College Seniors No More Knowledgeable Than 1950s High School Grads

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

[cynicom]

Axen....

Well, I am old, in the 30s, if you did not write, you did not pass. Everyone learned how to write cursive. Perhaps it was all wrong but it was mandatory, we all did it, and I think it has been a great help in communications for many years.

Learning to write was one of the requirements.

[ladylib]

And it's precisely the reason we should never let Hillary Clinton get any further than she has politically. The woman is dangerous.

Does anyone know what Hillary stands for? Has she ever said publically? When she was running for Senator from NY, no one could get near enough to her to ask her an unscripted question. All her press conferences and appearances were staged. Recently, she was on a Sunday morning talk program, and I read somewhere that questions were submitted to her beforehand.

She scares the hell out of me.

[Iowa Granny]

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.

I remember that, too.

[gaspar]

Sam Adams, you yourself have a poor grasp of history! The fifties were not a time of pot-smoking, acid-dropping, and hip-hopping. It was the first generation in American history whose students, born of working parents, could study and grasp the opportunity that higher education offered.

Can you imagine? Tuition at the University of California school system was little more than $100 a year. State schools like San Jose State and Fresno State, were just a little more. The explosion of junion colleges (not the ersatz community colleges of today) were affordable, and were often the preferred means of beginning the route to a BA. Thus the fifties generation was the most highly educated group of young people in American history.

The difference between then and now is that those students cherished their opportunity to advance. Today's kids think higher education is a right, as is the right not to fail. It is a significant difference.

Oh, and by the way, a "student loan" was unheard of, and "working one's way through college" was so common it was taken for granted.

[ladylib]

Education used to be based on the trivium -- grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Classical education is becoming more and more popular, especially with homeschoolers. Maybe public schools should implement it.

[lonestar]

I will say that I would rather be a kid today then a kid in the 1950s. I think kids today have far better opportunities available to them.

Having been a kid in the '50s, and living in the same town, with a lot of the same people, (and now their grandchildren) I wouldn't trade places.

We walked to town after school to the drug store and played the jukebox for a nickel. We drank cokes; didn't snif it. Today the drug stores with fountains are gone; if they were there the kids wouldn't walk to them. We enjoyed being kids with no pressure to be little adults. We stole watermelons out of the field at night!

I remember seeing a TV for the first time; having an air-conditioned house and car for the first time.I have a brother 14 years my junior. Things changed drastically during the years I graduated from high school and when he did in '71. I wouldn't have traded places with him.

The 50s were just a good time for everybody--kids and adults alike. (All other things considered) The time between Korea and Viet Nam. It was the best of times.

And we had a president who spent most of his time playing golf and having heart-attacks.

"Better opportunities" is relative. Like kids today, we had the opportunity to be anything we wanted to be and had the smarts to be.

I understand your point about "rose-colored glasses" but with the 50s, I think it was more than that. It was the "calm before the storm." Better known as the 60s. LOL!

[ikka]

Education used to be based on the trivium -- grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Nowadays, it is based on the trivial [/rimshot]

[Aquinasfan]

Where have we seen this in recent history.

I noticed that one too. Creepy, isn't it?

[Red Jones]

but what about their self-esteem?

[fqued]

A thought experiment:

In 1950, the information on which these questions were based was essentially the scope of general knowledge.

In 2002, the information on which these questions is based is, let's say, approximately four times as large (virtually all that we know about the solar system was learned in the last twenty years, the same is true, more or less, for a variety of fields of knowledge).

Therefore, a college grad in 2002 who gets the same score as a 1950's high school grad should have four times the general knowledge.

A second thought experiment:

What did people do in the 1950's? Sports, read newspapers and books, watched black and white television (after 1954), and played board games.

What does the average youth do in 2002? Sports (some), reads printed matter (some), watches television, AND plays highly interactive computer games, often with people from around the world, searches the Web (explain that to a person in 1950), etc, etc, etc.

conclusion: that which defines an educated or knowledgeable person in 1950 is different than that which defines such a person in 2002.

Third thought experiment . . .well, you get the idea.

[lonestar]

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

We were smart enough not to have telemarketers! :)

[PJ-Comix]

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.

Now you know why I hate when the Today Show broadcasts its "Where In The World Is Matt Lauer?" bilge.

[js1138]

And could they really deconstruct postmodernist symbology in the extant canon?

[conservativemusician]

You are absolutely right.

The woman is a socialist.

We need a strong candidate to unseat her in '06. Lazio was a nice guy, but couldn't mount a strong campaign.

[PJ-Comix]

The 50s were just a good time for everybody--kids and adults alike.

But what was with those HORRIBLE haircuts? Take a look at the old pics. In the early 50s they had quite good haircuts but sometime in the mid to late 50s, all of a sudden there was a plethora of those horrible short crewcuts. The worst were the flattop haircuts with that "white skunk tail" down the middle.

[conservativemusician]

Too creepy.

Hitler was a student of Prussian history?

[conservativemusician]

Hey, my father was proud of his flat top!LOL

[dogbyte12]

Part of the flaw in testing kids now as opposed to then, is differing values on what is important to learn. I know people who make a ton of money, who wouldn't be able to answer these questions, but have very good degrees in math, sciences, computer science.

You were expected to have a broader education back then, but for now, it can be a hinderance. If you are taking electives in humanities, while your potential competitor is loading up on the hard science classes, you may be more rounded, but they may have better real world tools to compete with you for a job.

Sure, your personality might suffer, but that is what the Liberal Arts grads in the Human Resources are there for to smooth out ;)

Btw, I knew all 15 answers, and yes, I was a liberal arts major.

[PJ-Comix]

Well, I am old, in the 30s, if you did not write, you did not pass. Everyone learned how to write cursive. Perhaps it was all wrong but it was mandatory, we all did it, and I think it has been a great help in communications for many years.

That's because President Jackson back then put such an emphasis on good penmanship.

[PJ-Comix]

Hey, my father was proud of his flat top!LOL

It's really strange. If you look at the photos of the early 50s almost all the men had really good haircuts. Then suddenly sometime in the mid 50s all those horrible ultra-short haircuts kicked in. Virtually ALL jocks back then started wearing crewcuts or flattops. Maybe it was the Johnny Unitas influence?