Cabernet for Mary Beth.
<pouring>
Mind the glass, though. 17th century Venetian.
<looking for the Worcestershire sauce ... mixing>
And a Bloody Mary for Sharon.
This is an issue we've been discussing on and off the last few years in another online community. There's a general consensus that something is *different,* concern that something may be *wrong,* and no idea as to what is the cause or what to do about it.
I'm not particularly "old school" despite being 57 ... the Latin I learned was in the public schools ... but I think the problem, such as it is, is far older and distinctly cultural. There's an important book, written in the late 50s, that addresses what can only be called willful ignorance. It's
Anti-intellectualism in American Life, by Richard Hofstadter.
He showed that the longer an immigrant group stayed in the country, the lower the school test scores. Each generation "got dumber."
I think things have gotten worse as Americans as a whole have gotten wealthier. Gotten "fat and sassy" to use an old phrase.
I also think that our goals in education have contributed to a sort of secondary ignorance. We do not educate to instill curiosity; we educate so that a particular body of knowledge is "learned" (leastways until the final exam).
I tend to think that kids believe there are answers to all questions because they have been taught as though this is the case. The Internet, I'm afraid, panders to this attitude by providing answers so easily ... whether or not they are true and whether or not they are even understood.
