Dumbing down? Is it now a rquirement?

[Simon Slade]

Re: Dumbing down? Is it now a rquirement?

Has society dumbed down so much? Flippant decisions, with no real aforethought, are written in stone because of some unsubstantiated "entitlement"? As in: I don't have to explain, expound or even define anything that I don't want to. Even if I bring it up! Or demand that others join me in my blindness, no questions allowed.

Seriously??!!?

I don't think society has "dumbed down", because I think that there have always been people who follow blindly with no real meat to their argument. I think things always seem better yesterday.

[Ananta Androscoggin]

Re: Dumbing down? Is it now a rquirement?

How many people are simply terrified by the prospect of having to do something about their "unexamined life"? At the thought that they just might find they have to abandon some long beloved delusion they were taught to believe in since their days in the crib and playpen?

[thalassa]

Re: Dumbing down? Is it now a rquirement?

Again, as this thread is rather ancient, I forget the details of Thalassa's exchange. It would be best to argue with her, about it.

Lol, I think I forget the specific details myself. Proly a thread that should be archived.

Needless to say, this was a thread based on a specific event and interchange of conversation, and (I think) split from another discussion where the event was described.--without knowing and understanding the events that went on that prompted this conversation, there really isn't much anyone can say about it that would be meaningful.

[Maria de Luna]

Re: Dumbing down? Is it now a rquirement?

Well I missed the actual post that this thread originated from, but I would like to add something on to what has been said, the title of the post implies that this is relevant. I served in the United states Military for 8 years, I read many training manuals and they were boring as dirt. As I read them I had at the time, thought that they were boring because there was no artistic flair involved in their writing. At some point I brought this up to someone who had worked in editing some manual or updating it, at which point I learned something. They are all written on a fifth grade reading level. You have to graduate highschool or have a GED to join the military and have a working ability to read and speak "English" but 5th grade is apparently all that they can manage from all of that. I'm not just talking about simple tasks eigther (please don't anyone get offended by the word simple) I am referring to all Technical manuals, DoD Publications, and Army branch documents. I think that for an organization which REQUIRES all of its members to be highschool educated, this is dumbing down, but is it nessecary? If an issue hadn't come up the military would not have addressed it. So while dumbing down may not in its entirety always be nessecary, it is often for the best. I don't like it, it annoys me, but it gives many uneducated (or unproperly educated as the case may easily be) people the opportunity to do something useful within society. They may not be good at defending arguments, they may not even know how. (have to update later)

[Ophidia]

Re: Dumbing down? Is it now a rquirement?

They are all written on a fifth grade reading level. You have to graduate highschool or have a GED to join the military and have a working ability to read and speak "English" but 5th grade is apparently all that they can manage from all of that.

It wasn't always this way for the US military, though. My father joined the military at 16, with neither a high school diploma or a GED - but it was 1952. Most military branches probably haven't updated their requirements for technical manuals since WWII. When the draft came around, it didn't care how educated you were. Even by the time my oldest sister joined the Army in I think 1979/1980 (she was given the ultimatum of jail time or join up, along with some of her friends) a lot of her buddies were illiterate, and came out of service barely more literate than they went in. The standards as far as diploma/GED have only changed recently, and they no longer want people w/criminal records, either.