Are we really smarter or dumber than we were a 100 years ago?
With all the information we have at our finger tips nowadays, are we better off? Everything is literally a google search away, or youtube away if you want some tutorials. But yet, after looking at an 1895 8th grade test, I am not sure really are.
See an example of the test: here
A couple of questions that stands out for me is:
- Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
- Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
- Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
- Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
- Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?
- Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
All these show, that in order for a student to pass, you need not only have mastery over theory but application. It is not just formulas to memorized and regurgitated. A student needs to show true understanding to even begin. Not to mention, after answering these questions, you have some grasp on the world around you. How many 8th graders do you know how to write a Promissory Note? Do you? How about the prefixes, or the interest calculations, can you?
So are we really smarter? Then if the answer is no. Why aren't we? It is a century later. Shouldn't we able to easily understand this and more? Especially since we commonly state with confidence that we are most advanced we have ever been.
Again why aren't we?
We have fancy schools, with the latest equipment and lots more financing, but we know less and less everyday. We have all seen the youtube videos. People don't even know the name of their presidents. Worst, they are not children, but adults. Even stranger yet, the educational policy is to make things easier so more people can pass, instead of challenging them for excellence. Actually, academic excellence excellence is looked down on in favor of entertainment skills.
Reading, the gateway to other worlds and possibilities is no longer much favored. A person would rather see the pretty pictures than read and use their imagination. So once again, are we smarter?
Thanks for reading.
Great post
I'm torn. While true the average person probably would miss many of those questions. And it's true people don't know their senators or their state capitols. It's sad. In the US they know this president.
But what about the progress we have made since then? Space Travel , quantum physics, nuclear power and bombs for good or bad that stuff takes smarts. Robotics etc. etc.
The tech these days makes it so easy to look something up people rarely bother to know something. It is a quandary. And social media is... the real source of dumbing down of people. I am not sure we are less intelligent but perhaps were not schooled as well as in the past, unless your going to Harvard or Yale.
Good post got me thinking!
True. There have been quite lot of great achievements since then. Those, however, came from a select few who chose to use these new and advanced sources of knowledge for the benefit and improvement of society. Those who stood out from the crows and refuse follow the norms. They had passion for something, they learnt as much as they could about it, and then made their stamp on the world.
Plus, something being easy can in itself cause a problem. If you think you don't need to work too hard to achieve a goal, laziness creeps in the door. Why study math when I have a calculator? Why study history when I can look it up on google? Why pay attention when it is so easy to find the information later? Well, tech is just a tool and without the proper understanding of how the tool is to be used, tech can be more of a danger to oneself than an aid.
Think of how many people self medicate nowadays because they saw something on the internet, instead of getting proper medical advice. Of course, there is a possibility what the person read was genuine, but a lot of times not. On the other hand, the same information in hands of someone knowledgable in the field can only improve the person's skill and there ability to give healthcare.
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Wow, great post! I'd sum it up:
The first is obvious, the second and third I can testify to personally.
Hahaha. Each of those can be broken down into their own books. It so sad, the education is strengthen minds destroys imagination. The nutrition and vaccines that are suppose to build your body slowly destroys it poisons that often times we are told are good for us.
Yep, I'm glad that I don't get viscously attacked by stating the truth!
The curriculum has not been changed in something like 100 years.
But we're supposed to be so advanced?
@arbitrarykitten Well technically, it has changed, for the worst unfortunately. Only an opinion. We are required nowadays to be more theorist than appliers of the information we receive. In school, the vast majority of test are abstract, just put in an equation problems. Worst, we try to make the work comfortable for everyone instead of trying to push people towards their greater success. We try to eliminate competition by giving everyone a trophy, or just getting rid of the competition.
Another thing, real world examples and situations are all but extinct in our education system. Skills training is also something that is disappearing. So yeah, education has changed but not for the better. Just an opinion.