Incisive and provocative analysis first published by Global Research in August 2003.
You might think that reading about a Podunk University’s English teacher’s attempt to connect the dots between the poverty of American education and the gullibility of the American public may be a little trivial, considering we’ve embarked on the first, openly-confessed imperial adventure of senescent capitalism in the US, but bear with me. The question my experiences in the classroom raise is why have these young people been educated to such abysmal depths of ignorance.
“I don’t read,” says a junior without the slightest self-consciousness. She has not the smallest hint that professing a habitual preference for not reading at a university is like bragging in ordinary life that one chooses not to breathe. She is in my “World Literature” class…
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Dumbing down has been going on for a long time: I for example cannot recall being taught to read at school. What I do recall is joining a library at an early age and teaching myself. We were taught math with cards that had five spots top and bottom – like dominoes. Never been any good at math. I note that many UK libraries have been shut down lately. (Neo-liberalism: If it don’t make a buck destroy it) There has been much on TV about the loss of skills, a shortage of engineers etc.. Manufacturing at an all-time low.
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Sure has been dumbed down. Quite an achievement teaching yourself!
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https://thecommonsenseshow.com/activism-agenda-21-conspiracy/globalists-are-declaring-victory-something-big-coming
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Pam Vernon, what are your thoughts on the matter of the demands for tuition-free college that some people make?
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There was a time (pre Rogernomics before the neoliberals began to profiteer off education, housing, poverty, homelessness & people in general) that we could easily afford higher education. To put into context, that was the era when we still had our sovereignty, our national assets, we had full employment so people could afford education, we had trade training where you earned while you learnt, everybody was housed & little to no poverty. In that context there is no demand for everything, prospering country & the ability to pay for tuition well within reach. Those are my thoughts ragnarsbhut. What are yours? 🙂
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Pam Vernon, “free” public college should be provided as a reward for service to one’s country. Otherwise, people who actively demand free public college should wake up and smell the coffee. No person owes anybody who demands free college that thing, period.
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Don’t we all do service to our country? It used to be called work and taxes as I recall.
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Agree cadxx. The roundabout point I was making. The problem currently of course is with those running the ship so to speak. Those who AVOID taxes & tax most of us at a higher rate than the wealthy.
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The idle rich.
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Cadxx and Pam Vernon, outside of something being legitimately free, all of the “free” stuff that people want will have to be paid for somehow. Why can’t these people who want to pursue higher education work for that goal?
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in my country ragnarsbhut they are indeed paying… thousands of people with loans up to $100K. They will pay you can rest assured of that. The main beneficiaries of course are the banks if you had not noticed they create this funding out of thin air & charge you interest. No nothing is free for sure.
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Pam Vernon, what country do you live in?
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New Zealand ragnarsbhut
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Pam Vernon, I live in the U.S.A., a place that I think is great in many ways. There are some ways it could be improved, however, life is pretty good here in my opinion.
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That’s good to hear ragnarsbhut
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Pam Vernon, if a college education was an absolute must to be a success story in life, what does that say about people who do not go to college and yet are very successful in their lives? Unless provided as a reward for service to one’s country, most demands for free college by some people indicate a sense of laziness and being unwilling to work for what they want.
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I agree on the success thoughts. Absolutely college isn’t a measure of success at all. The system has promoted that thought.
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Pam Vernon, if I wanted to learn a trade, trade school would be the route I would take. Most colleges/universities are not teaching people how to think, just what to think.
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that would be true 🙂
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Pam Vernon, a college education seems fine and good. Having said that, a vocational school would probably be better in the long run.
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