[lbo-talk] 'American kids, dumber than dirt'

[Miles Jackson]

Carl Remick wrote:
> [Hmm, I dunno -- the US has showed an impressive capacity to turn out
> big piles of idiots throughout its history, so I suspect Mark Morford
> may be a bit alarmist here.]
>
> American kids, dumber than dirt
> Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots
> in U.S. history
>
>   
To put it bluntly, this whole article is anecdotal bullshit.  As I've 
noted before, the historical trend is irrefutable: more and more people 
are receiving more and more formal education, and every generation of U. 
S. adults outperforms the previous generation on standardized IQ tests.  
The persistence of this "kids nowadays are idiots" trope fascinates 
me--perhaps because it demonstrates the sloppy, anecdotal reasoning of 
the people who position themselves as intellectually "superior" to the 
"kids".  (Physician, heal thyself!)

Miles