Korábban szó esett az amerikai oktatási rendszer állitólagos válságáról. Debbie Schlusselnek jelent meg ezzel kapcsolatban egy cikke a townhall.comon, ami szerintem elég érdekes és ezúton hivnám fel a figyelmeteket rá. Idéznék is belőle néhány részletet (Ragika és Palozc legnagyobb bosszúságára, bár a hölgy nem mucsai magyar vidéki-pesti miépes csurkista amerika gyűlölő, hanem sokak által tisztelt amerikai konzervativ személyiség, újságiró, ráadásul holokauszt túlélők leszármazotta :)).

"Contemporaneously, a new book, “Non Campus Mentis: World History According to College Students,” by Shepherd College History Professor Anders Henriksson, hit the New York Times miscellaneous best-seller list. Described by Henriksson to AP as “the crčme de la crčme of student vacantness,” it is Exhibit A in the case against the stupidity, ignorance, and intellectual vapidity of America’s “educated” class. From thousands of college students’ papers, the book culls these empty-headed gems of inventive history: --“Judyism [sic] was the first monolithic religion. It had one big God named ‘Yahoo.’ Old Testament profits include Moses, Amy and Confucius, who believed in Fidel Piety.” --“Victims of the black death grew boobs on their necks. Death rates exceeded 100 percent in some towns.” --“History, a record of things left behind by past generations, started in 1815. Thus, we should try to view historical times as the behind of the present. This gives incite [sic] into the anals [sic] of the past.” --“Zorroastrologism was founded by Zorro. This was a duelist religion. The three gods were ‘Good,’ ‘Bad,’ and ‘Indifferent.’ These beliefs later resurfaced among the Manatees.” Henriksson blames the ignorance of college students on “an element of students getting into college without managing to absorb some basic things.” No kidding. A college history course “can be a daunting swirl . . . for those who start from near ground zero” with “limited vocabulary.”"

"In 2000, the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut administered a 34-question high-school level American history test, to college seniors at 55 top colleges and universities. Nearly 80 percent failed, including those from Ivy League schools like Harvard and Princeton. More than a third didn’t know the Constitution established the U.S. government’s division of power, and most couldn’t identify the “Father of the Constitution” (James Madison), the speaker of “Give me liberty or give me death” (Patrick Henry), or the half-century in which the Civil War took place (1850-1900). But a stunning 99% could identify their similarly intellectually-challenged MTV cartoon counterparts, “Beavis and Butthead” and rapper “Snoop Dogg.” It’s easy to see why today’s collegians are contemporaneously more stupid and more liberal: buh-bye Shakespeare, hello . . . Drew Barrymore? Trending toward Hampton’s “Miami Vice,” and Berkeley’s live sex shows, courses emphasizing facts, formulas, classics, and great writers (a/k/a “dead, old White men”) are banished to make room for dumbed-down ideological joke courses like “The Life and Times of Drew Barrymore,” (Oberlin College), “How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation,” (University of Michigan), “Ebonics” (Wayne State University, Detroit), and “Oprah” (an Illinois state university). Oprah, herself, was a “prof” at elite Northwestern. Ditto for singer Sheryl Crow at Dartmouth, as its 2000 Montgomery Fellow—normally reserved for real intellectuals."