Back when all we had to worry about was a global pandemic (I’m being facetious), I was watching a clip of an open-it-all-back-up-now protester speaking to a microphone, having her minute of fame. The man beside her was armed, of course (because if your skin is white, here in America, you can swagger around with weapons of mass destruction strapped to your body and the police just hold their peace). And this gal was running off at the mouth, accusing “the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and the New World Order” of being the cause of “all this.”* When I stopped laughing at her, I sighed. When did Americans get so dumb? I’m not being a smart-aleck—I know people just like this woman. The guy I used to work with. The longtime dear friend who wants to tell me about the Deep State and Area 51. (No, really.)
When I was a kid I vividly remember my parents discussing that the average American was only as smart as a fifth-grader (i.e., a ten-year-old). Where did that discussion originate? Did it come from a study discussed in a magazine? A book? I don’t know (and I’ve googled and googled and can’t find anything); however, I remember my parents talking about it, and I’m guessing they probably saw it on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, because they (we) never missed it, and that would have been the media they most had in common. (I also half-wonder if the TV game show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? sprang from the same comments I’m remembering.) I even wonder if it was just something being discussed by conservatives at the time.
Regardless, I think we are seeing this theory in action right here in the twenty-first century, with actual grownups believing conspiracy theories that I (and other reasonable** people) find laughable. (sigh) But when I was researching the origins of this memory, I did come across some interesting information.
One of the primary reasons our nation’s founders envisioned a vast public education system was to prepare youth to be active participants in our system of self-government. The responsibilities of each citizen were assumed to go far beyond casting a vote; protecting the common good would require developing students’ critical thinking and debate skills, along with strong civic virtues.
Blind devotion to the state or its leaders would never be enough. Rather, being American was something to be learned and carried out. (Emphasis mine.)
This is from the daily online newsletter, neaToday, of the National Education Association (NEA). Daily! That’s how many issues concern the nation’s largest professional employee organization. It continues:
Until the 1960s, it was common for American high school students to have three separate courses in civics and government. But civics offerings were slashed as the curriculum narrowed over the ensuing decades, and lost further ground to “core subjects” under the NCLB–era standardized testing regime.***
I definitely recommend you read the entire article. How lucky I was to get the public school education I got growing up in California during the 1960s! (I was in a school system in which that three-part civics education still existed.) How fortunate that my community had a robust program for advanced students (and that my daddy encouraged me into it****). I wish I could go back in time and thank those teachers who taught me how to compose sentences and paragraphs, who taught me how to think for myself, who taught me civics and government. (And my parents, particularly my father, who gently pushed me to think outside any box I found myself in. There will be more of those stories too.)
Remember, we’re expected to be responsible citizens, informed voters. I don’t think Illuminati Gal qualifies. What happened to her? (Rhetorical question. I don’t know.)
I am a fan of educators, not a critic. My son, with his public school education, has two degrees in education, as does his wife, and they are committed educators. And while No Child Left Behind (2002–2015) has at last been left behind, it “nudged aside visual arts, music, physical education, social studies, and science, not to mention world languages, financial literacy, and that old standby, penmanship.” Aside from also eliminating things like social studies and civics—a huge loss for growing citizens who need to make informed voting decisions—we have studies that show, for example, a good music program (just to name one nearly eliminated elective) improves grades for students across the board—in all subjects. Why would our government do this? (Another rhetorical question.)
Sadly, here in 2020 when we have so much information literally at our fingertips, there are folks running around out there with no critical thinking skills whatsoever. (I have a friend who just today asserted that his opinions were based on fact, while mine were not: “I guess it’s a matter of opinion about facts,” he said. Um.) These folks can’t separate good information from bad, propaganda from fact. It’s worrisome.
* She probably hadn’t had someone she knew die of the coronavirus yet. But soon, as was the case with Vietnam (deaths in combat: 47K; total deaths: 58K; wounded: 153K), we will all, including this foolish woman, know someone who has died of COVID. Number of deaths in the US as of this writing: 115K. Source.
** I use reasonable to distinguish it from, say, intelligent. Or well educated. I don’t have a college degree, and no one has to have one to use their own, average brain to seek out the information needed to debunk conspiracy theories. You don’t even have to have the highly developed bullshit meter I have; thinking works just fine. (Sometimes college is good for developing critical thinking, though.)
*** Make no mistake: they’re talking here about No Child Left Behind from the Bush2 era. W’s administration really opened my eyes to what Republicans were up to: the bare minimum for most Americans, that’s what.
**** Another story for another time.
Wanderlustful 