OMG! (Oh my god) Our society will never survive.

[KiotiKowboy]

She couldn't care less about civics or politics ........

Sounds as though the public schools have accomplished their goal - an easy to control population.

 

[dave1949]

Sounds as though the public schools have accomplished their goal - an easy to control population.

Oh good gracious! Did you ever consider that the 20-somethings look at the usual party politics as a poisonous circus that accomplishes little of value? They are turned off and rightly so.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Oh good gracious! Did you ever consider that the 20-somethings look at the usual party politics as a poisonous circus that accomplishes little of value? They are turned off and rightly so.

Trying not to go political here ....

I'm a tad older than the "20 somethings" and I am also turned off by the usual party politics. That does not negate my responsibility as a citizen to participate in the process. Yes, there are times I just can't pull the lever for either party in a particular race - but that doesn't mean I skip the process entirely.

Public schools do a SORRY JOB teaching civics and just as sorry of a job teaching the principles of our founding. This, in my opinion, is not by accident. Public schools are government controlled and they necessarily teach what, and how, the government wants. Couple that with governments' unquenchable thirst for power and you have the recipe for disaster ... in other words, a population with little understanding of the dangers of big government. This is how we get things like obamacare and out of control agencies, i.e. EPA & IRS for starters.

In short - Government is a necessary evil, not your friend. It has an addiction to power, money and assets. Those items can only come from the citizens. Therefore, government uses its power to take more and more and more from YOU. Both parties are guilty - the left with no restraint and the right with scarce little. Being involved in your duty as a citizen to keep that government force under control is mandatory - if you want to avoid another revolution. So ... sitting out the process condemns a future generation to bloodshed. This is not exactly rocket science.

 

[Silvic]

It's a bit too much to extrapolate that since one uninformed teenager doesn't know what the EPA is, that "We as a society are done". Really? Are you serious? I don't think your sample is big enough.

I have no idea what you are referencing about a teenager. Try re-reading the post. Yes I am very serious.

My sample is very large considering the number of young folks that I interface with on a daily basis. This was just the latest example that I found unbelievable of where we are going and thus I posted about it. Ask any business owner what kind of knowledge base and work ethic their young/new employees have. Not all of them by any shape of the imagination, but the number is staggering compared to the generation before them. The bell curve has shifted significantly to the left. I see daily the results of our failed education system and the lack of knowledge that many of the current young generation have and the total lack of a work ethic of many as they enter the work force. You may not see it that way and that is fine. The small business owner and even large corporations are having big issues with knowledge and work ethic issues.

 

[chad22]

Re: OMG! Our society will never survive.

The news?? ........ You listen to that propaganda? ;-)

I don't hardly watch our local news station anymore. One day they ran out of stories and had to run a news story about a 2 year old boy shooting rubber bands around his house.

Now why didn't I get on the news when I did that stuff? It's no fair. lol

I was like that's news? They actually had that as a breaking News Story. It showed some youtube video of the 2 year old boy playing with rubber bands.

Like really that's breaking news? Well he did hit his sister with one. He must have hurt her bad enough for it to be breaking news.

 

[timbatrader]

I’m not in the states and New Zealand’s environment agency has different names but most “kiwis” of my generation know what the EPA stands for. Young Kiwis probably not. My knowledge comes from watching TV News, current affairs programs and reading Newspapers. My nephew’s and others his age don’t watch broadcast TV or read newspapers The only News they are exposed to is online and unless they have a special interest in environmental issues are likely to only read the celebrity news.No wonder it doesn't mean anything to him

 

[TCowner]

I've told the story here before but it's worth repeating. A few years ago the anniversary of the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan was a topic on the nightly news and on the internet news sites. So I asked a couple of my new co-workers if they could remember what historical events lead up to the decision by our government to bomb Japan.

I got some rather interesting responses. President Bush Sr. ordered the bombing because of a dispute over a trade deal and it happened in 1991. Yes, George Bush was president in 1991 so I guess that is worth something.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Google "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America".

https://www.google.com/search?q=The+dumbing+down+of+america&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[Buppies]

I do not think it is only our school systems that have failed our young people. Because you do not like something does not mean you can't read or learn about it. The lack of personal accountability and parenting skills are lacking as well. Our sons college graduating class four years ago thought by now they would all be making $150000 a year and driving Mercedes. Cannot for the life of me figure out where they got that idea

 

[rtimgray]

I guess that it is becoming en vogue to condemn and discount today's youth based on random experiences, and lay the blame of their failings at the feet of the public school system.

As other posters have mentioned in this thread, and I mentioned in the other one about high school seniors - do we (as a generation or two above the current crop of high schoolers) really think that our elders did not have the same concerns, worries and disappointments about us? If so, I would say that we might be a little short-sighted.

So what if one cube-dwelling phone operator doesn't know the meaning of the acronym EPA? What about the flip side of this - he knows how to read (unless he knows the calling script from memory), he know how to take data, he knows how to, at some level, communicate with the outside world using his voice (not texting or emails), and maybe most importantly - he's working at a job (whether it is a paying job or a volunteer position, I have no idea), but at least he is showing up somewhere to do something. Don't a lot of us lament about the poor work ethic of "today's youth." Well, here's a fella working, and we can't cut him slack because he doesn't know what the EPA is.

And for all we know, the fella in questions could have been 40 or 50 years old - maybe he has a young voice via the use of herbal remedies and meditation - who knows.

And once again, I will reiterate my support of the public school systems, in that I think that they do a fair job with the hand they are dealt. It is like democracy - probably the worst form of it's function, except for all of the others. The school systems and teachers are only part of the overall education of a child/teenager. A good deal of how well a student does in school and later in life has much to do with their home life, their social circles, if they are involved in church/community/volunteer groups/etc. To accuse the public school system of "dumbing down" the American youth is, I feel, a testament to the level of involvement that the accusers may choose to have in the education process.

If you are not happy with how things are done, on any level of government, by all means, contact your school board representative, principal, superintendent, etc. If you don't get satisfaction there, go to your magistrate/councilmen/Judge Executive/Mayor/etc. Rally your friends, start a petition, hold a peaceful demonstration and get support for a worthy cause to change the status quo.....

...or gripe about it on the internet.

Anyway, I'm not quite ready to give up on today's youth. Of course, you have to take the good with the bad, it's all part and parcel. I will meet my share of knuckleheads, and people meeting me today will feel the same way.

Good luck and take care.