Learning to be Stupid in the Culture of Cash

[reprehensor]

http://www.marchforjustice.com/8.8.03.learning.php

By Luciana Bohne

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. She has to read novels by African, Latin American, and Asian authors. She is not there by choice: it's just a "distribution" requirement for graduation, and it's easier than philosophy -she thinks.

The novel she has trouble reading is Isabel Allende's "Of Love and Shadows," set in the post-coup terror of Pinochet's junta's Nazi-style regime in Chile, 1973-1989. No one in the class, including the English majors, can write a focused essay of analysis, so I have to teach that. No one in the class knows where Chile is, so I make photocopies of general information from world guide surveys. No one knows what socialism or fascism is, so I spend time writing up digestible definitions. No one knows what Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" is, and I supply it because it's impossible to understand the theme of the novel without a basic knowledge of that work - which used to be required reading a few generations ago. And no one in the class has ever heard of 11 September 1973, the CIA-sponsored coup which terminated Chile's mature democracy. There is complete shock when I supply US de-classified documents proving US collusion with the generals' coup and the assassination of elected president, Salvador Allende.

Geography, history, philosophy, and political science - all missing from their preparation. I realize that my students are, in fact, the oppressed, as Paulo Freire's "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed" pointed out, and that they are paying for their own oppression. So, I patiently explain: no, our government has not been the friend of democracy in Chile; yes, our government did fund both the coup and the junta torture-machine; yes, the same goes for most of Latin America. Then, one student asks, "Why?" Well, I say, the CIA and the corporations run roughshod over the world in part because of the ignorance of the people of the United States, which apparently is induced by formal education, reinforced by the media, and cheered by Hollywood. As the more people read, the less they know and the more indoctrinated they become, you get this national enabling stupidity to attain which they go into bottomless pools of debt. If it weren't tragic, it would be funny.

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[Warpy]

1. Colleges are glorified trade schools these days

...for aspiring yuppie types who eventually want to slide into a job within middle management and a comvortable, nonstimulating life. Don't expect a love of learning from these kids. It's a completely foreign concept to most of them, who prefer the acquisition of concrete objects to the acquisition of understanding.

It's really sad.

[libbygurl]

2. Amen! Very sad, this sociopolitical apathy of a generation entertained

to death. The fact that a certain university booed at a commencement speech by an antiwar dissenter shocked me (can't recall details, a story on Salon early last year). Universities used to be the hotbeds of political idealism, weren't they?

Materialism, not idealism, seems to be the catchword of this generation, raised on MTV and the ambition to be cool.

See the late Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death". Just one factor in the widespread apathy in general US society.

These are the future leaders of the USA.

[NJCher]

3. impressive piece

And all the more so because such writing is from someone who is, admittedly, at Podunk U. This is what impressive educational qualifications achieve in America: a post in "wherever." There are so few opportunities for educated people in America.

I could identify with how she has to put together all the pieces for the students to understand the work of literature. And that even after all that, they are unable to write an essay that focuses on one point and analyzes.

I also identified with the student from a foreign country who had only been here three weeks and wrote the best essay in the entire class. I see that all the time. The foreign students laugh at our educational system.


Cher

[RoyGBiv]

4. Living in the Cave

Thanks for that. It really hit home. I hope a personal anecdote is not out of order.

I still fondly remember my intro to political science class as one of the best classes I ever took in college. It was taught by a formerly tenured professor from Purdue who'd grown disgusted with the politics (irony) of high profile educational institutions and dealing with students who were there just to get paid, not actually learn anything meaningful. He eventually "retired" to a small regional university that could be aptly named Podunk U, and while he didn't find a great difference in the majority of his students, he said he at least had the time to get to know his students more intimately and thus form relationships with those who actually cared something about education. Plus, he felt he did occasionally make an impact on the other variety of student, because he had the luxury of not worrying about "publish or die" mandates, instructed smaller classes, and thus time to deal with his students directly. He regularly took those students who were not doing well aside, outside of class, and tried to help them.

The first two weeks of the course were devoted almost exclusively to the _Allegory of the Cave_, and while the majority of the students didn't understand the relationship to political science at the time -- and some never did -- it set the perfect preface to the full semester.

It was a wonderful course, and Professor McClure was a wonderful professor. I'd take his classes in my spare time for pure intellectual stimulation if the man were still teaching.

My favorite quote from him, which I scribbled in my notes at the time and still save, is "Don't just read; read well. Don't just read books; read good books."

[Jim__]

5. Does everyone accept this as true?

I don't doubt that the author is giving her honest perceptions. It's been a long while since I've been to college, so, my question is for people with contemporary experience, is this the way you see today's college student too?

I wonder sometimes. When I was in college, had a professor told me about a Central American coup that happened 30 years ago, would I have been familiar with it? In most cases, I don't think so. Was I familiar with Plato's Allegory of the Cave? I knew the story in very general terms. Could I have explained it to the satisfaction of a college professor? I don't think so.

