My students today are much less obnoxious. Much more likable than I and my friends used to be, but they are so ignorant that it’s hard to accept how ignorant they are. You tell yourself stories; it’s very hard to grasp that the person you’re talking to, who is bright, articulate, advisable, interested, and doesn’t know who Beethoven is. Had no view looking back at the history of the 20th century – just sees a fog. A blank. Has the vaguest idea of who Winston Churchill was or why he mattered. And maybe has no image of Teddy Roosevelt, let’s say, at all. I mean, these are people who – We have failed.I try to fix that when I teach, but it is an uphill battle.
Monday, July 13, 2015
This Is Scary
From an interview with a college professor:
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Their ignorance is not nearly as scary as what they think that they know.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was not "failure" per se that created this.
ReplyDeleteIt was intentional.
I've encountered this ignorance on the subject of marriage. A lot of people think marriage is all about notarized companionship and collecting government privileges and nothing else. Such people have no concept of what marriage was prior to the dominance of the Sexual Revolution, that it was meant to discipline our default sexual orientation, that (shamelessly paraphrasing JFK) it's more about what you can do for society rather than what society can do for you.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of religion, one myth associated with historic blindness that I've encountered is the notion that it is an essentially individualist activity that one does in private away from the public square. (Heh, after typing that I noticed how it parallels the modern marriage myth.) Many youngsters seem to fail to grasp the degree to which religion (whether public- or private-sector) function as a communitarian endeavor. It's not just about "Oh, I have my beliefs."
Teddy Roosevelt was that one guy on the horse in Night At The Museum right? Yeah, the one played by Robin Williams
ReplyDeleteWhy is Yale considered an elite institution?
ReplyDelete