i blame republicans incessant assault on education funding and content. local school boards are being taken over by anti-intellectual evangelicals, all over the country. and those morons think intelligence is witchcraft.
I think it's partly because we focus so much on teaching information and pleasing superiors rather than skills. I know a lot of people who hate math because they were taught the information of memorizing the equations and applying these algorithms, they weren't taught to truly understand why these equations work, how someone who wasn't taught them could have asked questions to discover them. Similarly, when kids are told you need three references for your research paper. For a lot of people it's just a requirement, it's just something you have to do because you're told to because that's what the teacher is looking for. There isn't enough emphasis on why using multiple sources helps ensure the information is correct or at least gets you to look at differing stances on the information. As a result of trying to make sure kids learn so much information, not enough time is spent making sure kids learn to enjoy the pursuit. I loved reading as a kid, especially sci-fi. Somewhere in like Junior high School or high school, I was checking out all of Michael crichton's books. But I didn't give one half a shit about catcher in the rye or The Great Gatsby or the Scarlet letter. All this very realistic, dry bullshit that was mandatory reading. I just had no interest in any of those shitty "classics" The teacher to student ratio was way too low and not enough of them cared or understood how to teach on a personal level. That's partly because we don't invest enough in education. But I don't hate to say, I think the future of learning is definitely going to be driven by personal AI assistants. Which is why it's most important that we make sure said AI is not controlled by anyone, we can't afford to let it be heavily propagandized
I very much agree with this! We learn all these things but are never taught why these things matter. If we spent more time on that, I feel like it would be enjoyable for people.
Well said and spot on! I may add that we have a large swath of people educated in apathy and amused by cruelty. I did have one history teacher who propagandized Thanksgiving with a 9th grade history book. When my Friend Glenn Three hawks stood up and told her to stop lying. That was when I began questioning everything we were being told. RIP Glen your activism worked on a few people.
Hey it's not just about getting into politics, it is about being active in your community. =] Volunteer to read to kids, you can do teaching, tutoring, after school programs. You can read to the kids in your life. Advocate/volunteer for the library etc. There are so many ways to be active in trying to help kids and/or promote literacy and reading comprehension.
I have always loved reading. In many cases, I never read the classic school stuff until I was grown. Tearing it apart word by word in lit class made it boring and burdensome. Now I read everything from biography to history to sci fi. The whole world can be explored in books even if you can't leave home.
I think we get so stuck in the academics of it in school, that the enjoyment can be left out. If they made it more fun to read and learn, I feel like more would do it.
I'm a Gen Xer and have been politically involved since I was 14. I've learned some things from older people who spoke truths before I was born. Things like there is no political solution to a cultural problem. The biggest issue in America is apathy, but who cares? These are things I learned from older people (Boomers)
@The-Central-Scrutinizer don't get too upset about my comment. The original poster realized that this was a joke. "Don't blame me for the problem. I haven't done anything to help." So basically, if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. Honestly, Gen Xers should throw their ingenuity and toughness at the problem and get much more involved. When the best I can say is that we haven't added to the problem but haven't help solve it there's still room for improvement.
American media literacy is bad, and only going to get worse, due to the increasing presence of AI-generated content. But as bad as that is, our emotional intelligence is also in an extremely poor state. Things... will get very bad, I believe.
Yes, the AI is getting really bad. Several people I work with have admitted to using it for school work. Then you add to the fact that videos and photos go viral without people ever recognizing that it’s AI. We are doomed
Finally, someone who isn't blaming the children!
It’s 100 percent not their fault. They’re a product of their environment and if their environment fails them… well we can guess what happens
i blame republicans incessant assault on education funding and content. local school boards are being taken over by anti-intellectual evangelicals, all over the country. and those morons think intelligence is witchcraft.
I think it's partly because we focus so much on teaching information and pleasing superiors rather than skills.
I know a lot of people who hate math because they were taught the information of memorizing the equations and applying these algorithms, they weren't taught to truly understand why these equations work, how someone who wasn't taught them could have asked questions to discover them.
Similarly, when kids are told you need three references for your research paper.
For a lot of people it's just a requirement, it's just something you have to do because you're told to because that's what the teacher is looking for.
There isn't enough emphasis on why using multiple sources helps ensure the information is correct or at least gets you to look at differing stances on the information.
As a result of trying to make sure kids learn so much information, not enough time is spent making sure kids learn to enjoy the pursuit.
I loved reading as a kid, especially sci-fi.
Somewhere in like Junior high School or high school, I was checking out all of Michael crichton's books.
But I didn't give one half a shit about catcher in the rye or The Great Gatsby or the Scarlet letter. All this very realistic, dry bullshit that was mandatory reading. I just had no interest in any of those shitty "classics"
The teacher to student ratio was way too low and not enough of them cared or understood how to teach on a personal level.
That's partly because we don't invest enough in education.
But I don't hate to say, I think the future of learning is definitely going to be driven by personal AI assistants.
Which is why it's most important that we make sure said AI is not controlled by anyone, we can't afford to let it be heavily propagandized
I very much agree with this! We learn all these things but are never taught why these things matter. If we spent more time on that, I feel like it would be enjoyable for people.
Well said and spot on! I may add that we have a large swath of people educated in apathy and amused by cruelty. I did have one history teacher who propagandized Thanksgiving with a 9th grade history book. When my Friend Glenn Three hawks stood up and told her to stop lying. That was when I began questioning everything we were being told. RIP Glen your activism worked on a few people.
Hey it's not just about getting into politics, it is about being active in your community. =] Volunteer to read to kids, you can do teaching, tutoring, after school programs. You can read to the kids in your life. Advocate/volunteer for the library etc. There are so many ways to be active in trying to help kids and/or promote literacy and reading comprehension.
The question is inaccurate. It's not about being dumb; it's about choosing to be dumb.
Yes, willful ignorance breed out of hatred.
I have always loved reading. In many cases, I never read the classic school stuff until I was grown. Tearing it apart word by word in lit class made it boring and burdensome. Now I read everything from biography to history to sci fi. The whole world can be explored in books even if you can't leave home.
I think we get so stuck in the academics of it in school, that the enjoyment can be left out. If they made it more fun to read and learn, I feel like more would do it.
This would explain a lot.
It does
Hey don't blame us Gen Xers. We try to get involved as little as possible.
Lol
I'm a Gen Xer and have been politically involved since I was 14. I've learned some things from older people who spoke truths before I was born. Things like there is no political solution to a cultural problem. The biggest issue in America is apathy, but who cares? These are things I learned from older people (Boomers)
@The-Central-Scrutinizer don't get too upset about my comment. The original poster realized that this was a joke. "Don't blame me for the problem. I haven't done anything to help." So basically, if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. Honestly, Gen Xers should throw their ingenuity and toughness at the problem and get much more involved. When the best I can say is that we haven't added to the problem but haven't help solve it there's still room for improvement.
YES
American media literacy is bad, and only going to get worse, due to the increasing presence of AI-generated content.
But as bad as that is, our emotional intelligence is also in an extremely poor state. Things... will get very bad, I believe.
Yes, the AI is getting really bad. Several people I work with have admitted to using it for school work. Then you add to the fact that videos and photos go viral without people ever recognizing that it’s AI. We are doomed