By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (http://www.originalsources.com)
July 28, 1999
Last Friday my column "Today's Journalism: Avoid the Cold, Cruel Facts," (http://originalsources.com/OS7-99MQC/7-23-1999.1.shtml) which outlined an experience with a letter writer who identified herself as a "young journalist" prompted a number of long-time teachers to write letters commenting on it. All of them had taught more than 25 years and all of them told me that their students today are very different from those of yesterday. Every teacher told me they have real difficulty in getting students to understand or care about facts, or to understand the difference between spin and facts. The notion that young people must have their "self esteem" stroked in the classroom has dramatically reduced the scholastic level many of them achieve. Why should a student work hard to learn how to write and spell when they are falsely praised for poor work in attempts to "build their self-esteem?"
Below is one of the letters I received. I think every parent in America should read this letter. The author of the letter has taught chemistry for 40 years. He is a college professor who has spent many years challenging young people to believe in themselves by working hard and ACHIEVING. Real self esteem arises from hard work and real accomplishment, not by praising young people for ineptness or poor work. Those who falsely praise young people for poor work encourage them to believe they CANNOT do good work. However, in today's "politically correct" world, teachers who demand work and achievement often find themselves in danger of losing their jobs.
I think the professor, who shall be nameless for his own safety, has written a sobering indictment of America's mis-education of its youth. Far too many teachers have been taught how to spin - not how to teach - in liberal education courses. What happens when these young people run into REALITY which undoubtedly is ahead for them? What will happen to young people who have been given such a false notion of the world around them if there is another world war and they are drafted and sent overseas to fight? Or, if the easy money from the economic boom suddenly evaporates - and they can't find a job ANYWHERE? Or, the ethnic conflict, which is being fanned in America by things like the recently passed "Hate Crimes" bill leads to the Balkanization of American cities?
The letter below is a rare dose of truth coming from the heart of an industry which, sadly, seems to now teach children to lie to themselves and others about the world they are living in. Truth, in the education industry today, can cause a man to lose his job - so for our purposes here I've given him a pen name. He will merely be called "Professor Truth." To contact him, write to mmostert@originalsources.com and address your e-mail to Professor Truth.
Dear Mrs. Mostert,
Your July 23 editorial, Today's Journalism: Avoid the Cold, Cruel Facts. Not all the Youth of America Have Been Brainwashed hit a nerve. Indeed, among so many young people, spin is the entire message. This e-mail is offered as a note of agreement with your assessment of the situation and as an encouragement for your important work.
I have been a college chemistry teacher for forty years. I discovered it is all but impossible to get students to report facts. Political perspectives seem to always find their way into much student writing. The most egregious examples flow from students who liken themselves to "investigative reporters."
"The times, they are a changin." Over the past thirty years, females have being taught to dislike and distrust males -- even as they continue to have an ongoing interest in their oppressors. All too many male students have become little more than indolent, indiscriminate pollinators. That attitudinal change has greatly altered the learning environment.
Regarding student communication skills: Our College newspaper consistently wins awards for excellence. I am ashamed and embarrassed when I peruse each issue. Spelling, grammar, and syntax errors abound; the layout is unattractive; stories to be "continued on page xx" are nowhere to be found on page xx or anywhere else in the issue. And, too, if it is possible to put a political spin on the issue at hand, you can be assured that it will be left-liberal and in abundance. Indeed, if such ineptitude and bias can win awards, what do such achievements tell us about those who judge the work and confer the awards?
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. After all, like so many colleges, our institution is administered by a staff that embraces a world-view of perpetual dependence. I often raise their ire when I suggest. "If paper shuffling were to be outlawed tomorrow, you guys would be starving by next week." We have rows and rows of offices devoted to financial aid -- "... whether you need it or not." We have women-strength groups in every nook and cranny. Women who are abused by husbands or boyfriends are cuddled by a cadre of post-menopausal feminists. The poor "disadvantaged" female is led through system pathways that lead to free books and free tuition, and free food, and free child care. And then they hit the wall of academic expectations.
Though the College wouldn't admit it, we are discouraged from the implementation of high academic standards. It is not uncommon to be called before the Lords Anointed in response to student complaints that tests are too hard, or that their written work is criticized for grammar and style. Students seem to neatly separate a proper narrative from the facts they're supposed to be detailing. One such irate individual said, " I shuld be graded on speling in a English class -- not on a chemustry paper."
