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

[John Thornton]

bitch at pulpculture.org wrote:
>> I've heard this complaint from people as varied as a Frankfurt
>> Marxist professor of sociology at a NJ community college, a centrist
>> professor biology at a small college in southwestern Virginia, and a
>> high school teacher from a small town in Ohio. Why would all these
>> people be motivated to see a decline?
>>     
>
> they were saying it about your generation and the generation before that. I 
> was always of the mind that my profs were right -- about my classmates, not 
> me of course. Dumb and dumber. :) But what was interesting was to dig back 
> into the annals of sociology, where I happened to be doing research on the 
> sociology of sociology, to read the hand wringing over how stupe the 
> students were in the 50s. In the 60s. In the 70s. In the 80s.And then I 
> read a book, considering it for use in a soc class, when I read a chapter 
> on the history of decline narratives among teachers since the Greeks. 
> Hilarious.
>
> If we were getting dumber since the Greeks, we ought to be wiggling around 
> in the mud not just dumber than dirt but almost dirt.
>
> as for Miles, I might have him wrong (being younger 'n' all, I am probably 
> dumber than my elders, natch), but I always thought that is what he *has* 
> been saying -- precisely what the article is saying. Which I don't find 
> alarming.

The students I teach now are not dumber than previous students but they 
lack an ability to solve problems that they haven't faced before.
It's similar to the idea that "If it isn't on the test I don't need to 
learn it" writ large. It is mildly irksome but doesn't seem to be a 
great hurdle. They quickly learn what is required and adapt to that 
standard.
Schools teach different things than when I attended so these students 
might seem dumb if tested against the standard of that day but do 
alright against the standard which they should more properly be measured.
The poor grammar and spelling are simple reflections that standardized 
tests don't place a premium on these skills. This bothers me a bit since 
I believe it will be harmful in the long run but perhaps not. I've read 
the writings of their bosses when they get jobs and they are no better.

John Thornton