A seminary
professor is talking with a small group of mostly older adults.
“We’ve had to
change how we teach our courses,” he says. “Half of the students in our classes
have made it through high school and college without reading a book. They can’t
write an essay. They don’t know how to spell or anything about grammar and
punctuation, because they were never taught it.
“These are young
men mostly in the mid to late 20s. If they went to one of the better public
high schools or a private school, they’re in better shape. If they went to an
average high school or worse, they’re in worse shape. And they made it through
college without reading a book.
“Boys are taught
differently in schools than they used to be. They’re expected to behave like
girls so the teachers can teach them all the same. If they don’t, and most of
them don’t, they’re doped. Given Ritalin for years. They sit in the back of the
class with their baseball caps on backwards and looked spaced out. However,
they usually find ways to rebel.
“Do you know
what it’s like to be talking with a 28-year-old who discovers his intellectual
potential for the first time in his life? When he realizes he isn’t stupid?
“The first thing
he understands is how many of his years have been wasted. And then he realizes
just how many people participated in that waste.
“This has been
going on a long time.”
This short
conversation left me stunned. It came up independently of the subject at hand,
which wasn’t about schools or young people or the state of American education.
A student can
enter a seminary after graduating from college and high school and never have read a book. Students can
walk in the door having never understood or even glimpsed their intellectual
potential. Students can walk into a seminary without knowing how to write an essay.
And if it’s true
for seminaries, it’s also true for business. And government institutions. And
non-profits. And schools.
Yes, this has
been going on for a long time. We pulled my oldest from public school after 6th
grade – and we lived then. As we do now, in one of the best school districts in
the state, with the second highest paid superintendent.
We pulled him
because his English teacher kept sending notes to parents about classroom
activities – and the notes were filled with misspelled words and grammar and
punctuation errors. The English teacher
didn’t know grammar and punctuation. Or how to spell.
This was in
1993.
A generation
ago.
