[lbo-talk] U.S. working class: functionally literate

[louis kontos]

i can't comment on fields like law and medicine. i can say that the 
social sciences have become dismal enough to put into question the 
reason for their existence -- which is maybe a good thing. they are 
dismally taught for the most part because the format is now too 
narrowly vocational, and the relevant fields are overly specialized 
while no less ideological than they were ever. also, the fact that 
greater parts of the working class now have access to some form of 
secondary education is not, in my view, necessarily anything to 
celebrate; not when they're required to gain academic credentials to 
earn even a mediocre living; not when they incur huge debt in the 
process; not when the colleges and universities they attend more 
closely resemble factories day by day.
i don't believe that american education has gone from good to bad but 
bad to worse.

On Mar 4, 2005, at 11:31 AM, Miles Jackson wrote:


>
>
> On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, louis kontos wrote:
>
>> 20 years ago, when i was a graduate student, you could assign eight 
>> or ten books in practically any course at any decent university. good 
>> luck trying that now anywhere. this is not to blame the kids; rather, 
>> the whole system is rotting from inside.
>>
>
> It seems like every older generation loves the "these young whipper-
> snappers don't know anything" rant (this goes back all the way to
> ancient Greece!).  The historical trend in fact clearly contradicts
> this claim of academic deterioration: IQ performance is up, more
> students are receiving more formal education, more students are
> exposed to the rigors of graduate education and professional
> training in fields like medicine and law than in any previous
> generation.  Keep in mind it's a relatively recent phenomenon
> for the mass population in the U. S. to earn a high school
> diploma, much less a college degree.
>
> To put it bluntly, people are looking at the past through
> rose-tinted glasses: you're comparing how things are now to
> a past that never existed.
>
> Miles
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