America Dumbed Down

[Harry Monroe]

The Dumbing Down Of The American Mind


April 28, 2006
by Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D.

There is a very dangerous phenomenon that seems to be occurring in the United States of America; something that I refer to as "the dumbing-down of the American mind," a nearly willful tendency for Americans to forgo reality in favor of believing what they want to believe. But how could such a thing have occurred in such a proud nation, one that, according to George Bush, has become known as a bastion of freedom and democracy, a bright light for the whole world to see?

In my opinion, there are five factors that can explain such a phenomenon. First, there is the dumbing-down of education in our country. After having taught psychology at the college level for the past 39 years, I have seen our standards (what we essentially expect our students to accomplish in order to prove that they have learned something of value) go straight to hell! I began my career as an Instructor of Psychology back in 1966 at a very small junior college located only 60 miles south of the Canadian border, one with an enrollment of only 180 students, no doubt, a very cold and humble place in which to begin a teaching career!

And can you believe it, I actually required my students to read an entire textbook during the semester. And nobody got upset. Not the administrators, not the parents, nor even the students! However, today, if I were to do such a thing, I would have an extremely difficult time getting enough students to enroll in my classes in order to keep my job. The problem: A very determined standoff between the remaining few teachers willing to maintain standards versus a generation or two of students who are nearly unwilling to learn, students who have "apparently gone on strike" with an attitude of "I dare you to force me to learn!" The result: The fact that leniency (a lowering of academic standards in our country) has won out at the expense of quality education in that of our high schools as well as that of our colleges.

Consequently, in my opinion, our country is slowly but surely becoming "a nation of near retards," a collective group of individuals who have become so absurdly self-absorbed and disinterested in acquiring knowledge that we, as a nation, are slowly but surely losing touch with the reality of what is actually going on in the world! The best example is our population's general sense of ignorance in relation to world history, and especially that of our inability (or perhaps even unwillingness) to understand our own country's complicity in relation to the 9/11 attacks upon our nation.

http://www.populistamerica.com/the_dumbing_down_of_the_american_mind

[ComerPerro]

1. I've actually heard BushBots say that there is a dumbing-down

and that's why so many people can't see how great Bush is.

They are just too damned stupid to see why Republicans are amazing.

[skooooo]

2. When the popular notion....

...that getting an education is ONLY about the ability to make money, we're in serious trouble. That's where we are. Times are hard, so people have to be practical, but this attitude about education is a double edged sword, imo.

[EnviroBat]

3. So true and well said.

Especially right here in Columbus Ohio, one of the dumbest, most self-absorbed places I've ever lived...

[ryanus]

4. It's not because of dumbing down

America is being dumbed down, but that's not why people believe what they want to believe. Republicans are supporting Bush because that cannot imagine that he would really be bad. They can't believe that someone who says what they themselves believe could really screw up. They can't believe that thay would be that wrong. It's about identity. It is too psychologically diffcult for these Republicans to admit, even to themselves, that their guy preaching their message could have screwed up in a major way.

I know some very inteligent people who support Bush. I see it all the time. And they way to change their minds is not say that they were wrong, but to say that they were deceived. That it's not that "their way" doesn't work, but that Bush really isn't doing things their way. Then people are better able to consider it. But definitely it does not work to say Dems were right and Republicans were wrong. Because of the identity they have of the two parties, almost none of them would accept this, regardless of the evidence.

[RedStateShame]

5. Ignorance is an admirable trait in American culture

Ask anyone who remembers the Eisenhower election, and one of the reasons he won was because Adlai Stevenson was seen as being "too" smart, and he could not be trusted.

For a literary example, in Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Ichabod Crane is not a sympathetic character, as he is gasp...a teacher!!!

The dumb American is nothing new, they just used to not have their own political party, cable news network, and/or comedy tour.

[bdamomma]

6. well bush's plan is working keep the population poor and stupid

another one of their strategies to keep us under their control.

[Warpy]

7. There's a great little book out there

called "Reading Lolita in Teheran" that chronicles the rise of the Mullahs after the Shah was deposed. It is a chilling account of how easily the real world can be obliterated by a belief system and how dangerous that belief system is when it seizes power. What is taken as factual information can be challenged and discarded as new information comes to light; a belief system is set in stone and can't be challenged by ordinary means. Only the extraordinary means of war and economic depression have ever successfully challenged belief systems and overcome them. One has to wait for them to run their course, for the adherents' frenzy to be exhausted or for the adherents to die off.

There is nothing more dangerous than a belief, and the farther it strays from the real world, the more dangerous it becomes.

[ladywnch]

8. dead on

but you forgot about standardized testing playing to the lowest common denominator so schools don't lose their funding (thank you, 'no child left behind'...not left behind, just uneducated)......about being rewarded for simply 'showing up'. As long as they show up it means they tried. And if they tried, it means they pass. It's all too scary.