Why Can't College Students Separate Political Truth From Political Fiction ?

Question

Jay Leno did a gig where he had two college students (highly acclaimed colleges ) travel the country(apparently blind-folded or something) and then placed them at famous American Landmarks and asked them where they thought they were . Other follow-up questions too . At the Hoover Dam Leno had each one hold opposite ends of a dollar bill right over the spot where the time zone changes . He explained that the middle of the bill was exactly where the time zone line was . He then had them move the dollar about 2 inches and said "It's 11:00pm Pacific Time on one side so what time is it on the other "? -- LMAO . One said " 11:15 " ? And the other said " 10:50 "? - YEP !!

So while you're pondering your answer I'll give you just a little more food for thought .. . . . Read this and then try to convince me that college students are capable of discernment. . .. . . >>> http://archives.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/20/geography.quiz/index.html

NOTE : This was NOT a Jay-Walking segment . This was a several week experiment to see what college students really do and do not know .

Answer 1

I fear that students at our leading schools of higher education are being force-fed propaganda. From a variety of workshops I have attended on the East Coast I've noticed an extremist/anti-establishment mentality. It seems to stem from the educator's own agendas. What makes this inherently wrong is that most of these instructors are affiliated with special interest groups outside of their respective universities. From my upbringing in Africa I noticed the same phenomenon occurring as many became socialist states. Before long anti-government militias seized this opportunity of weakness. They began violently targeting anyone who did not share their political agenda. Today, the entire region is a haven for fascist/totalitarian types. In the U.S. it is an educators primary responsibility to provide information that relates to facts and not personal idealogy. I further warn my brothers in academia to be careful who they align themselves with!
TO HENRY VIII: Your commentary gives proof of my assertion!

Answer 2

The entire problem with education began with the Carter Administration. He created the Federal Department of Education. If you notice, the Constitution does not address the issue of education. That is because they assumed that education was the responsibility of the Several States and the People respectively. The vile bureaucrats in Washington usurp the Constitution which forbids the Federal Government to involve itself in anything not specified. They do this through bribery and coersion. Here is an example. The Feds start a program where they give grant money to school districts to provide, say, a free lunch program for school kids. Soon, the school districts are deeply involved in providing this service and many constituents come to rely on it. Then the Feds start to attach a few strings to the money. You must agree to this new teaching method or loose your school lunch grant. When you teach morality you will stress recycling and being a good steward of the environment. You will no longer teach American History or Geography. You will, instead, teach only Social Studies. You must agree to teach in the Spanish language for those students that do not speak English. You will impose this Liberal experimental method or that Liberal experimental method on your faculty and students. Why? Well, you see, many of the Bureaucrats who do this have an agenda. That agenda is beyond Liberal. It is clearly Socialist. Just as our founders clearly expressed many times, America requires a well educated and well informed populace if it wishes to remain free, the Communist and Socialist proponents extole the virtues of keeping the masses largely uninformed. The dumber the better. The ignorant are much easier to indoctrinate; easier to control. In the former Soviet Union and during the Chinese revolution, they gathered up and killed the intellectuals, the religious leaders and the teachers. They then substituted their views for the truth. The same is slowly and inexoribley occurring in America. Why do you think the bureaucrats so resist home schooling or school choice? Where do you think all the vitriol dumped on religion comes from? Heck, we used to start every school day with a prayer up until the 1960's. If you ask me Senator Joseph McCarthy was right. The Communists were infiltrating our governement. -

Answer 3

And they can't make change, either. Good heavens, I guess this is what you get when the NEA is in charge of educating the children then backed up by the likes of Ward Churchill!
Lots of people have trouble with the concept of time zones. My wife worked in an International organization and constantly had problems with other employees wanting to call an office on the other side of the world when those people were sleeping.
In the news recently was a story about how little College Graduates knew about US history and civics. But, that is what the Left wants, ignorance about the actual history so they can market their revised distorted history.

edit: I wanted to share a story with you. When I was going through a military technical school, one of our fellow students already held a Masters Degree. Unfortunately, he was the poorest student in the class! After one particular test, the instructor expressed amazement that this degreed fellow had almost failed the test. To the guy's credit, he answered for the entire class, "You folks just don't seem to understand the difference in Intelligence and Education!" Personally, I think he was just out of his element, so many people just do not have an aptitude for technical things, but do very well in stuff like language, math, or other theoretical sciences.

Answer 4

I'm related to a fighter pilot.

He is a bright kid with a degree in aeronautical engineering, working on his masters and flying recon missions to places he can't mention.

He said to me he is dissapointed that this generation is not as engaged in world affairs as mine was back in the sixties and blamed institutions like MTV, Hip Hop, The Mainstream Media and liberal academics for it.

I disagreed.
They are not engaged because there is no draft.

They don't think they personally have anything at stake so, who cares? What is going on in the rest of the world does not threaten their lives.
We will have to wait for them to get into the real world and try to build a family and scratch out a living before they begin to understand that what is at stake, is EVERYTHING.

It's a matter of perspective depending on where you observe from.

What disappoints me is that some of these ignorant kids DO have strong opinons from the comfortable surroundings of places like Columbia University.

Opinions based on what?

Answer 5

Because these college students are the product of our Liberal Public education system. They have been brainwashed from Kindergarten to think like a Liberal. The first time they will think like a Conservative is when they get out of college and begin working. If they would really like to work hard under lots of stress and pay a ton of taxes so their lazy neighbor who likes to play video games all day and smoke doesn't have to work. Liberals are Socialists. They want to take money away from you to give to those that don't work. It doesn't matter if they are lazy, they deserve the same lifestyle as you.

Answer 6

I'm still confused as to what time zones have to do with political truth/ fiction. "Jaywalking" proves that many Americans, not just college students, are not that intelligent. If, however, you got from this segment that students of highly acclaimed colleges are not too bright, then I would point you in the direction of George W. Bush as an example.

Answer 7

I'm assuming that you've seen the Jaywalking segment on "The Tonight Show". What else can you expect? There are A LOT of Americans (not just college students) who are ignorant about the world around them. In one Jaywalking episode, there were people who weren't able to identify Dick Cheney when they saw a pic of him. Not only that, but it's a known fact that there are Americans who can't spot their own country (much less Iraq) on the map and who even think that New Mexico is a separate country outside the US. We definitely need to improve the way we teach social studies in this country!

Answer 8

I think there are many who do understand and are not such idiots that go with the Leno laugh brigade or believe the untruths of a Jon Stewart or Bill Mahrer.

Answer 9

Youth leads the person based on emotion not logic.
And with so many spoiled narcissist that never grow up they are frozen in this time frame mind of emotion.

Answer 10

I'm an adult, returning college student. Teens are deffinately ill prepared for college these days. Things are so bad that if your a returning student and are doing well in a class, many younger students expect you to get them through class.