Phones destroyed our civilization https://t.co/pwZwJ8oAuh
— Noah Smith
(@Noahpinion) March 24, 2025
And just think: These people are about average. Many people are way dumber than anything you see there (I grew up with doofs like this, so they existed pre-smartphone. But I do think it has gotten a lot worse.)
This is a self selected group of drunk spring breakers [at Clearwater Beach?] who voluntarily talk to the Kent State Gun Girl. Also how long has civics education been dead?
And out of curiosity, did the military have any programs to remedy such gaps in civic education for new recruits when you were serving?
My experience talking to “educated” people isn’t much different than this. I bet only one out of 20 would know how many US senators there are, or could name the three branches of federal government without using ChatGPT. And even those who could do the latter, almost none could explain with any kind of accuracy what those branches actually do.
The military didn’t have any civic education programs, though it probably should have that. Mil training just covers military topics and whatever your job specialty happens to be.
That’s dismal. Those are all questions on the citizenship test. You must mean educated adults over a certain age, because I suspect NCLB wrecked a lot.
I think current college kids have never seen the US government that works like it’s described in basic civics in practice. What’s separation of powers?
Would current recruits have civics knowledge that you’d have taken for granted among your peers back then?
Over a certain age (maybe 40 or so) I think education was better. NCLB was a net negative for most students and school systems. But I think the larger contributor is just the information environment changing so much due to the internet and smartphones. Those forces just squeezed out anything else. It has quite clearly made people dumber.
You’re right about current college students not having seen a government that functions in the way it says in textbooks, or a functional government at the fed level at all.
I doubt current recruits, being mostly Gen Z, have much knowledge at all. Perhaps we should require the citizenship test of more than those attempting to be naturalized. I know it’s absolutely verboten in the US to suggest that there be a test of knowledge/competence to vote, but maybe there should be.