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

[Miles Jackson]

Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Oct 29, 2007, at 7:59 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> 
>> I think I located the key in my response to Dennis Perrin: It is the
>> virus of radical indivualism that grounds capitalist ideology and
>> isolates intellectuals in their own little bubbles where they can sit
>> and sneer at everyone for not having exactly their own perspective on
>> everything.
> 
> Dennis was reporting what his high-school-age daughter said, and  
> Dennis himself is not some isolated professor. Aside from that,  
> you're really on target.

This is what bugs me: how on earth can a current-day high school 
student know whether or not the current generation of students is less 
motivated or intellectually capable than students in previous 
generations?  Answering this question requires rigorous scientific 
research, not random anecdotes.  The common-sense perceptions of 
current high school students and teachers are irrelevant.

Miles