Most US students think Beethoven is a dog

Most US students think Beethoven is a dog

rawstory.com

Czechoslovakia has never existed, Fergie is a pop singer, not a duchess; Clint Eastwood is a sensitive movie director, not Dirty Harry; and John McEnroe stars in TV ads, not on the tennis court, Beloit College's "Mindset" list says.

The class of 2005 -- born in 1983 -- thought of Sarajevo as a war zone, not an Olympic host, and had no idea what carbon paper was.

Apartheid never existed in South Africa for the class of 2006, and for the class of 2007, "Banana Republic has always been a store, not a puppet government in Latin America."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well yeah it's a dog... in a serie of crappy movies.

I suggest everyone reads the article and it just show how people ENTERING UNIVERSITY are totally ignorant... brainwashed on Hollywood and celebrities junk.

Apartheid never existed in South Africa for the class of 2006, and for the class of 2007, "Banana Republic has always been a store, not a puppet government in Latin America."

Few students in the class of 2009 knew how to tie a tie and most thought Iran and Iraq had never been at war with each other.

And for US students who got their bachelor's degrees this year, Germany was never divided, professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics, there have always been reality shows on television and smoking has never been allowed on US airlines.

I mean really? No apartheid? No Iran-Iraq war? No divided Germany?

I mean if they are so ignorant about such basic facts of history... their comprehension of economics is probably mind blowing. And by mind blowing I mean you just want to shoot yourself while listening to them.

Great job dumbing down America schools! Carlin was right.

I think ATS should open a school or something.

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 18-8-2010 by Vitchilo]

Can't you just hear it?

'Of course he's a dog! He's the one that composer guy was named after.'



It really is a tragedy more people can't afford to home school - or co-op school.

It's also a tragedy so many schools are existing on such a shoe-string budget classes like band and orchestra are things of the past also.

Peace

There's really two sides to this. Yes, they obviously missed something in history, but on the other hand, none of this exists in their world. I can almost assuredly say the previous generation, who were around for most of these which the current generation doesn't know, appeared just as ignorant to their parent generation.

Really? Most do?

Then I must know an exceptionally bright bunch of exceptions to their very broad proclamation. While there may be SOME truth to this for SOME students, I find it very hard to believe this is the rule.

I don't have the time to get into this at the moment to any great level of detail other than to say this smells suspiciously of an agenda of one sort or another, much like the one in the mid-to-late 80s to convince our students they were "lagging behind" while at the same time all steps possible were being made to not only not support but undercut their efforts to succeed, while at the same time our very government on its very H1 visa pages was saying Americans were stupid so we needed to import foreign brilliant minds.

If I had time, I'd dig into who's behind this "study" and what their real motivations are and further what they recommend be done about this....more money from IBM to build billion dollar schools in India or China?

Nief and McBride take a year to put the list together, gathering outside contributions and poring over journals, literary works, and the popular media from the year of the incoming university students' birth.

So they didn't know some things from before they were born. So WHAT? Many adults think Islam declared war on us. We're all dealing with information overload, and part of the REASON they're going TO college (hopefully) is to learn to deal with this.

If that's what this study comes up with as solutions and recommendations, good. If all this study is going to become is political fodder for more American in-fighting and bickering or corporate rationalizations and excuses, then screw it.

Anyway, I'm sick of them focusing on and trumpeting the lower aspects instead of encouraging and supporting the higher ones. As usual, the more sensational and the loudest get the most attention and more money...right down to this ridiculous headline.

[edit on 8/18/2010 by ~Lucidity]

oh wow! younger people don't associate a name with the person the older generation does! what a shock!

when I was 10 Madonna was a popstar, she still is. is that what 50-60 yr olds thought of when they heard the word "Madonna"? probably not

I hate young people with a passion, but this is ridiculous.

and I'd like to see a pie chart on which races didnt know Ludwig...for my own personal satisfaction

It is amusingly sad, yet I wonder from where these studies are conducted.

I'm not surprised by the carbon paper or the no smoking on an airplane, or even Fergie, those were all essentially "fads" as well. I don't know every once used item from times before mine, shoot just look in grandma's garage and I find all sorts of stuff from not too distant history that I can't identify its purpose .

Facts of history I'm less tolerant of, those aught to be taught. However, until college that fact of the matter is most students get about a semester of world history, unless it was a case where the US was highly involved and it directly effected Americans.

And if they received more of an emphasis on global history, there would be numerous threads on how the NWO was brain washing our children into a global community.

You can blame the schools all you want, and some of it is warranted, however I also blame the parents.

Yes, I felt outrage when I came to realization that my children where not learning what I thought should be learning, or most often not learning enough. I however take my children to museums, events, the library, etc, if I feel they are lacking a math skill wait for it............................... I teach them.

I know it is truly amazing, who would have thought that parents should take an active role in their child's education, it really is rogue concept. However, if you rely solely on the state to educate your children you can't be upset when it doesn't match up to your standards.

