More about the loss of a common core of knowledge

As I had indicated, I have been gathering information via a questionnaire on what ordinary people, mostly under 40, know about geography, history, folklore and such. Included in the groups surveyed were 20 Florida elementary school teachers who had gathered in a group.

The full results will be published on Associated Content when they are all compiled, but the preliminary results are scary. So far, none of the teachers and darn few others knew who were the combatants in the US War of 1812; most people said that the "face that launched a thousand ships" was that of the Mona Lisa; and a substantial number of young adults didn't know when World War II started, ended or who the allies were fighting.

I don't want to be the crotchety old man wailing about "kids today", but damn it, we have lost a generation and it's going to get worse.

Our children are deprived of a common general knowledge

Over the past years, I have thought of the days long ago when everyone has a common knowledge of all sorts of things, history, government, geography, literature, all of which facilitated discourse among our friends. For example, we could reference Romeo and Juliet or Rip Van Winkle and our contemporariness knew about which we were speaking.

Today, our educational system is test oriented, there is no independent reading and our children's knowledge of the "olden days" extends five or ten years at most.

I have a feeling that the problem is that teachers do not have the common societal knowledge thjat used to be pervasive. I am circulating a short questionnaire among people age 18 - 40 and will publish the results. I'm afraid that they will confirm my worst expectations.

I'll post more later.