By Margaret Hedderman
“Where’s the Mediterranean? It’s a sea, isn’t it?”
“I think so. Is that it?”
“Maybe…”
I hide behind my computer, grasping my heart in pain. The conversation in the office continues. The two girls point at various spots of blue on a world map.
“I think that’s the Atlantic.”
“I thought that was the Pacific?”
The pencil I’ve been biting in pain snaps in half. With restraint, I chime in.
“You know, I think the Mediterranean might be between Northern Africa and Europe.”
“Are you sure? What’s Wikipedia say?”
I bang my head repeatedly on the desk. Possibly screaming.
The Mediterranean is, in fact, where I said it would be.
These co-workers were not elementary kids or visitors from the planet Gliese581g (though, I bet aliens do have superior knowledge of our geopolitical affairs,) but rather, these were college students. Within the last year alone, I have encountered at least three other displays of mind-blowing ignorance from “educated” persons, and have thus been inspired to confront this problem.
While education is a source of televised debate every four years, it is hardly a decisive enough topic for any significant reform. Instead, critics continue to play “toss the blame” with everyone from the schools to the teachers to the current Administration. The real problem, however, is rarely addressed: America’s increasing fear of the intellectual (more on this later) and general attitude toward education.
Though education is more accessible, it has come to be viewed as a hassle and obstacle to be thwarted as quickly and effortlessly as possible. More Americans are achieving undergraduate degrees than ever, but the quality of such education has declined – nullifying the value of such degrees to the worth of a high school diploma twenty years ago.
Future Urchins at a grandiose ceremony celebrating the successful production of new work force members.
A college degree is viewed solely for the purpose of getting a job. Grades and meeting national standards are more important than the act of authentic learning. As college students spend nearly half the amount of time studying as their counterparts of the 1960s, and exposure to foreign languages, geography, and world history have dropped in high schools, Americans are continually demonstrating and falling victim to isolationist ideals.
Our desire to process students in terms of numbers and tests scores, ejecting them quickly and efficiently into the work force, shows failure not just in the education system, but in our American mentality. If education reform is to ever be successful, the attitude toward education itself needs to change.
This article is the first of a three part series addressing the importance of education. You may ask, “What is my background? What are my qualifications for such a topic?” Though I am not an educator or hold a degree in the field, I am, however, an American concerned with the future of our country, and am not so blinded to realize education is integral to these efforts.
Plus, if I have to explain basic geography one more time…
