AMERICA is CHOCK FULL OF CHUMPS now, and I have no idea what the fix is. This was always advertised as one of the weak points of democracy, and when I was growing up in Rockford Il during the 60's/70's me and my friends all got taught from an early age that education and skepticism of the claims of power were two of the main keys to success in life and in the health of civilization, but man that all disappeared rapidly in America....so rapidly that it almost had to be according to a plan.
I'm glad you wrote this, and glad I read it.
As you know, I came-up during the same time and was taught by nuns in Catholic Grammar School. Not just nuns, but Polish nuns. Not just Polish nuns, but old Polish nuns. Old Polish nuns from Poland who had lived through Hitler and his war. Nuns who saw what propaganda, disinformation, lack of transparency, and lack of free media could do.
So this is a true story:
In 5th grade we were told that the two major city newspapers were written at the 6th and 7th grade reading level. Since we were Catholic School kids we should have higher standards. So in 5th grade we had to start reading the papers, and doing reports on them and discussing in class.
In class we were expected to produce thorough detailed analysis of the articles. Not just the journalist's '5 W's (who, what, where, when, and why), or the 5 W's and an H (how), but we had to do critical analysis of the author and audience!
Stuff like:
- Who is the author?
- Who is his intended audience?
- What is the purpose of his article? (explanatory, persuasive, etc)
And we did this everyday all year, dissecting the paper for local and national news and opinion! And the class was taught in the Socratic method, with full student participation, including between the individual students! We were taught to criticize and question everything. Take nothing as fact, and nothing presupposed. And we had to present evidence to back-up our thoughts and arguments. It's all pretty amazing when I look back at it. Especially considering our tender age.
But here's why I'm writing this:
I thought all this was due to the nature of Catholic 'Scholastic' style education. But now, I'm wondering if this was a more general feature of society or education in that era, especially seeing we're both speaking of the same general geographical area?