On Stupidity - Chronicle.com

Michel Roland's personal annotations on this page

Bibliothecaire bookmarked on 2008-09-30 education anti-intellectualism USA pratiques_informationnelles

Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963)
With some cyclical variation, Americans tend to distrust, resent, and even feel moral revulsion toward "intellectuals."
Now, in the post-9/11 era, American anti-intellectualism has grown more powerful, pervasive, and dangerous than at any time in our history, and we have a duty — particularly as educators — to foster intelligence as a moral obligation.
The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric From George Washington to George W. Bush (2008), by Elvin T. Lim, examines speeches and public papers — noting shortened sentences, simplified diction, the proliferation of platitudes — to show a pattern of increased pandering to the lowest common intellectual denominator, combined with a mockery of complexity and analysis.
Gore argues that the democratization of information and the community-building power of the Internet can play important roles in the creation of a "well-connected" citizenry and the restoration of a rational democracy.

Nevertheless, several books — with an emphasis on education and the young — argue that it is precisely the point-and-click culture of the Internet that is damaging our intelligence and our civic culture.
the prevalence of multi-tasking — of always being partly distracted, doing several things at once — has diminished the quality of our thought, reflection, self-expression, and even, surprisingly, our productivity. Baron's solution is to turn off the distractions and focus on the task and people at hand.
Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google (2008), argues that daily use of the Internet may be rewiring our brains for skimming rather than for the sustained concentration that is required for reading books, listening to lectures, and writing long essays.
It seems that our students are dumb and ignorant, but their self-esteem is high so they are impervious or hostile to criticism. Approaching his subject from the right, Bauerlein mentions the usual suspects — popular culture, pandering by educators, the culture war, etc. — but also reserves special attention for the digital technologies, which, for all their promise, have only more deeply immersed students in the peer obsessions of entertainment and fashion rather than encouraging more mature and sustained thought about politics, history, science, and the arts.

This link has been bookmarked by 18 people . It was first bookmarked on 04 Aug 2008, by someone privately.

08 Feb 09

gregoryda
General
31 Dec 08

David Andrews
General
31 Oct 08

Ruben Van Havermaet
education internet technology learning
30 Sep 08

Michel Roland
education anti-intellectualism USA pratiques_informationnelles
- Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963)
- With some cyclical variation, Americans tend to distrust, resent, and even feel moral revulsion toward "intellectuals."
- 6 more annotations...
- - Now, in the post-9/11 era, American anti-intellectualism has grown more powerful, pervasive, and dangerous than at any time in our history, and we have a duty — particularly as educators — to foster intelligence as a moral obligation.
  - The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric From George Washington to George W. Bush (2008), by Elvin T. Lim, examines speeches and public papers — noting shortened sentences, simplified diction, the proliferation of platitudes — to show a pattern of increased pandering to the lowest common intellectual denominator, combined with a mockery of complexity and analysis.
  - Gore argues that the democratization of information and the community-building power of the Internet can play important roles in the creation of a "well-connected" citizenry and the restoration of a rational democracy.
    
    Nevertheless, several books — with an emphasis on education and the young — argue that it is precisely the point-and-click culture of the Internet that is damaging our intelligence and our civic culture.
  - the prevalence of multi-tasking — of always being partly distracted, doing several things at once — has diminished the quality of our thought, reflection, self-expression, and even, surprisingly, our productivity. Baron's solution is to turn off the distractions and focus on the task and people at hand.
  - Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google (2008), argues that daily use of the Internet may be rewiring our brains for skimming rather than for the sustained concentration that is required for reading books, listening to lectures, and writing long essays.
  - It seems that our students are dumb and ignorant, but their self-esteem is high so they are impervious or hostile to criticism. Approaching his subject from the right, Bauerlein mentions the usual suspects — popular culture, pandering by educators, the culture war, etc. — but also reserves special attention for the digital technologies, which, for all their promise, have only more deeply immersed students in the peer obsessions of entertainment and fashion rather than encouraging more mature and sustained thought about politics, history, science, and the arts.
23 Sep 08

Steve JD
11 Sep 08

Jacques Rousseau
education modern students
09 Sep 08

Åke Nygren
John Allen
Has points about using technology. Use this for our NCTE presentation

Web 2.0
08 Sep 08

treyf 22
- A cartload of recent books suggests that it's time to reverse the customer-service mentality plaguing academe
robertawd
Books education
14 Aug 08

triple_ t
education literacy mean-green-meme fundamentalism narcissism
Michel Bauwens
Naomi S. Baron, shows how the proliferation of electronic communication has impaired students' ability to write formal prose; moreover, it discourages direct communication, leading to isolation, self-absorption, and damaged relationships.

P2P-Intersubjectivity P2P
13 Aug 08

Howard Rheingold
Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World (2008), by Naomi S. Baron, shows how the proliferation of electronic communication has impaired students' ability to write formal prose; moreover, it discourages direct communication, leading to isolation,

literacy attention
11 Aug 08

Bill Genereux
university education academia intelligence stupidity