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[Moderator 1]

This is an old question, one that predates the current controversy. Dumbing down, whether at the high school or university level, has been with us for hundreds of years.
      That having been said, I rather doubt that college professors, especially those from elite universities and colleges, are in a position to dictate to high school teachers what they should and should not do vis-a-vis college preparatory programs. In the main, colleges simply do not have to deal with the in-parentis-locus-scenario offered up as sop to our high school or prep school colleagues. They, on the other hand, have a broader constituency to address, one that may or may not choose to continue on with studies in higher education.
      That is why the traditional high school in the US, with its legacy of
socialization skills and so forth, may well be in need of radical reform, i.e., via tracking programs for vocational, office, technical, and university studies in a manner similar to that of France, Germany, and Switzerland, for example. While this is surely not in the realm of pc, it does foster a discernable focus, one that is lacking in the current grab-bag of pre-university college preparatory porgrams.

Author: Observer
Date:   03-06-06 14:43

[Norman Hanscombe]

The basic problem is significantly different from the past, in that modern society has become so obsessed with no one failing, that passing has become meaningless.  The Tooth Fairy Brigade coalition, the members of which have long dominated "educational" decision making processes, is so busy building self esteem that no one bothers about whether such self esteem is justified.

There was a time when staff members were there to provide education to students who might benefit from it.  Now, in all too many cases, students are there to provide employment opportunities for staff who might benefit from it.  In Australia we call this progress, and since even politicians aren't game to tackle it, I'm far from optimistic about teachers or lecturers having much success.  Even if those academics who haven't sold out completely to the Tooth Fairy Brigade tried to make a stand, anyone who backed their attempts would be turned upon savagely.

In The Emperor's New Clothes, it needed only one little boy to point out the absurdity of the situation.  In the real world, however, those who have made disastrous mistakes aren't quite so ready to acknowledge them --- and there are few disasters greater than what well meaning do-gooders have managed to do with education.

[mtarnowski]

Well, this is not the dumbing down of the common definition, but it IS dumb: I'm reading an on-line instruction manual written by a young, Ph.D.-holding administrator for our new college-wide gradebook, e-mail and Web discussion system. The e-manual contains such gems as "when the thread is unread, it's title will be bolded" and "to send an e-mail, click on compose."

One doesn't correct the powers that be (I'm retired and merely an occasional adjunct these days).  I note, however, that this administrator has met all criteria at all levels of our state's fine educational system, beginning with the k-12 experience and moving on through all undergraduate requirements before finally attaining the graduate level.

As a side note, this administrator declined to answer an operational question I had e-mailed via the system's "hot line" because, the reply came, I had not yet taken the group tutorial and thus lacked the benefit of learning it with "properly applied androgogical principals."

In the language of my students, I'm ROFL!

________

Excellent forum, all around.
I'll drop by often.
Marilyn