What I'm trying to say is when I went to college I think I was generally ignorant of the ways of the world, of history, philosophy, political science. Somewhere along the way my interest was piqued and I've been reading and thinking ever since. I've been doing this for longer than most college students have been alive, so I would expect that I have significantly more knowledge than they do. My knowledge is not an accurate reflection on their attitudes toward education and knowledge.

Do people think there is a sea change in today's students' outlook? Or, is it just the normal apathy that most young people feel toward education?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. College has changed

and the dividing line was the Reagan administration.

Before that, the normal path was to major in whatever liberal art interested you and take a wide variety of distribution requirements. When you graduated, companies such as banks would hire you and put you through their own training program.

I went to a "Podunk" school, even though it was located in a city, and we had to take two terms of writing, three terms of world history, two terms of literature, a year of lab science, political science or economics, philosophy, sociology, one other social science course of our choice, three religion courses, and one fine arts course selected from art, music, or theater. That was in addition to our major.

By the time I got into teaching ten years later and came back to the same school, companies had stopped hiring anyone but business majors, and the vast majority of the students were majoring in business--unless they were majoring in computer science or pre-med. Because of this, the business department began to call the shots and demanded a reduction in the general ed requirements so that the future young capitalists could be thoroughly trained in the ways of corporate America by graduation.

They also told the business majors which courses they had to take to fulfill their (greatly reduced) general ed requirements. This caused tremendous imbalances in the curriculum as certain courses were packed and others were canceled for lack of enrollment.

Other faculty members told me that students were actually afraid to take something that wasn't business or computer science.

At other schools later on, I found the business majors to be uninformed, unimaginative, and generally not the best students. I taught Japanese, mostly to business majors, and I had to start off each new beginning class with a lesson about where Japan is, and no, it's not the same as China or Korea. I wanted the students to know that there was a whole complex country connected with those giant corporations, so I required culture credits each term, in which the students had to do things like read a Japanese novel in translation, see a Japanese movie, go to an exhibit of Japanese art, or something on that order, with different point values assigned to different activities.

Students would come up to me and say, "I want to do something connected with Japanese business for my culture credits."

And I would say, "There's more to Japan than just business. Here's a whole shelf of books on Japanese culture and society."

And they would grumble.

By the time I got out of academia, I no longer believed in what I was doing.

[Jim__]

10. Thanks for the answer

I appreciate you taking the time.

You say that it began with Reagan. But, I went to college in the late 60's early 70's. One of the complaints of students at the time were the academic requirements, complaints along the lines of, "If I want to major in political science, why do I have to take a year of mathematics." As I remember, we mostly won those fights; requirements were tremendously loosened. One year of English might still be required, but, the particular courses you took to fulfill that requirement became completely optional.

Looking back, I might agree that we should require students to meet requirements in various departments. But, then, I also think that if students are not interested in the subject matter; making them take and pass a course is probably futile.

There is some hope. In her essay, Professor Bohne talks about Shelley:

The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote that, in the rapacity that the industrial revolution created, people first surrendered their minds or the capacity to reason, then their hearts or the capacity to empathize, until all that was left of the original human equipment was the senses or their selfish demands for gratification. At that point, humans entered the stage of market commodities and market consumers--one more thing in the commercial landscape. Without minds or hearts, they are instrumentalized to buy whatever deadens their clamoring and frightened senses--official lies, immoral wars, Barbies, and bankrupt educations.

Shelley's been dead for almost 200 years. Yet, most of the people on this board appear to be interested in more than just consumerism. Maybe the young need time to adjust. Hopefully, as they mature, the young develop broader interests.

I'm sorry to hear that you left academia.

[hatrack]

13. I'll second that emotion

When I was in grad school at a large midwestern state university, I worked as a GTA for a couple of years. I taught Eastern Civ., and it was an eye-opening experience.

What struck me most wasn't the attitude of students in my classes - some were bored stiff, some were genuinely interested in learning more about Japan and China, and most seemed content to plow the narrow furrow which would give them the grade they needed to get the requisite credit (ECiv was part of the general education curriculum).

No, what hit me between the eyes was the generally shocking inability of students to write - at all. Mind you, about two-thirds of those enrolled were juniors and seniors, and about 70% of the papers and essays I read were the biggest dog's breakfast of illogic, incoherence and just plain incomprehensible English I've ever seen. Some of my students had serious and recurring problems with subject-verb agreement, which was something I remember covering in about second grade or so. I remember in particular one student's paper. It contained a paragraph with two completely contradictory assertions within a sentence of each other. No matter how I tried to map it out, no matter how I tried to show that A precluded B and vice-versa(even to the point of drawing flow charts to demonstrate her illogic), she just didn't get it, and the harder I tried to explain, the more indignant she became.

Bad writing = bad thinking, or no thinking.

[reprehensor]

14. Sounds like Freepers.

"...what hit me between the eyes was the generally shocking inability of students to write - at all."

Them Freepers cant write like normal people or make senetecnes too cohernt or spell or things like that.

[NJCher]

9. to answer your question, Jim___

..is this the way you see today's college student too?

