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

[Miles Jackson]

Doug Henwood wrote:
> I hear things similar to what the article reported from a lot of  
> veteran HS and college teachers - poor preparation, lack of interest,  
> inability to read, write or think. When you hear the same thing over  
> & over again from people with long experience, you should ask just  
> what the IQ tests are measuring. That interview from Flynn that  
> Michael Pollak posted was interesting - the rising test scores are  
> mainly an artifact of changing modes of life and thought, and not a  
> reflection of what Miles thinks they are.
>
>   
But that's exactly what I think is going on: changing modes of life and 
thought.  In the midst of a huge historical trend in the direction of 
higher rates of participation in formal education and the diffusion of 
scientific modes of thought, we have the strange claim that people are 
more doltish than they were in the past.  Do not trust the anecdotes of 
teachers with long experience; they are prone to see past generations of 
students through rose-tinted glasses.  When the work of college students 
(say) has been compared over decades, there has been no abysmal drop in 
the quality of student performance.  In fact, in many academic areas, 
given what Flynn calls the diffusion of the "scientific mode" of 
thought, performance has dramatically improved.

I have to say that I'm just flummoxed that this "kids are so stupid 
nowadays" argument is so popular when there is so little rigorous 
evidence to support the claim.

Miles