The nature of humans is to be bright, curious and ambitious. If
Americans are growing up as woefully ignorant as polls suggest, the
question to ask is why.
The answer lies in an ancient law of
physics: Nothing happens without a reason. If young people begin school
bright, eager and hungry for knowledge and come out at the end of
school apathetic and apolitical, something is acting on them to make
them that way.
Bauerlein expresses amazement that, with every
opportunity in the world to learn, to act, to cause change, Americans
don't bother. The answer is that virtually every source of power in the
American republic is acting to deprive them of the belief that they can
change anything.
We're All Getting Dumber! Bahh!
Another Chicken Little joins the "technology is making us more ignorant" chorus and quotes from Morris Berman's "Dark Ages America." Remember that time when teenagers all read Proust and didn't waste their time with social nonsense? Those were real intellectual golden years, we're sure.