Not entirely but it's still a pretty bleak situation but there is one bright spot.

I teach writing at a private university where rich Republicans send their dysfunctional kids (one positive is the students generally see through bush). Last semester I had the pleasure of teaching a couple additional writing courses at my technical alma mater (in addition to my regular course load at the private university). This is a technical university made up of six schools--engineering, architecture, computer science, etc. It is considered to be the best technical education our state offers.

There are more immigrants at the technical university than at the private university and I must say, what a relief and what a difference (this is the "bright spot"). The immigrant students are very focused and have a strong desire to learn and succeed. They see through the phoniness and hype of American culture. They don't buy into it and even at their young age, they have gone through transformative experiences. An example is how many of the immigrant students realized the psychological danger that comes from being addicted to computer games and how they broke their addiction. Contrast that to the American students. Those students were still addicted and what's worse, were even feeding their addiction further. They knew they were addicted but didn't care.

The students at the private university--forget it. It is a matter of character. I get the feeling they are so corrupt that they are almost not worth bothering with. Their interests are booze, drugs and traveling to Barbados for spring break. The school offers substantial resources for this type of thing--psychological counseling, all types of intervention throughout the term to keep them from failing, drug and alcohol programs, extensive monitoring of drug and alcohol abuse (even to the point where they complain it's a "police state"). They are too self-involved to even care about concepts such as "globalism." Education is just something they do for four or five years (in many cases, six) until Daddy gets them a job. One can already see how the job path is laid out by how they pursue their internships. It's all contacts and connections. The kid himself really does very little other than show up at the appointed time and see the "contact." If you could see the types of companies these kids are primed to get into, you would gasp.

In regard to your question about whether you would have known about the coup, etc., it is not so much that we expect them to know but that we would like them to use their resources to at least investigate it so they could make even a clumsy or ham-handed reference to it in their papers. But as the professor in this article points out, they do not have the motivation or the resources to do it. That is why she has to go to the work of pulling all this together for them. They are trained in library research but they don't seem to make the connection between this training and integrating it into their day-to-day coursework.

When you insist they do it, they will do so but they act as if you've strapped six-ton boulders on their backs. Also, they will do it once or twice and that's it. They're worn out. Can't do any more.

So is there a "sea change" in students? More like a "sea change" in character that appears to be confined to Americans. Our salvation may lie in the children of immigrants.


Cher

[Jim__]

11. Thanks for your answer too!

I read your answer and it makes me think about our current trust-fund baby president. You contrast the children of rich Republicans with the immigrants at the technical university and say the immigrants are a bright spot. I often think that being born into a rich family may be a curse. The children of the rich don't have to struggle for anything; and so, seem not to appreciate anything.

But, your "bright spot" doesn't sound that hopeful either. You say, "The immigrant students are very focused and have a strong desire to learn and succeed." If they succeed, may we expect to find their children as the next generation at the private university? It seems like "success" in our system leads to failure.

Maybe our goal should be to be successful enough that we have some leisure time to appreciate the rewards that culture has to offer; but not be so successful that we don't have to struggle.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer.

[The Zanti Regent]

6. The ignorance of people under 35 scares me to death

I was an undergrad at Pitt during the mid 70s. We had to do distribution of studies throughout the college, so I know about thinks like Plato's cave, Zeno's Paradox, Theory of Relativity, Dostoevsky, Renaissance Art in addition to the economics I majored in.

You talk to anyone under 35, they haven't got a clue as to any of the things I mentioned. God save us from those who are dumbed down and those who did it (Prop 13 GOPers)...

[teryang]

7. My favorite subjects

History, political science, philosophy and geography.

I had a similar experience in May 1990. I was directed to give a one day presentation to a Senior Social Studies Class at a high school on a legal subject. I picked the death penalty. Couldn't generate any interest in this subject at all. It fell on dead ears so to speak. I was appalled.

To think they are all citizens now is somewhat frightening. It reminds me of the jurors who want to get to verdict in less than 30 minutes so that they can get home on time. The judge foolishly cautions them, now I'll leave it to you, we can adjourn now so that we may give this case due consideration tomorrow, or we can stay, it's now 4:25 and we'll stay until you're ready to go home for dinner or until you reach a verdict. They vote to stay. They go into the jury room. They vote to give the plaintiff nothing for his paralysed spine in 20 minutes, after a three day trial. The judge thanks them for their careful attention to the evidence.

[shrike]

12. I am very embarrassed to say I have never heard of Plato's

"Allegory of the Cave," and I have always considered myself a well-educated person. My late father left me his very large library, so I guess I have some reading to do.

[Mokito]

15. Isn't Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"

basically the story of a man sitting (tied up) in a cave, watching his own shadow playing on the wall. But he cannot move, thus he cannot see the light behind him that creates the shadow he his watching.

Meaning that the human mind can/will only see reflections/illusions (the shadow) of the whole, but is incapable/unwilling to see the bigger truth, the source that creates the shadow.

Could be I'm wrong about this.