The Dumbing Of America

[Echo In Light]

The Dumbing Of America
Call Me a Snob, but Really, We're a Nation of Dunces
By Susan Jacoby

17/02/08 "Washington Post" -- "The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.

This is the last subject that any candidate would dare raise on the long and winding road to the White House. It is almost impossible to talk about the manner in which public ignorance contributes to grave national problems without being labeled an "elitist," one of the most powerful pejoratives that can be applied to anyone aspiring to high office. Instead, our politicians repeatedly assure Americans that they are just "folks," a patronizing term that you will search for in vain in important presidential speeches before 1980. (Just imagine: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . . and that government of the folks, by the folks, for the folks, shall not perish from the earth.") Such exaltations of ordinariness are among the distinguishing traits of anti-intellectualism in any era.

The classic work on this subject by Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter, "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life," was published in early 1963, between the anti-communist crusades of the McCarthy era and the social convulsions of the late 1960s. Hofstadter saw American anti-intellectualism as a basically cyclical phenomenon that often manifested itself as the dark side of the country's democratic impulses in religion and education. But today's brand of anti-intellectualism is less a cycle than a flood. If Hofstadter (who died of leukemia in 1970 at age 54) had lived long enough to write a modern-day sequel, he would have found that our era of 24/7 infotainment has outstripped his most apocalyptic predictions about the future of American culture.

Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19382.htm

[samplegirl]

1. I watched an interview with Susan Jacoby on Bill Moyer's

and it was a really very intense look at why americans are so dumb. She summed it up as people would rather listen than read.

[waiting for hope]

2. I saw that too -

and found it insightful. She is really an intelligent woman, and I think it would be prudent to read the book, even though it was easier to watch the interview!

[Cronopio]

8. True, but why?

A facile answer would be that people are just lazy, but that's just a lazy answer. Why are they intellectually lazy?

My take is that there is so much information to assimilate that most people automatically spend most of their lives in receiving mode. There's too little time and too much distraction for people to digest and reinterpret the information in a personal way. This plays to the benefit of corporations that want more perfect consumers of information, not consumer/producers. The result - blandness and formulaic shallowness in songwriting, storywriting, moviemaking, interpersonal discourse, and politics.

For people to do otherwise means constant effort, and most are too distracted with the day-to-day intricacies of modern life to even be aware that they need to digest what they have.

[Dervill Crow]

13. Very true. And there are many people whose mental function is slowing down because of aging.

At 53 I don't retain new information the way I did 25 years ago. I was just listening to a program on NPR the other night about this. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the author being interviewed. :shrug:

[waiting for hope]

20. I think time is a problem too -

I used to read all the time, but after having two kids (oldest in First Grade - the homework at this age is incredible) and working 40+ hours a week, it's just easier to get into bed at the end of the day and watch something for an hour or so. I'd love to stay home for my kids, and for myself but how many of us can afford to do that? Just imagine the people that have to work two jobs!

[bdamomma]

3. the dumbing down of America still continues

the bar has certainly been lowered since * stole the office.

[SidDithers]

4. K&R...

thanks for posting, that was an excellent read.

Sid

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. I've concluded that the dumbing of America is deliberate

There's always been an anti-intellectual streak in American culture, but it's only in the past few years that it has seemed so pervasive, with few refuges left for those who want to hear intelligent dialogue and see intelligent entertainment.

I've cited the deterioration of the cable networks many times: A&E going from a commercial version of PBS to a true crime channel, Discovery going from scientific and cultural documentaries to whatever it is now, the History Channel going to military and occult topics, The Learning Channel going to full time DIY shows, even BBC America picking the worst of the BBC and dumping most of its fine dramas. There's also a narrowing of content on mainstream radio stations, more newspapers turning into clones of USA Today. You can cite your own examples.

With media consolidation, it's very easy for a few companies to collude in dumbing down their content.

[bdamomma]

10. or their (repigs) main objective to dumb down the populous

to control them better.

[Hydra]

15. It is deliberate

The suppression of critical thought is nothing new- religions have done it throughout the ages. "Do what we say" is a common mindset for most people to either follow or do to others.

People always look at me weird when I give them a solution to a problem- "You're too smart for your own good" or "You're always thinking, aren't you?(as an insult)"

Thinking, questioning and debunking authority is becoming a thing of the past...but it will probably come back someday. In the mean time, The Socrates of the USA will have to be silent or drink hemlock.

[gate of the sun]

28. this has been going on for some time

I could research all the data but I am too lazy tonite........I know many of you on Du object to homeschooling but this is primarily why I home school my 8 year old.........I have four grown children which were also home schooled until age 9. The youngest of those previous children graduated from college at 20. We follow a more classical schooling process which includes besides the regular agenda.........thinking. We also incorporate Philosophy, the arts, music, and foreign language. My child not to be bragging holds a close early college vocabulary. How many 8 year old do you know that use the propensity? I will admit that usage of Language is one of his forte's. He is also an excellent artist.

Besides the point of my child I think there are many of us who we bored or stifled by our education..........it's very insidious when a government limits it's future generations capacities.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. Since moving to Minneapolis, I've noticed that there

are newish private schools here (in addition to the traditional schools of the rich and famous that have existed for 100 years or so) that emphasize just the subjects you name.

