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I'm beginnning to think that these recent generations dont take history seriously. I was thinking back to our recent trip to Gettysburg and remembering the noise and lack of respect. Children (and adults) were running around climbing on the cannons and monuments screaming at one another and acting as if the 50,000 plus humans who died for what they believed in didnt deserve any kind of respect for their sacrifice. I'm sure we have all been to certain places of historical significance and witnessed similer scenes. And it had led me to believe that for the majority of the populas history doesnt matter. I cant understand why they dont get it.
We live in a microwave society. As long as American Idol, ESPN, and Days of Our Lives is on, people nowadays don't give a hoot about anything else. History, however, will remind these people some day how others struggled for freedom and equality. When they are no longer free and able to pursue frivolous past times, they will learn to appreciate history then. Of course it might be too late by then. 😡
I think Donnie's on to something. I also think that parents or teachers don't educate their charges enough about being respectful for certain things in life. Sure, they'll get plenty of lessons in politically correct behavior, but other things will go untaught. That said, I wonder if some of this is just kids being kids. I suppose I could find my answer if kids in other generations did similar things.
Sadly I think it is that many of the parents aren't adults in any sense of the word except chronological age. As an educator (ha-ha, read adolescent warehouse worker in an average American middle school) I spend 95% of my time controlling (read trying to control) the 5% that are a total waste of skin; the other 95% aren't being left behind but they are having to run faster to keep up with the bus! And NCLB (that doesn't know how what a bus looks like inside) is mandating that the driver to speed up and still requiring that all the kids be on the bus, as this is happening. Fat chance unless you live in Lake Woebegon.Many of us have mistaken the ideal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (that is... the equal opportunity to work for these things) with the easy life, the freedom to do anything anytime to any end, and total entitlement.Truely... not understanding history assures that we will get another chance to make the same mistakes... really disturbing that we keep doing the same things and expect the outcome to be different.As far as too much running around at a site like Gettysberg; if the kids are acting out what they think happened ther (Yanks & Rebs) that would be pretty cool. If they are just being little sh*ts, then it's time the folks knocked the snot out of them... if they can't control them any other way.Just my $0.02.Cheers,Wally
I can guarentee they wernt reenacting. It was a time for fun and games. I dont expect Little children to understand, I do expect their parents to reign them in however. But there were older ones that should have known better. I think it's just indicitive of the kind of society we live in now. Ask anyone under the age of eighteen how many books they have read, and those who respond with any kind of positive answer ask them what kind of books they were. The answers are sad. I think that the lack of interest in anything besides what Brittney and K-fed are up to is appaling and dangerous to us all as a whole.
I had a recent high school graduate working at my house recently. While taking him home I pointed out a hill where 12 school kids and a teacher were killed during an Indian attack in 1836. He did not know that Indians had ever lived in this area. In our public high school about 90% get a “Certificate of Attendance” and about 10% get a real diploma. Most are semi literate.
Why is it that in the 18th century men were going to Harvard at 15 and learning greek and latin and now teachers are happy if their students dont hurt anyone?
Why is it that in the 18th century men were going to Harvard at 15 and learning greek and latin and now teachers are happy if their students dont hurt anyone?
Harvard was a divinity school and they needed to learn the languages for Biblical exegesis. You also have to remember that those who were lucky or wealthy enough to attend school then, were probably already among the best and brightest of their peers. Education was a luxury in those days and only until William Tennent founded the Famous Log College in Neshimany, Pennsylvania (we know it now as Princeton as that is where the Log College moved to), there was little hope for common folk to attend higher institutions of learning. However, as advanced as the liberal arts educational curriculum was in those days, their scientific curriculum was woefully inadequate compared to what our schools have today. Our young people are actually pretty competent in applied, natural, and computer sciences since these subjects are obviously more important in today's economy. But your point about the "dumbing down" of America's educational system is duely noted. Education is not so much about social status now as it is about earning a higher living wage and being productive in a complex mechanized economy. Universities are quickly becoming advanced vocational schools moreso than a place to get a liberal arts degree. One final point I would like to make is that the rise of industrialism and urbanization, has actually allowed people to get away from agricultural related professions which require labor intensive input and many hours of personal time, to earn the same amount of money in a shorter work day and on a regular basis.....all of which leads to the concentration of personal disposable income and the opportunity to afford higher education. So the result is we have more and more people going to college and earning degrees...which in turn devalues the prestige of the degree and increases the competitiveness of the general workforce. America is in no shortage of specially trained workers. In many fields the labor force is saturated with engineers, computer science majors, chemists etc....while at the same time there is a labor shortage in unskilled positions, which are currently being filled by migrant workers and immigrants both legal and illegal.