This is how I was raised, my parents did the same for me, and thought all families all did it this way. My parents would take us to spend a Saturday in one of our local museums or whatever and we where exposed to many things before we left for college. I was shocked when in high school or college, we would go for a field trip or some other purpose and the vast majority had never been there before, never not once. I could fathom it.

This year I had the chance to be a room parent at my child's school, and I chaperoned the field trips. Every single place we went to my child had already visited and because of this she was able to help out the other kids and tell what her favorites where, it's always easier when a kid tells another kid about the "really cool" thing they learned as opposed to hearing from an adult.

Originally posted by djexploit
There's really two sides to this. Yes, they obviously missed something in history, but on the other hand, none of this exists in their world. I can almost assuredly say the previous generation, who were around for most of these which the current generation doesn't know, appeared just as ignorant to their parent generation.

you are 100% correct. John, Paul< George and Ringo were 3 popes and a court jester to the older generation in the 60's.

this isn't even news, it's called LIFE. deal with it

I think djexploit brings up a good point. I mean, how much do we adults really know about the Spanish-American war at the turn of the 20th century? Can you tell me how Mexico became an independent country without looking it up? If I mentioned Triple Alliance, how many people would think I was talking about an insurance company, instead of World War I?

I think it's largely a generational thing. The open source movement is old news to kids and teens today. Rest assured we'll be riding their wake through history soon enough.

So do the teachers get hit with these kids who dont know about the same things their parents know about and teach to that or do these kids grow up to be teachers and decide what's worth teaching to their students?

Who decided WWI wasnt worth getting into? Who decided the War of 1812 wasnt worth teaching? Why dis all the history textbooks when I was in high school spend chapters and chapters on WWII but Vietnam only got a blurb?

Sit those little punks down and make them watch "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. That will set em straight.

Originally posted by silo13
It really is a tragedy more people can't afford to home school - or co-op school.

I disagree. My younger brother home schooled both of his kids. Now one has turned 18 and just took off with her BF last night. Now I'm not stating that the home schooling alone caused her to do this, however I think kids need to be put in certain social situations and experince life a little, as kids and teenagers.

I get that your statement meant a home education would be better than public schools, and I was a little off topic with my post above, however, I think that public education is fine. You have to one, a child who is willing to learn,parents who are willing to be involved with the childs education and obviously, teachers doing the job.

Is it a perfect system, no, but I still think that a public education is sufficient to prepare a child for adulthood.

It's also a tragedy so many schools are existing on such a shoe-string budget classes like band and orchestra are things of the past also.

Peace

Exactly, Schools should have unlimited funds to provide any and every tool needed to educate our children.

[edit on 18-8-2010 by elevatedone]

Now if you think about it, most of those entering university today went through school under the Bush `No Child Left Behind`` BS program.

If you know anything about this program, you know that instead of teaching real things, life, love of knowledge and that kind of things, TEACHERS TEACH THE KIDS THE TESTS.

Why? Because if the students fail at those tests, the schools stop having funding.


THANKS A LOT BUSH.

The Beloit College Mindset List is made every year for the fun of it. I go to Beloit and I know that many people find the list amusing as well as a true testament to the thoughts of our generation.

reply to post by Vitchilo


I'm not 100% sure that bush is to blame but I'm an '09 graduate of high-school and I can attest that this is the type of education I received. We were taught the information in a way, that it would stay in minds just long enough to past whatever tests were required before the info would leave our minds. Granted, I was able to pick up many concepts along my education path, but I MUST tell you......I've truly learned more by researching topics that interest me ONLINE, rather than having some "teacher" try to teach me the topics....Perhaps I'm just a self-learner but I believe "love of increasing your knowledge" is a must for ANY 21st-century world-citizen.

It shouldn't come as a shock to anybody that high school students are, collectively, as dumb as a rock. Not just in the US, either.

To the view that doubted me ...

....this again proves my theory of Americans becoming stupified sleep walking msm drones. The school systems in college teach what Japanese kids learn in junior high, and there is an onslaught of fast food and TV as the daily ritual in life.....

Stupify!!!!!

A few years ago I found out first hand that youngsters today have a hard time even reading cursive writing. Which lead me to have kids in the 6th and seventh grades that I knew at the time write in something in cursive.
Which was something they couldn't really do either. They spend a couple of weeks on cursive writing in school and then move on. Never to look back at it again.

In my opinion cursive writing will be obselete in a few decades. It will eventually end up like some ancient writing that you have to have a degree to figure out what it says.

What bothers me is that many important documents are wrote in cursive. I guess at some point in history they will have to depend on people to transcribe what the constitution says or the bill of rights. All of those documents that tell us what our rights are and what our governments limits are. Will it end up being the same constitution we know today or one they've altered because no one knew how to read the writing anymore?

If you ask my 20 year old nephew, who is Michael Angelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello, he would tell you they are turtles, not because he does not know the origin of the names, but because they are the first things that come to mind. It is like word association, I wonder if the same thing happened in these studies, where they may not have thought deep about the questions and answered the first things that came to mind.

reply to post by Vitchilo

This goes back to the 1980s. Bush's programs didn't help but they hardly shoulder the entire blame.