The Dumbing Down of America

[guids]

stream of thought on a dumb message board doesnt count towards what im talking about, i dont proofread as most can tell, and pretty much just vomit onto the screen as fast as possible.

[KotOD]

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right, what my question is, at what point can we safely overhaul what we teach babies/kids about language to speed up the process of communication? It seems that making them read Shakespearian sonnets is fairly pointless nowadays imo, but when will the phasing out part happen?

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It's already happening. People go to college much more to get jobs, as opposed to going to get educated, morally broadened, and intellectually stimulated, than they used to not too long ago. Being well-rounded and intellectually awake and curious aren't thought nearly the boon that they used to be. There's not a lot of peer pressure out there to read Shakespeare and the like.

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And the problem is that none of them can write when they get out. The tech people are the biggest offenders, but it's widespread enough that most companies have noticed. It's pretty fun when you read a cover letter, which only about half of all kids now even attempt to write, and think "For his sake, I hope that he's here on a student visa."

[guids]

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right, what my question is, at what point can we safely overhaul what we teach babies/kids about language to speed up the process of communication? It seems that making them read Shakespearian sonnets is fairly pointless nowadays imo, but when will the phasing out part happen?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's already happening. People go to college much more to get jobs, as opposed to going to get educated, morally broadened, and intellectually stimulated, than they used to not too long ago. Being well-rounded and intellectually awake and curious aren't thought nearly the boon that they used to be. There's not a lot of peer pressure out there to read Shakespeare and the like.

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And the problem is that none of them can write when they get out. The tech people are the biggest offenders, but it's widespread enough that most companies have noticed. It's pretty fun when you read a cover letter, which only about half of all kids now even attempt to write, and think "For his sake, I hope that he's here on a student visa."

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but how does the formality of a cover letter affect how they do their job?

[KotOD]

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right, what my question is, at what point can we safely overhaul what we teach babies/kids about language to speed up the process of communication? It seems that making them read Shakespearian sonnets is fairly pointless nowadays imo, but when will the phasing out part happen?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's already happening. People go to college much more to get jobs, as opposed to going to get educated, morally broadened, and intellectually stimulated, than they used to not too long ago. Being well-rounded and intellectually awake and curious aren't thought nearly the boon that they used to be. There's not a lot of peer pressure out there to read Shakespeare and the like.

[/ QUOTE ]

And the problem is that none of them can write when they get out. The tech people are the biggest offenders, but it's widespread enough that most companies have noticed. It's pretty fun when you read a cover letter, which only about half of all kids now even attempt to write, and think "For his sake, I hope that he's here on a student visa."

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but how does the formality of a cover letter affect how they do their job?

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Who said anything about formality? I'm talking about using basic english. As I said previously in this thread:

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If you write like a moron, prospective employers are going to think you're a moron, regardless of your qualifications. In a world where management gets flatter and the average employee gets more and more contact with all remaining levels of management and even customers, writing skills are extremely important. If a kid can't write a cover letter that makes sense, how am I to trust that he can write an understandable email to a customer contact? How can I trust that an internal email he writes won't end up making our department look like a bunch of monkeys effing a football?

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[FlyWf]

Education used to be a leisure time activity for the idle rich, now it's a necessary component of modern life. The farmers of 1850 are the customer service representatives of today.

[KotOD]

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Education used to be a leisure time activity for the idle rich, now it's a necessary component of modern life. The farmers of 1850 are the customer service representatives of today.

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Are you answering my posts or Boris'? I've clearly stated that I'm using a 10 year comparison window.

[FlyWf]

Threaded mode? I was making a general point, but if anyone it was a response to Blarg.


Anyway, to address your points, cover letters are a retarded waste of time and the sooner we get rid of them the better. And while kids might get looked down on by the older people of today,

1) You're insane if you don't think people in the past did the same to their younger generation

2) Soon enough people who grew up in the IM era will be making hiring decisions.

[Boris]

kotod - I'll bet dollars to donuts that second generation dry land farmers in the US have, on average, higher IQ's than the general population. I'm sure this is true for the period from 1920-1975. I suspect it's true for periods starting in 1850.

[Blarg]

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Threaded mode? I was making a general point, but if anyone it was a response to Blarg.


Anyway, to address your points, cover letters are a retarded waste of time and the sooner we get rid of them the better. And while kids might get looked down on by the older people of today,

1) You're insane if you don't think people in the past did the same to their younger generation

2) Soon enough people who grew up in the IM era will be making hiring decisions at McDonald's..

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FYP