What Can You Do ...?

Sarah and I talk about this whole grade inflation thing all the time. Within her department, she is known as one of the toughest graders, and consequently kids often ask to transfer to a different teacher. "So and so let's their students blah, blah, blah." "Well, when you get to college, you're not even going to get the blah, blah you're getting from me, so you might as well get used to it."

But it's not just the kids. Several years ago, I ran across this advertisement for the 100 Greatest Books of All Time published by Easton Press. These are truly amazing books bound in genuine leather, with smythe-sewn bindings and acid free paper. Anyway, I decided to start working my way through them because I realized that my education had neglected many of the classics. What's really odd is that when I have one of these books out in public, people will ask me what I am reading (because they recognize the unique quality of the book itself). When I tell them "A Tale of Two Cities" or "Livy's History of Ancient Rome," they look at me all spooked and say: "that sounds hard." I'm always polite, but inside I want to shake these people and scream: "Don't you realize that 50 years ago, 12 year olds were reading this stuff."

This dumbing down of America via the mass proliferation of entertainment options (ala Neil Postman) is going to cripple this nation. In fact, the pessimist in me sometimes wonders whether we have already passed the threshold of no return.