Is "dumb down" common in our society?

[Calliope]

Are you being serious? Are schools really not teaching basic reading and writing these days?

A neighbour of mine has a son who managed to complete 12 years at school without learning anything useful at all. His father thinks this requires some dedication, but I think he was ably assisted in his endeavours by his teachers and the public school system.

Oh, by the way, he is a dab hand at text messaging.

 

[rub92me]

A teacher I know that spent over 30 years in the profession (from 1960 to 1992) even then made the observation that students appeared to become dumber every year no matter how hard she tried to teach them. Things haven't improved since apparently. cu l8ter

 

[Happy]

A teacher I know that spent over 30 years in the profession (from 1960 to 1992) even then made the observation that students appeared to become dumber every year no matter how hard she tried to teach them.

Often argument is: why learn if you can Google it?

 

[Captain G]

This is all so true!! I'm a teacher in the secondary school system (23yrs) and kids ability to retain information is getting worst, especially in the last 5 or so years. I've had "why do I have to remember something, when I can look it up" stated to me many times by students. Thinking critically is becoming a real challenge. Unless, a task/ activity is viewed as entertaining or amusing, you face an instant up hill battle. Curiosity & actual thinking are almost dirty words.

To prove a few of these issues, I gave some of my classes test questions from early to mid 70's past exam papers. Nearly all failed, for they are a lot harder then what we have today, because you have to retain knowledge. I have friends who lecture in the tertiary system, and they find their students (hate to use the term) by they are are "dumber". Their is a lot PC in schools, where to possiblity highlight the inadequacies of a student, can be viewed as crushing their self esteem. You have to focus on what a student can do, not what they can't, something a do agree, but it goes to far, especially in school reports, so where whether a student produces a good or poor performance, it's all wonderful !! Therefore we have students come out of 11 or so yrs of schooling unable to read, write or do simple maths etc.

I do have some excellent students, but they are shrinking, with the middle learner is declining. Take HSC maths classes, over 80% are doing general maths (the lowest level) today, 10 yrs ago 40%, 20 yrs 20%!!

Yes, we have an information revolution, BUT this does not equal a knowledge revolution.

 

[rub92me]

This is all so true!! I'm a teacher in the secondary school system (23yrs) and kids ability to retain information is getting worst, especially in the last 5 or so years. I've had "why do I have to remember something, when I can look it up" stated to me many times by students. Thinking critically is becoming a real challenge. Unless, a task/ activity is viewed as entertaining or amusing, you face an instant up hill battle. Curiosity & actual thinking are almost dirty words.

To prove a few of these issues, I gave some of my classes test questions from early to mid 70's past exam papers. Nearly all failed, for they are a lot harder then what we have today, because you have to retain knowledge. I have friends who lecture in the tertiary system, and they find their students (hate to use the term) by they are are "dumber". Their is a lot PC in schools, where to possiblity highlight the inadequacies of a student, can be viewed as crushing their self esteem. You have to focus on what a student can do, not what they can't, something a do agree, but it goes to far, especially in school reports, so where whether a student produces a good or poor performance, it's all wonderful !! Therefore we have students come out of 11 or so yrs of schooling unable to read, write or do simple maths etc.

I do have some excellent students, but they are shrinking, are the students getting smaller as well?? with the middle learner is declining. Take HSC maths classes, over 80% are doing general maths (the lowest level) today, 10 yrs ago 40%, 20 yrs 20%!!

Yes, we have an information revolution, BUT this does not equal a knowledge revolution.

Sorry to do this, but there are so many obvious spelling errors, punctuation issues and jarring grammar in the above that I'm tempted to say that the problem may not just be the students. I pointed out a few above without trying to find them all.

 

[Calliope]

Sorry to do this, but there are so many obvious spelling errors, punctuation issues and jarring grammar in the above that I'm tempted to say that the problem may not just be the students. I pointed out a few above without trying to find them all.

I think you have put your finger on the problem. Our present day teachers had bad teachers. God knows what the next generation of teachers will be like. It's a nightmare for those parents who are really interested in their kids' educations. It's the majority who don't care that let the education system get away with it.

