School Is Dead

The public education system is dead. As a professor, I can no longer expect students to have any basic skills. Apparently nothing is taught in the K-12 system. Students cannot write. They can barely read. Any text with a vocabulary above a fourth grade level gives them apoplexy. They have absolutely no reasoning skills. Nor do they have any rudimentary acquaintance with basic history or culture. They cannot tell me anything significant about The Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, often confusing the two. They do not know anything of the Second Amendment, John Adams, Republicanism, John Locke, The Federalists, US Grant, Reconstruction, the Cold War, or the Soviet Union. They think the 50s was a time of hatred marked by McCarthy. They think the 60s was the age of enlightenment.

Instead of real knowledge, they are filled with a vague sense of feel good, anti-competitive values, an attitude that makes them believe that they deserve to pass a class if they show up once and awhile. They feel abused if asked to spend time reading or writing. Their writing, more often than not, is copied from Wikipedia. They feel rather than think and they react rather than act. Class rules are ignored. If I enforce the rules from the syllabus, students argue to the point of absurdity. If they don't win the argument they complain to the department chair.

Armed with no knowledge and less common sense, they are quick to argue a point they know nothing about. They often cite their favorite talk show host, the news media or movies as a source of information. They have no standard of judgment, no absolute authority of culture or history. Instead, they rely on the vagueries fed them by teachers who themselves never learned to read or write: Western civilization is somehow the worst system of culture and values ever invented. Religion is debunked and considered a mental aberration. Race, class, and gender are somehow important, though they can't explain why. Abortion is normal. The highest moral value is the right to choose. Global warming will soon kill us off.

Isms and studies have taken the place of real classes in college. Since classes based on outdated ideals of Western Civilization are no longer deemed appropriate, all that's offered in social and cultural sciences are "studies in" classes: women's studies, black studies, culture studies, movie studies, race studies. All students learn from these classes is to parrot back what the teacher says and with the right attitude. Having the wrong attitude in a studies class will, of course get you a failing grade.

Faculty are under pressure to "utilize" the most current theories of teaching, whether they work or not, whether they are proven or not. It is sufficient that teachers use the newest and most "innovative" approaches because they are "cutting edge." This has the effect of solidifying form and execution over substance. Not that students would recognize substance any longer.

So what's the solution? I have no idea. But I feel better having shared my feelings with the rest of the class.