Interesting post, Donnie. It seems that many colleges direct toward wage earning and directly applied academics rather than the liberal arts of ages past. In essence this drift has turned our nation and perhaps other nations into people who are “dumber” when it comes to rational thought even though they may be well trained to carry on their profession. I say this because a good liberal arts education teaches from the universal traits of mankind that have been ascertained throughout time. A liberal arts education takes from the lessons about Achilles, Plutarch, St. Augustine, Descartes, and Adam Smith; your typical contemporary education takes from texts explaining modern theory and application in engineering, marketing, or the array of sciences.This modern form of education is geared toward responding to market needs, so I suppose this trend is to be expected. Schools have discovered that when the market demands certain kinds of workers they can supply them and become successful at creating these workers. I don't see anything wrong with this on a personal level, but on a broad level I think it can be dangerous. When citizens are not educated with the classical teachings that past civilizations have handed down they do not know how to think. They adopt a plethora of views, perhaps even those which are contrary to the nature of our democracy. They have a skewed view of what "rights" are and they come to think that principles of political correctness are our greatest ideals. I think that over time such kinds of citizens would cause a nation to implode.
Interesting post, Donnie. It seems that many colleges direct toward wage earning and directly applied academics rather than the liberal arts of ages past. In essence this drift has turned our nation and perhaps other nations into people who are "dumber" when it comes to rational thought even though they may be well trained to carry on their profession. I say this because a good liberal arts education teaches from the universal traits of mankind that have been ascertained throughout time. A liberal arts education takes from the lessons about Achilles, Plutarch, St. Augustine, Descartes, and Adam Smith; your typical contemporary education takes from texts explaining modern theory and application in engineering, marketing, or the array of sciences.This modern form of education is geared toward responding to market needs, so I suppose this trend is to be expected. Schools have discovered that when the market demands certain kinds of workers they can supply them and become successful at creating these workers. I don't see anything wrong with this on a personal level, but on a broad level I think it can be dangerous. When citizens are not educated with the classical teachings that past civilizations have handed down they do not know how to think. They adopt a plethora of views, perhaps even those which are contrary to the nature of our democracy. They have a skewed view of what "rights" are and they come to think that principles of political correctness are our greatest ideals. I think that over time such kinds of citizens would cause a nation to implode.
Yes you nailed it. As people become technical thinkers, they tend to neglect their creative/critical thinking skills. It's like being able to read a blueprint, but not being able to explain why and what you are building. What's more important?....designing the next computer, or filling it up with creative knowledge? Is the Compact Disc more important than the music that goes on it? We are a society of Compact Disc makers who cannot add content to them. What happens when a society becomes unanalytical, uncritical, and uncreative in their thinking? They become slaves to a mechanized society structured around the herd mentality....easily led, easily deceived, and easily ruined. 😐
Well (and maybe this is what you really meant) I do think that they can fill up those CDs (as well as make them) with content, but the content is, for lack of a better word, “dumb”. And I'm not just talking literally about some guy rapping “this is why I'm hot” and scoring a hit single with it. I mean that good citizens are not produced – ones who know and understand the deeper principles that form the foundation of America and that of Western Culture. There might be art in our world today, but what can we say about it? The “great art” (or at least “popular” art) has become the creation of blasphemous chocolate sculptures or turning Obama into a religious figure. The most beautiful structures in our cities are either virtually non-existent, or those based on older designs. How far removed we are from the glorious creations of Michelangelo and Raphael, the architecture of Brunelleschi or the Greeks or Romans. Or look at the magazines of today that crowd grocery store check out counters. Would we have found Thoreau, Hamilton, Locke – even Voltaire – reading any of these? Part of the problem, I think, is simply that our social standards have relaxed so greatly. We haven't had pressing needs, we're moved by materialism, and we feel we're entitled to special grants and favors. I don't mean to say that everyone is this way, but the ideological trends of our time have moved in that direction. Had Aeneas come from a 21st Century America mindset, I don't know that he would ever have founded Rome.
Well (and maybe this is what you really meant) I do think that they can fill up those CDs (as well as make them) with content, but the content is, for lack of a better word, "dumb". And I'm not just talking literally about some guy rapping "this is why I'm hot" and scoring a hit single with it. I mean that good citizens are not produced - ones who know and understand the deeper principles that form the foundation of America and that of Western Culture. There might be art in our world today, but what can we say about it? The "great art" (or at least "popular" art) has become the creation of blasphemous chocolate sculptures or turning Obama into a religious figure. The most beautiful structures in our cities are either virtually non-existent, or those based on older designs. How far removed we are from the glorious creations of Michelangelo and Raphael, the architecture of Brunelleschi or the Greeks or Romans. Or look at the magazines of today that crowd grocery store check out counters. Would we have found Thoreau, Hamilton, Locke - even Voltaire - reading any of these? Part of the problem, I think, is simply that our social standards have relaxed so greatly. We haven't had pressing needs, we're moved by materialism, and we feel we're entitled to special grants and favors. I don't mean to say that everyone is this way, but the ideological trends of our time have moved in that direction. Had Aeneas come from a 21st Century America mindset, I don't know that he would ever have founded Rome.
And thus we have a society that apprciates nothing. You hit the nail on the head.
Guilty !!!!When I was in college in the 50's all my courses were required courses with only two elective courses in four years. Almost all the courses were highly technical, 6 chemistry courses in general student population then seven more in the pharmacy school, pharmacology, pharmacognosy etc. You get the picture. What history I know was picked up from my reading on my own and forums such as this.
