Are cognitive standards or expectations really falling as much as I perceive them to be, especially among so-called educated people? Many of us say — as simple cultural shorthand — that people are getting dumber today. We make dark jokes about “Idiocracy” being a documentary instead of a comedy. But real intelligence can’t fall this quickly, so what is it? Are we victims of lowered expectations? Could it be that egalitarian impulses in the school system combined with the “everybody gets a trophy” mentality to teach bright people that they weren’t required to use much applied intelligence? And then has watching television and reading the Internet helped amplify that by reducing our attention span to that of gnats?
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 14:26:44 +0000