generation -- the group that the late black NAACP cofounder and communist W.E.B. Du Bois called the "talented tenth." As far as average "students," academic performance is abysmal and is likely to remain that way. Perhaps it has always been abysmal.

[SauronOfMordor]

I can say without hesitation that many of them should never have been admitted. Of the ones that were there, I would say that only half were educated well enough to attend. I used to joke that many of them should be in college, but only as janitorial help.

It used to be that most people would go from high-school directly into the working world. Most businesses didn't care if you had a college degree, as long as you could read and write well -- what you needed to know, you could look up and study as needed.

What changed between the 60's and today was the passage of the various the Civil Rights Acts. These days YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to give any sort of written test to job applicants, if such would have a "disparate racial impact" (and just about any test would). So, an employer wanting to get applicants who can read must now specify "college degree" on the requirements, in order to get somebody who can read. But this will not be good enough any more, because the illiterates are being given degrees now by colleges with seats to fill.

If businesses could hire literate people straight out of high school, they would -- but they can't, because they would be forced to hire from the high school crowd "by the numbers" or be sued for discrimination

[TheRightGuy]

little kids lived in constant terror of THE BOMB back then. DUCK AND COVER!

How fondly I remember being marched into the school hallways and told sit with my back against the wall and put my head between my knees. It was a nice diversion from rigorous studies.

[Nita Nuprez]

Good grief, anyone who cannot answer all these questions is an ignoramous.

I hate you.

And my blondeness has nothing to do with it.

[AlexW]

You seem to have your decades mixed up.
I was a college freshman in 1963...There were no dope smoking kids then. I do remember a few girls that hang out in the Presby center, dressed in black and reading "ban the bomb" books, but that was about all. The bad stuff did not get going till mid to late 60s.
At least high school grads could read a diploma and find their own state on a map.
I see no relation to your remarks about the computer stuff that was not even around in those days. To another poster...There was not even DOS in the 50s :P
There is no doubt that todays pubic school grads are more
ignorant then in any other time.

[Nonstatist]

Our young new-hires all have excellent technical knowledge and skills. Some of them, though, have only the vaugest notion of American history and government.

Better than the other way around, heh? We live in a specialized world, and given how unionized and politicized the pedantic proffession is nowadays, I'd say you were fortunate to get what you got. At least they make good workers.

[CanisMajor2002]

As a junior he hooked up his mother's stove so that a phone call home turned the oven on.

Pretty neat, but could a telemarketer then be prosecuted for arson? :)

[stainlessbanner]

I'll bet today's kids are worse off in the area of morals.

[stainlessbanner]

Another favorite

The teacher in Arkansas asked her class, "Now, who can tell me who our president was during the Civil War?"

A little boy raised his hand. "Yes, Johnny?" said the teacher.

"Jefferson Davis," the boy said proudly. And no one could argue with that.

[HamiltonJay]

MrNeutron,

While I agree you can manipulate results, there is little doubt in my mind that when it comes to civics and history, todays students knowledge pails compared to the pre cultural revolution. Because it was during that time that the schools started to become filled with counter counturalist teachers, or at least those sympathtic to the cause, and the "america is bad" philosophy entered the school systems.

General knowledge of american history, geopolitical impact, and social greatness let alone the unparalleled opportunities the sum of these things has offered us all, is abysmal at best by the products of government schools today.

[wku man]

"This is hogwash. Todays college seniors know how opressive the whiteman is, all about african history, marxist gramscian dialetic, not to mention gay and lesbian philosophy and how evil corporations caused global warming. An of course, they are well versed in how to be good citizens of the United Nations..."

Not to mention that they're multilingual. After all, they're fluent in slang, Ebonics, liberal Newspeak, Political Correctish. They can't speak English, though...

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[conservativemusician]

I just may not take your advice and pose the question to my 25 year old brother, a senior in college, and my 15 yr old brother, a high school sophomore, at Christmas.

We'll see...

[Hank Kerchief]

I hate you.

And my blondeness has nothing to do with it.

I do appreciate frankness, and blondness, but have grave doubts about your hate, because I suspect disingenuousness in your self-deprecation.

(However, in case I'm wrong, what I just said is a complement.)

Hank

[LS]

I can attest to this. My incoming freshment NEVER have a clue as to where the "Austro-Hungarian Empire" was; who might have been president in, say, the late 1880s; or (sometimes) even what "emancipation" means. Some of us fight, but it does appear to be a losing battle.

[twigs]

King of Prussia, PA was named for an inn that was in existence around the time of the American Revolution. The inn is still in existence; I believe it was recently moved (the historical society has been raising money to do so for years). It sat in a very busy median of Route 202 near the largest mall on the east coast. A lot of research has been done on the origins of the name of that jurisdiction and there is no definitive answer. But the inn seems to have been the first to have used it and the concensus is that the town named itself after the inn.

[conservativemusician]

Wow. A flashback.

I'd nearly forgotten air-raid drills.

[LS]

Sam, as one who teaches young adults (college) daily, I can tell you that this BS that they are more "worldly" is nonsense. The fact that they SEE Cancun on an MTV "vacation" special no more makes them knowledgable about where it is, why it might be important, who what language they speak there than it makes me a car because I walk into my garage.

As for the "spreadsheet" argument, it is shocking, but these kids cannot even add/subtract/ or multiply basic numbers BECAUSE they "let the computer do it." But if you don't have the theory as to how to find the angle of a plane, all the computers in the world won't solve the problem for you.

At UD, we have a STRONG committment to "overseas" and "foreign" experiences, but I find that it is like a sponge bath. These kids don't LEARN cultures, yet they think they have "experienced" them.

Sorry, I wish I had better news, but the students I have observed, PARTICULARLY IN THE LAST 6-7 years, have gotten progressively WORSE---VERY shallow. Minute-task oriented, but little creativity of thought, and NO intellectual inqusitiveness. When I taught high school seniors in the early 1980s, they were much better!

[Axenolith]

Most appalling is the fact that he cannot write. He has to print everything and that is acceptable.

While the lack of knowledge is bad, what the heck does not being able to write (I'm assuming cursive) have to do with the price of tea in China? I detested cursive in early elementary school, and my refusal to learn it was going to get me held back until my mom had a meeting and laid down the law.

While I can write in cursive, its not pretty, but for damn sure everyone can read my printed field notes now while I have to have a translator for some of the chicken scratch "writing" I have to plow through.

[A2J]

Me thinks your over-hyped, knowledge-deficient college degreed ego has been bruised by the truth, eh?

[conservativemusician]

My left-handed chicken scratch is somewhat akin to heiroglyphics and I happily inflict upon everyone.LOL

Quality penmanship is not necessarily an indication of one's education. :)