ACTA's Must-Reads
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Blank Stares
A team of researchers led by Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith conducted a study in which they interviewed 230 young adults aged 18 to 23 about morality and its place in their personal lives. As Columnist David Brooks recently highlighted, in the overwhelming majority researchers were met with... blank stares.
Smith and his team found that "Not many of them have previously given much or any thought to many of the kinds of questions about morality that we asked." And as Brooks noted, "you see the young people groping to say anything sensible on these matters. But they just don't have the categories or vocabulary to do so."
Given ACTA's numerous studies, this sad state of affairs hardly surprises. Our What Will They Learn? research shows that students can receive a diploma without ever encountering a rigorous program of reading and writing that is representative of a liberal arts core -- one that ensures young adults receive the requisite skills to engage in substantive discussion -- on morality and other issues of public concern. Over 60 percent of the 1007 colleges and universities reviewed in WWTL received a "C" or worse for requiring three or fewer subjects out of seven key areas of study.
The costs of such a haphazard and lackadaisical education are plain for all see. Whether in the job market or the market of ideas, students and the newly-graduated are looking at the difficult and pressing realities of our time with...blank stares.
Posted by Max Brindle on September 19, 2011 at September 19, 2011 09:59 AM
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