The dumbing down of America -there is no other way it can be put. This study puts an exclamation point on the election of Barack Obama, which many attribute to the "youth vote", in 2008. The ability to think critically is paramount when trying to analyze words and statements, especially when we are bombarded with information from so many sources. Politicians make speeches, filled with "facts", claims, hyperbole, and "promises", all to make voters want to vote for them, or not vote for the other candidate. Without the cognitive ability to sift the realistic fromthe fantastic, the fact from the opinion, we can allow ourselves to be swayed by a person who can be a very compelling speech-giver, but not recognize that there is virtually no substance to the speech. We are taken in by clever, poll-tested slogans. We don't hear what is being said, only how it is being delivered. This is dangerous. Dictators and despots have risen to power on their ability to rally the masses on clever slogans, empty promises, and a seeming ability to "connect" with their followers.
This study highlights a glaring problem in our universities - we are turning out educated idiots. This is not to say that the students themselves are stupid, or incapable of learning. It is that these universities, which are taking tens of thousands of dollars from these students if tuition, fees, books, housing and much more, should be charged with educational malpractice. We have all seen the videos, or read the stories where these "educators" are teaching there opinion on subjects, ridiculing students who disagree with them, and in some cases intimidating students. This is not education. It is re-education. The thing is: Is it intentional?
By Sara Rimer, The Hechinger Report
Last updatedTuesday, January 18, 2011 - 8:51am
NEW YORK -- An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn't learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education.
Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn't determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin.
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