"…A few decades ago, I began to notice that many of the recently minted college graduates I was working with had surprisingly wide gaps in essential cultural and historical knowledge. Casual conversations revealed no idea who Dante was, what William the Conqueror conquered or what happened at the Appomattox Courthouse, to cite just a few real examples. What made these revelations so surprising and even paradoxical was that these folks were generally very smart and had attended some of America's best universities. I have encountered this phenomenon so often since then that I'm no longer surprised when it occurs.
This is troubling on a number of levels, starting with the well-worn but valid notion that good citizenship and by extension democratic self-government hinge upon our population having an understanding of our common culture and history and the governing institutions that grew out of them. As Winston Churchill said, "A nation that forgets its past has no future."
But most of us no longer know much about our past. Even though more Americans are going to college than ever before, another recent survey showed that only 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. would pass a basic citizenship test. And as we've seen in recent weeks on campuses around the country, a knowledge vacuum can easily be filled with dangerous ideas…"
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/4297586-americans-are-very-well-schooled-well-educated-is-another-matter/View the article + more on Flipboard.
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#10
ReplyDeleteThe other day I saw someone say that of money was no issue they would get as many degrees as they could. Half of the problem is that we have to monetize everything and we've seen it slowly take down our society. The smartest kids In my class I've seen have to put college on hold because they didn't have the money. Another issue this causes is the value we put into certain topics. Math and science are considered far better degrees than humanities or art degrees. Even english has been nicknamed the "degree for people who don't know what they want to do" We are effectively using money to kill culture at this point. Yes you have to make a living, but because we can't these degrees will get less and less popular and grade schools will stop talking about them.
#11
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the education we receive in school (from pre-k to high School) might be informative and helpful to those that choose to go to college since it prepares them for the advanced subjects that will be covered, but not informative in a practical, everyday way. I think that schools should focus more on teaching basic necessities that everyone should know such as the law and history of America as mentioned. Although some things learned in school are used every day, I would argue that a lot of it is never utilized, and schools could do better in this sense.