I know ever so few adults which are both educated and intelligent, and not many more which are either. (I'm not educated; I may be intelligent, but I'm not sure.)
The problems of education and intelligence aren't intractable. To a certain extent, it's a matter of perception: we are living, for the first time, in an age where it is possible to discuss any subject with an exceptionally large number of people from all over the world. If you happen to be on the right-hand side of the intelligence bell curve, you'll be left with the distinct impression that there are a lot of idiots out there. Whether that's true or not, you would've been far less likely to feel that way just 60 years ago.
Then, there's the state of public education in the United States. The combinations of World Wars I and II, followed by the baby boom, and coupled with an early 1900's illiteracy rate that most people aren't aware of, left public education in a state of emergency. To cope with a shortage of skilled teachers, teaching requirements were relaxed and some standards were lowered, but worst of all, some policies were adopted that turned public school systems into the brain grinders that we have today. Now, a couple of generations later, every teacher in the public school system was raised and educated by the same failed system, and few truly know any better than to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
I know ever so few adults which are both educated and intelligent, and not many more which are either. (I'm not educated; I may be intelligent, but I'm not sure.)
The problems of education and intelligence aren't intractable. To a certain extent, it's a matter of perception: we are living, for the first time, in an age where it is possible to discuss any subject with an exceptionally large number of people from all over the world. If you happen to be on the right-hand side of the intelligence bell curve, you'll be left with the distinct impression that there are a lot of idiots out there. Whether that's true or not, you would've been far less likely to feel that way just 60 years ago.
Then, there's the state of public education in the United States. The combinations of World Wars I and II, followed by the baby boom, and coupled with an early 1900's illiteracy rate that most people aren't aware of, left public education in a state of emergency. To cope with a shortage of skilled teachers, teaching requirements were relaxed and some standards were lowered, but worst of all, some policies were adopted that turned public school systems into the brain grinders that we have today. Now, a couple of generations later, every teacher in the public school system was raised and educated by the same failed system, and few truly know any better than to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.
And so on and so forth, blah blah blah. :-P