How can we reverse the trend of schools failing to teach: politcal science, economics, history, world affairs, etc? I am in shock after reading the survey. How, in the world most "civalized" country, could american college students actually decline in these areas of study from their freshmen year to their senior year???
If students don't learn from teachers who can't teach; civic participation will plumet even more than it currently does. we need to reverse this trend... but how?
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/
2006-09-27 14:28:56 · 5 answers · asked by captaincarney 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Civic Participation
Sure, it's the teachers not teaching it. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the teachers ARE teaching it but students are disinterested and distracted by too many things like drinking or the Internet? Did it ever occur to you that maybe kids don't participate because they don't want to? Why is it always the teachers who aren't doing their job? I'm sure, for instance, that you had several teachers teach you how to spell or to use tools like the dictionary or a spell check to make sure you spell correct while trying to make your point, yet you still spelled something simple like "civilized" incorrectly? Teachers can only do so much. They can't drill a hole in the top of a student's head and "pour" in the knowledge.
2006-09-27 14:35:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we have right wing revisionists obstructing education. They teach falsley that the US was founded as a "christian nation", that evolution is false and that our colleges our full of evil "liberals" who are not teaching the truth. These right-wingers are telling people to ignore science and learning, because if people understood science they would throughout the obsolete right wing ideas. They exalt candidates who are uneducated and ignorant by saying they can "relate to the common man" and ridicule the intelligent and well-read as snobbish and out of touch.
The republicans in power in this country glorify ignorance, we have a president who is proud of not reading newspapers! So what did you expect? Its not the schools or the students, but our ssociety that values only athletes and super-models, anyone interested in learning is portrayed as a "nerd" or a "geek". So our kids respond exactly the way you expect - they think of general education as something of little value.
2006-09-27 21:37:45 · answer #2 · answered by stuart81262 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It looks like this survey was based on some Mickey Mouse multiple choice test that a few people just made up. Civic participation requires people who can THINK, not pick over-simplified multiple choice answers about history (that may or may not be even superficially correct).
2006-09-27 21:53:00 · answer #3 · answered by A B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the real world, it's money that counts. You can't pay the bills by reciting Shakespeare to the customer service representative agent who keeps calling. Or debate the meaning of Plato's Allegory of the Cave to the government tax collectors. Shakespeare, Plato, Camus are fun to read, and quite interesting. It's food for thought, but not food for the table. Only money puts food on the table. To answer your question, in our society, I believe it's impossible. In other societies, it's possible. In France, they air the views of famous philosophers on TV about important societal issues. The only philosophy we get on TV is Homer Simpson's view on working for Mr. Burns. We get a lot of opnions on TV but no true philosophical, logical, balanced thoughts by any individual. Everyone seems to have a cause.
2006-09-27 21:42:39 · answer #4 · answered by mac 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sending your children to Conservative colleges/universities who teaches the courses you mentioned.
2006-09-28 01:36:47 · answer #5 · answered by barrettins 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