Because there is no longer any emphasis placed on the simple skill of
learning to think critically. School is not about memorizing dates or
learning the side-angle-side congruence theorem. It is about learning
how to think and analyze and apply generalized knowledge to
problem-solving. In America today there is no value placed on that
since everyone has developed an entitlement mentality. "Why must I
think?" they moan. "Thinking is hard work. Once I graduate, I can
get a minimum wage job, slack off, drink beer and smoke dope, have
unprotected sex with my girlfriend (and then the "gubmint" will pay
for her abortion), and get welfare if needed." Nothing is done in
either homes or schools to dispel this entitlement mentality. Unless
a child is motivated by some outside force (parents, teachers, an
exemplary guidance counselor), entropy sets in and that child goes
spiraling down into the slack-jawed, glassy-eyed,
remote-control-holding, early onset-diabetes, "super-size me" majority
that has its collective butt firmly planted in the great big couch
called the US of A. We have 300 channels of instant entertainment
that is pushed directly into our cerebral cortex by 53 diagonal inches
of high-definition color--who needs to read? There is great Calvin
and Hobbes strip that said it very well: Calvin and Hobbes are
reading, and Calvin quotes Karl Mark. In the next panel, a television
set says, "Karl Marx hadn't seen anything yet." If you do not
understand the joke, well, that sort of proves my point. (Hint:
Google the phrase, "opiate of the masses" or just cheat and go to
http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/political-economy-of-calvin-and-hobbes-4.html).
Until students learn the value of critical thinking and analysis,
there will be little incentive to go to college and rise above the
rabble and its entitlement mentality. |