[doni_georgia]

6. Idiocracy

My co-worker recommended that I watch this movie telling me how funny it was. I found it more tragedy than comedy. As a school teacher, I see the dumbing down not only of the curriculum and expectations, but also in the parents. I do a word of the week with my history students. I encourage the students to use the word throughout the week, and I give extra points on the test for using the words in their essay. Two weeks ago, I was called into the office by my principal. It seems one of my parents complained about my word of the week. This student had been using the words for January (subterfuge, ersatz, neophyte, superfluous) in his speech at home. The parent was irate that I, a history teacher, was teaching vocabulary to his son. He said that I was trying to turn his son into an "elitist." No joke - really happened.

It becomes increasingly difficult each year to teach these kids, because they truly do not understand what I am saying because their vocabularies and background knowledge are so lacking. I get asked all the time why I use such big words - words my 9 year old has no problem with. It is amazing and sad.

[Habibi]

7. I used to get asked why I use "big words"

when I was a teenager 30 years ago. This has been going on for some while.

[Dervill Crow]

14. My husband was infuriated when I used the word "brouhaha."

First I was amused. Then I wondered why after 30+ years of marriage I am just now noticing what an idiot he can be.

The dumbing down seems to be working better on some than others.

[Habibi]

24. Oh, dear.

Sounds like things are tough for you. I hope they work out for the best.

[Cronopio]

9. It's got what plants crave.

It's scary to think that, just by teaching my son to think for himself and to question many of the workings of modern society, I may be encouraging him to be an outcast in the future.

But it's better than him being an outcast from himself.

[Hydra]

16. He's already an outcast

But he can join the rest of us- if we get enough outcasts, we can make our own nation.

[Delphinus]

30. Grand idea!

I just had a flash remembrance of the (horrible) movie made from Aldus Huxley's book - (dang, too early in the morning for my brain to be thinking) - was it Brave New World? I can't recall, but everyone took a drug called Soma. Anyway, the outcasts lived outside the Soma world and were quite happy.

Another line of this is a book by Morris Berman (if that's correct). He wrote a book about the dumbing down of America back around 2000. It was difficult to read how far we have gone.

[immoderate]

12. Whose side was the principle on?

Those who fight ignorance in the US are never at a loss for things to do. I teach too, and I'm right with you.

--IMM

[doni_georgia]

18. For once the principal was on my side

[immoderate]

21. Whew! For a moment there I thought you might be charged with..

...too much educatin'.

--IMM

[Donnachaidh]

22. my kid got ragged on by fellow students because he could name greek gods

Both he and his teacher were stunned by the nasty comments thrown his way. The rest of the class knew nothing, but when he spoke up - pow!

It's really become cool to be stupid. And to verbally mock and attack anyone who is perceived to be *smarter* than the other sheep students. These are the same idiots who have parents that voted for Bush and Co.

[Dukkha]

23. the movie is scary in it's accuracy

I hear intelligent talk and high brow culture always dismissed as "faggy". Heck, I can remember 20 years ago people using "art fags" to described youths who prefer art galleries and symphonies over pro wrestling and monster truck shows.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Yes, it's been going on a long time

A teacher at my high school was driven out because he taught his honors English classes as if they were college classes. Most of the students hated him, and he left the year before I would have been in his class. However, some of the smarter older students told me that he was the only English teacher who had ever challenged them.

This was in the late 1960s. Actually, many of the teachers were really sports coaches at heart and had been given a couple of English or social studies classes to keep them busy during the rest of the school day. They didn't teach much, and much of what they taught was erroneous or trivial.

Some of the students who hated this teacher are now grandparents, so we have two additional generations of people who have been taught to despise learning.

Nowadays, I know people who have put their children in private schools, not because they don't believe in public education but because the children have been bullied and beaten up for having intellectual interests, especially on the middle school level.

I put a lot of blame on the mass media. Not only is the actual content getting dumber, but the attitudes set forth for people to imitate are crude and aggressive. Serious content is "ghettoized" on PBS or the premium channels, where the anti-intellectual can avoid it.

It is not "elitist" to wish that people valued intelligence. In fact, I think it tragic that so many working class youth are taught NOT to use their minds and are taunted and tormented into being "just regular."

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. Sorry, someone will have to read it for me. I don't speak cliche'

The condescension that dare not speak its name.

This attitude is called elitist for good reason, and I'm getting tired of having our asses handed to us because of it.

It is a national problem. So long as we treat it as a political problem, we'll be on the losing side.

[badgerpup]

17. You know who ELSE did not want an intelligent, informed populace...

Godwin alert....

Blind, unquestioning loyalty was the gold standard.

You see in history that a populace tends to follow the example set by the ruling class. Not sure whether it's admiration, emulation, or just to curry favor.
Big example...the Hapsburg Jaw is how the lisp got into Castilian Spanish.

America- Stupid and Proud of It!

:banghead:

[Amonester]

19. BREAKING: American Idol & iTunes Partner!!!111!!!hugh!11

http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=1174

Anybody knows what's up with Paris these days (or... nights)?

[roody]

25. I'm reading a great book,

Lies my Teacher Told me by James W. Loewen. The myths we teach are part of the problem.

[JCMach1]

29. Technology is NOT the problem... it's just that media literacy

hasn't even been considered in the curriculum yet.

It is just as important as print literacy today.

[Kat45]

27. I found this fact pretty disturbing (not that the whole thing wasn't)

<According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important.">

I don't get it. I just don't get this attitude, though I know it is rampant. And I wonder if people find it important to know where Iraq is when their kids get shipped off to war.