re: The cult of ignorance in the United States: Anti-intellectualism

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I'm rarely annoyed by a dumb person who is wrong. People like Maxine Waters and her ilk just make me laugh and wouldn't bother me at all if they weren't in positions to affect decisions.

But for my entire adult life I have watched people who I know without a doubt are educated enough to know they're lying lie their asses off because they know people will buy it.

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Absolute truth here.

This is why I always try to distinguish the run-of-the-mill ignorance of the common democrats from the DEM leadership. The leadership absolutely KNOWs what they are saying is mendacious - their only intent is to mislead the ignorant masses, and to make it more and more difficult for the masses to get a real education. They shunt them into their academic ivory towers where only the DEM leadership agenda is accepted as the 'true way.'

We really need to do something to break this cycle.

Yes, please, continue framing those of opposing viewpoints as intellectually inferior morons.

Ask Hillary Clinton how that turns out.

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Yes, please, continue framing those of opposing viewpoints as intellectually inferior morons.

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You mean the 77% of the Oklahoma high school students who can't name the first president - have a different -viewpoint- than I do?

I should have suspected as much.

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How many of you guys with advanced degrees and specialized knowledge are offering to teach HS kids?

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I made a stab at that. After 35 years in aerospace industry and 15 years (10 yrs overlapped my last years in aerospace) as private business, I retired and went back to my home town. After 3 years (spent restoring a historical home) i decided to do my 'give back' work and become a high school math teacher. My alma mater had given me a great head start, and I wanted to do my part to carry it forward.

I was completely shocked at the cultural devolution in the 50 years since I graduated. But I stuck with it for 12 years and those were the most rewarding years of my life measured by my interactions with my students, but the most frustrating years of my life dealing with the bureaucracy. The advent of common core drove me away - I could no longer contend with the absurdity and stress of trying to keep up with the silliness of the BESE board and devote enough time to my students, so I retired.

I still advocate for retired businessmen and professionals to lend their talents to their local high schools. But do it sooner than I did. Getting into that after the age of 65 is not for the weak. And once the curriculum changes get settled out, it could be a very rewarding experience for both you and your students.

I remember you speaking about this before. First off, I do think it's awesome and know that kids really will open up to someone they trust intellectually. I feel like people who have a tremendous amount of education and experience in a field other than higher ed can easily eastablish that trust with teenagers.

I do think your obstacles are not rare for those in the public system. We need a new way of thinking about education in this country as a whole but working within the current public system will render that process nearly impossible.

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You mean the 77% of the Oklahoma high school students who can't name the first president - have a different -viewpoint- than I do?

How many inner city Detroit high school students do you think would fare any better with the questions posed?

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That's not germane. Plus, they live here right? They are part of the future.

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That's not germane.

Of course it is. Obviously you can find ignorant morons on either side of the aisle, so it behooves you to not blanketly paint your political opposites as idiots, lest you forget there are plenty of idiots on your own "side".

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They are not 'idiots' because they never heard of George Washington.

You can't even identify the issue.