A Nation of Idiots

Many people won’t like what I have to say: teachers, administrators school board members, parents, taxpayers, special educators, legislators, the American Medical Association, the pharmaceutical industry, the huge mass media complex, college professors and, unfortunately, some of my current colleagues. Most certainly those whom I have come to call Feelgooders, will like me the least.

Thanks to lowered expectations, many students today are less inclined to spend a lot of time on schoolwork, plagiarism can be called rampant (original thought in this video game age is difficult), common courtesies have just about disappeared, and students react slowly, or not at all, to situations where others need help. Their basic academic skills dwindle each year, and, for most, academic curiosity is almost nonexistent. Many students feel that much of life should be free for the taking, or with minimal effort. They can become abusive and hostile if their minimal efforts aren’t rewarded. Their work ethic, not just in school but outside as well, is appalling.

One employer said that often the students he’s hired don’t even call up if they aren’t coming in to work. They just don’t show up. The ability to think has decreased with the lessening of the need. Computers have taken over many cognitive functions and replaced them with computer functions. It is not a pretty picture that I paint. Feelgooders complicate all aspects of education.

Much of the blame for A Nation of Idiots has to go to the mass media, those large, uncaring, global conglomerated purveyors of flashy, flashing images, masses of smooth, silky skin, touched-up photos, sleight-of-hand and rapid messages whose only purpose is to get a wide variety of people to all want the same thing, and willingly pay whatever the cost. Americans have mushy brains and the people who run the media know it.