Commentary by James Shott
As if there aren’t enough problems facing America, there’s
one that we hear about here and there in comic segments on TV, but those
episodes don’t really show the problem in a way that we realize its impact.
America has produced a substantial number of young people that
do not know the fundamental elements of their country or the important aspects
of its operation, and who are therefore unprepared to discharge the duties and
obligations of citizenship.
Ours is a country whose success and ability to continue
being successful depend upon its citizens understanding its foundational
principles, knowing how government is supposed to work, being able to discern
when it has strayed from its proper course, and then work to restore things so
that the republic can and will survive and thrive.
Columnist Walter Williams addressed this aspect of the
younger generation in a column titled “Dumb American Youth,” and provides some
troubling statistics that help to put this problem in perspective.
“According to a Philadelphia magazine
article, the percentage of college grads who can read and interpret a food
label has fallen from 40 to 30,” Williams wrote. “They are six times likelier
to know who won ‘American Idol’ than they are to know the name of the speaker
of the House. A high-school teacher in California handed out an assignment that
required students to use a ruler. Not a single student knew how.”
He quoted a News Forum for Lawyers
article about a study by American Institutes for Research revealing that more
than “75 percent of two-year college students and 50 percent of four-year
college students were incapable of completing everyday tasks.”
And included in Williams’ essay was
this damning assessment of today’s youth: “Reported by Just Facts, in 2009, the
Pentagon estimated that 65 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. were
unqualified for military service because of weak educational skills, poor
physical fitness, illegal drug usage, medical conditions or criminal records.
In January 2014, the commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command estimated
this figure at 77.5 percent, and in June 2014, the Department of Defense
estimated this figure at 71 percent.”
These children have a family of some description, most of
them attended 12 years of public or private schools, and some of them attend or
have attended American colleges. Starting with the family, they should have
learned proper respect for themselves, for others and for the rules of life,
and during their education have broadened their understanding of what life is
all about, and how to be a good person and a responsible citizen.
Perhaps it is of some comfort that these youngsters have not
achieved this humiliating level of unknowing all by themselves. Or, maybe not.
Without a blanket condemnation of all the nation’s schools,
in some schools at all grade levels it is increasingly common for
indoctrination to replace education, as teachers sometimes throw off their
professional, ethical and moral responsibilities to present subject matter free
of ideology, and leave political and ideological ideas in the safe confines of
better judgment.
However, many a college campus now is the prisoner of
political correctness and those who champion it. Trigger warnings are now
required for “troubling” class material, and there are rules for microaggressions,
safe spaces, free-speech zones, and the use of one of more than 30 gender
pronouns that must be used as each transgender student prefers.
And we now are being told that using traditional, proper
grammar is racist or produces social injustice.
A poster
created by the director, staff, and tutors of the Writing Center at the University
of Washington, Tacoma states “racism is the normal condition of
things,” saying that rules, systems, expectations in courses, school and
society are filled with it.
“Linguistic and writing research has shown clearly for many
decades that there is no inherent ‘standard’ of English,” the writing center’s
statement claims. “Language is constantly changing. These two facts make it
very difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting
opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate in
particular versions of English.”
The writing center will “listen and look carefully and
compassionately for ways we may unintentionally perpetuate racism or social
injustice, actively engaging in antiracist practices,” and will “emphasize the
importance of rhetorical situations over grammatical ‘correctness’ in the
production of texts,” and promises “to challenge conventional word choices
and writing explanations.”
Apparently, it no longer matters at UW, Tacoma if words are
put together in functional constructions, or if unconventional words and
phrases are used in written materials students submit for grades. Does this make
acceptable writing that is unintelligible?
If you aren’t going to teach or expect accepted grammar,
what about correct spelling? Will there be any expectation of effective
communication among college students at UW, Tacoma in the future?
From their earliest days many American youth are not taught
important aspects of being a productive, responsible person. And when they are
old enough to go to school, too many of them are exposed to indoctrination to
guide them away from established standards and traditions.
This, and similar crises, strike at the heart of America.
Cross-posted from Observations
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