How do you start your day? Mine starts with my daily read through the National Post over breakfast. I hate to admit it, but a day without the Post is a sad day indeed. I save the Weekend Post for Sunday mornings when they don't publish and work out the Quote for the Day, perhaps tackling the Crossword Puzzle - not the cryptic one, which has proven way too cryptic first thing in the morning. But the rest of the paper is definitely food for the brain and provides plenty of fodder for writers. And I like to think that I begin each day with at least a modicum of knowledge of what's going on around me.
No doubt everyone has heard about the test that a Sociology Professor at Memorial University gave to her students when she suspected they had no idea about the places covered in her lectures. She gave each of them a blank map of the world and asked them to fill in the names of countries and bodies of water.
The result? Three-quarters of her students failed the test. Here's what she discovered: Africa ended up in Europe, Europe had suddenly moved to Africa, the Mediterranean was just a big fog even to students whose origins were Spanish or Portuguese, but the most shocking revelation of all was that some of them couldn't put a name to the ocean right outside their door!
This paints a pretty sad picture of our education system, but it goes way beyond that. What does it say about parenting and things that most kids learn at home?
When interviewed, the professor concluded that these students weren't stupid, but intelligent. I won't wander into that debate - I'll let the reader decide - but I'm willing to bet that there's a huge difference between these kids and their ancestors at a similar age. While their grandfathers or great-grandfathers had little chance of a higher education, they certainly weren't stupid. They had to know how to survive - clearing the land, building their own homes, hunting the forests and fishing the ocean to feed their families. And they certainly knew the difference between a cod and a salmon and that the fish they caught and ate came from the Atlantic Ocean. They knew where the Grand Banks were and how to get there and back without drowning. Could any of these great scholars claim to do the same?
If we care about future generations, we need to do better than this. At the very least, it's time to bring back the revolving globe that every kid got for Christmas.
I hadn't heard about the professor who gave her students a blank map and asked them to fill in the names of the countries, but I'm not surprised that most of the answers were wrong.
ReplyDeleteEach generation of students seems to be less intelligent than the former one. My parents knew more than I did in mathematics, spelling and world events. I certainly know more than the thirty-somethings running corporations and more still than the high school/college kids attending school today.
I also agree that the home is where the most important lessons are taught. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening anymore. The younger, self-absorbed generation doesn't know which fork or spoon to use at the dinner table, provided they actually eat at the table and not in front of the TV or computer. Properly addressing another person is another complaint I have. I still call my friends' parents Mr & Mrs, but infants in strollers have no problem yelling out my given name as I walk the dog in the neighbourhood.
Respecting one's elders was a given in my day. No longer, I fear. In a sense we could learn from each other. The narcissistic youngsters could do better in life learning some manners and lessons on subjects they find boring, while the Boomers/Zoomers could do better tooting their own horn and calling attention to their accomplishments.
The gap between the generations seems to be widening. Technology is one factor. What comes naturally to people under thirty is a perplexing struggle to the generation who grew up when computers were the size of rooms and they had to use a pay phone if they were out and about.
But the world must change and in fifty years the narcissists will be complaining about the new generation gap. I won't be hear to see it.
Cynthia