Then I'm told that the beleaguered female earned straight "A's" last semester and she's upset because she "just can't get chemistry." When I check on the courses she's taken, I discover that last semester's menu consisted of music appreciation, art appreciation, feminist issues, and introduction to arithmetic.
It is like swimming upstream in a "rising tide of mediocrity." I fear our nation and its promise is being rapidly eroded by and to the lowest common denominator. Can it be that the liberal perspective is a pathology designed to perpetuate itself? I boil inside when I learn of a hapless student who is being sucked into the black hole of dependence. Thank God there are many dedicated students who bloom with delight when subjected to high academic and personal standards that will make them strong. Nevertheless, their numbers are declining.
I spend quite a lot of time as a chemistry tutor in the College HELP Lab. Now and then, one of the downtrodden appears at my table. Bent out of shape because chemistry is an insurmountable barrier to her goal to become a nurse, she wrings her hands and pleads for mercy. I have no mercy -- only a willingness to help her understand the subject. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't get big muscles by reading muscle-man books. He pumped iron. Chemistry is not a spectator sport.
Under the wide-eyed gaze of several other "tutorees," I toss a hundred dollar bill on the table and announce to the student -- "If you'll give me your attention and best effort, I assure you I can enable you to work this dreaded chemistry problem that stands between you and your career goal. If I can't, you can keep the Ben Franklin. Of course you could play dumb, grab the hundred and run -- you will have made a nice hunk of change. Be aware, money can be stolen or taxed out of your hands. However, if you let me assist you, you will have acquired a step toward knowledge and an empowerment that no one can take away."
The technique works wonders. Students seem surprised that they can survive without whining their way to alienation. And, too, I am yet to have given up a single cent in such transactions. Students who persist and emerge victorious become almost giddy when they realize that they can do for themselves. The only thing some of them need is catalysis by someone who sees in them that which has gone undetected in the mirror of their crippled self-image.
About ten years ago, a (45 year old) woman who had a child to raise and a husband who abandoned her showed up in my Introductory Chemistry class. She made excellent grades. I asked her what her major was and she said, "business." I further inquired. Why business? She said she had been laid off as a ticket vendor for a local airline that went bust and that she thought she could parlay her modest business acumen into a job in the field somewhere. I asked her what kind of a career she would like to have if there were no barriers to anything her heart might desire. She answered instantly, "I would find a cure for cancer -- because my 38 year old brother is dying of cancer."
I don't hide my eyes, I proselytize! I explained that there's very little chance that she can cure cancer in the business field. However, her excellent study habits and superior grades in chemistry bode well for a career in molecular biology. After a little more (actually, a lot more) encouragement, she became a chemistry major.
She took (and earned straight "A's" in) our most rigorous chemistry, physics, and math courses. At her graduation ceremony she wore enough gold braid around her neck to make Mr. T green with envy. Two years later she completed her four year degree summa cum laude at the University of Illinois -- majoring in biochemistry. Last year she received a Ph.D. in biochemistry and is currently involved in medical research.
She (and others like her) often asked me how I knew they could be better than they thought they could be. I pull out a little six-inch plastic ruler I carry in my lab coat pocket. I ask, "If this were the only measuring instrument on the planet, could it be used to confirm that it is six inches long." The answer, of course, is, "no." The measuring instrument cannot be used to measure itself. All things measured must be compared to an external standard. Students can sometimes be the poorest of all people to assess themselves.
Family, friends, teachers, co-workers, supervisors, and many others are among the external standards which are best able to assess student potential.
Being a tutor is like panning for gold in stream where nuggets abound. As a result of relentless schmoozing and boosting, many students ignite like a rocket -- a rocket that flies high and never burns out. Some have even become life-long friends. Occasionally, young folk who were on the margins of the law have rescued themselves with the power of knowledge. These kids make me especially happy.
Alas, they think that I gave them something that made chemistry understandable -- without realizing that what they really got was a dose of reality and a close look at their own potential.
Keep on keeping on, Mary. Your wisdom is not unnoticed and serves as an inspiration to those "right-minded" folk who labor in the academy.
Respectfully,
Professor Truth
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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