Saturday, July 02, 2016
This is Devastating, but, Alas, True
Associate Professor at Notre Dame, Patrick Deneen, nails the current education status quo. From what I observe at bar trivia, Jay Walking, and interviews for prospective employees, he's all too accurate. Give it a read if you're ready to be depressed. Favorite part:
Ignorant, not dumb, Mayflies. Really sad.
But ask them some basic questions about the civilization they will be inheriting, and be prepared for averted eyes and somewhat panicked looks. Who fought in the Peloponnesian War? Who taught Plato, and whom did Plato teach? How did Socrates die? Raise your hand if you have read both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Canterbury Tales? Paradise Lost? The Inferno?
Who was Saul of Tarsus? What were the 95 theses, who wrote them, and what was their effect? Why does the Magna Carta matter? How and where did Thomas Becket die? Who was Guy Fawkes, and why is there a day named after him? What did Lincoln say in his Second Inaugural? His first Inaugural? How about his third Inaugural? What are the Federalist Papers?
Some students, due most often to serendipitous class choices or a quirky old-fashioned teacher, might know a few of these answers. But most students have not been educated to know them. At best, they possess accidental knowledge, but otherwise are masters of systematic ignorance. It is not their “fault” for pervasive ignorance of western and American history, civilization, politics, art and literature. They have learned exactly what we have asked of them – to be like mayflies, alive by happenstance in a fleeting present.
Ignorant, not dumb, Mayflies. Really sad.
Labels: Our Current Best and Brightest; Patrick Deneen
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:50 AM 
