How Stupid Is We (Compared To Eighth-Graders In 1912)?

 

The West got spoiled—and weak—because it got wealthy. It got wealthy because of free market capitalism combined with a Judeo-Christian work ethic.

And then it got entitled. It lost its edge. It became feminized. Infantilized. Its wealth and increasing free time made its children entitled and lazy. Since we had conquered the wilderness—and our enemies—and could feed and shelter ourselves with relative ease, we no longer needed the indefatigable desire to survive no matter the threat level.

Then we stopped teaching the basics: civics and government, the classics, history, English, debate. And then we could start teaching minutia, absurdity, amorality, immorality.

Many of us have seen the interviews, often on beaches or campuses, of young people being asked the most basic questions of history and governance. Questions like, “Which country did the U.S. win its independence from,” and “who was president during the Civil War?” And we have seen answers such as, “Germany” and “Richard Nixon.”

How did this happen? There are several reasons, perhaps the most important of which is that our educational system collapsed--  in part because ever-more money was being pumped into it, conditionally-- morphing into a giant, left-wing indoctrination apparatus. Much of what is now taught doesn’t matter. The rest of what is taught is taught incorrectly, on purpose.

Have a look at the Bullitt County (Kentucky) 8^th grade school exam from 1912. Be honest, how would you have done? I wouldn’t have aced it myself, though I am a history and geography buff…and a long-time student of economics.

This clearly illustrates the reason so many citizens of today’s West are spoiled, entitled, disaffected, aimless, depressed…and, especially, mind-numbingly ignorant. If the majority of people don’t know history, civics, and economics-- all topics that are currently either out of favor or taught in an “alternative” far-left manner—the society that “tolerates” that cannot long continue to exist. This is analogous to what the Founders said about morality. And the two are closely tied together. A society that is no longer moral will not long endure. A society that is majority ignorant will not, either. One that is no longer moral and increasingly ignorant has, if inadvertently, effectively signed its death warrant.