 

[chops_a_must]

It's a nightmare for those parents who are really interested in their kids' educations.

Give them a book and surround them with such things like most parents seemed to do back in the day.

 

[algis]

I witness "dumbing down" in our society by the need for leaders with a black and white approach to action and speech. I'm referring to the plain, simple logic spouted by people such as John Laws and George Bush. The effectiveness of the simple that is filled with authority and conviction does it for most of the populace: "you are with us or you are against us", references to "the evil-doers" etc. This Palin comes to mind. Or Pauline Hanson. How simple the world appears to be to those people. Tabloid news. Whilst tabloid news has been around for eons, tabloid-news-speaking world leaders surely haven't? Tell me if I'm might be wrong?

 

[chops_a_must]

Whilst tabloid news has been around for eons, tabloid-news-speaking world leaders surely haven't? Tell me if I'm might be wrong?

Carthago delenda est...

 

[Wysiwyg]

There must be some economic/educational/theoretically decided principle at work here, because I notice that the stuff coming out of most HR departments is that they only want to train staff to the bare minimum, anything beyond the bare minimum is skills that they can take to other jobs.So you can see the pattern emerging, you'd be advised to stay informed.

Exactly my point and also the threat imagined (maybe more so with an economic downturn ??) of job security and the next bloke knowing more.Job security is BIG for many people as they have chosen debt and family responsibilites.

I suppose it`s one of those inherent survival tapes that are no longer useful and is mostly based on fear.

Carthago delenda est...

Carthage ... Romans .... Punic War

 

[bluelabel]

Good morning,

I have strong opinions on this "dumbing down" of society, but am not convinced that it is a deliberate dumbing down. This is only a theory, but, I believe that it is just laziness on society’s behalf that is leading to this dumbing down of people. We now live in an age where people are 'time poor' and as a result are living conveniently. People you aren't time poor, everyone has the same amount of time; it is what you do with your time that counts.

Myself, I invest my time in educating myself and my family and spending time with them. Both my wife and I constantly have ourselves enrolled in some sort of course and we make time for each other every single day. The thing that gets me the most is these fools that say they don’t have time to cook a decent meal for their family and thus live off the golden arches or the colonel are the one’s that complain, "I'm fat, somebody should pay me to lose weight" (xoa). People if you don’t have time to cook and provide the basic source of nutrition for your family, change jobs, quit the Thursday night tennis group or better still, turn the TV off and provide your family with a basic right. And let’s not get started on this ‘financial crisis.’ You voted for the capitalist system, you lived in it, you invested in it, you knew the risks, you paid the execs $30 mill a year to earn you your 3 cents per share, you lost your money, no one should have to guarantee anything. Pony up and accept your dues.

This you may be asking does not relate to dumbing down, but I feel it does. It is the attitudes that go along with this style of thinking that leads to the dumbing down of society. People are willing to take short cuts any way they possibly can to get somewhere in life, and if it means not having to do a 3 second grade 6 calculation to work out the power output of a grid in megawatts then why do it. The attitude is this; ‘I don’t understand that, put it in simple terms that I can comprehend. I like to know how many houses a power plant can power.’

My personal opinion is, I don’t understand how many houses a power plant can power, to me there are too many variables involved in thinking that. A simple look down my street confirms this. I live in a standard three bedroom 1970’s brick veneer home, yet a walk down the other end of the street reveals 7 or 8 bedroom mini mansions with 3 car garage, feature garden lighting with a swimming pool and spa. Just a hunch, but I feel I can safely say my place doesn’t use as much power as that. Which leads me to ask, whose house are referring to with that power plant, mine or the other one?

My point in all of this is that people need to recognise that all it takes to contribute to a smarter, more ‘comprehensive,’ I mean that in a mental way, not as a whole, society is take 5 minutes out of your busy day and smell the roses, spend time with your family and use your brain in a more effective manner, instead of thinking how I can shortcut my way around this.

:bier:

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