Regarding the June 16 editorial, “Too many inward-looking students“: As a retired professor, I still teach part time at two supposedly elite institutions. Frankly I am looking forward to giving it all up so that I will no longer have to gnash my aging teeth over students who seem to cultivate blissful ignorance.
Yes, much of it is the fault of their “environment,” but then the culture of wakannai (dunno) is surely self-perpetuating. By their own admission, they do not read newspapers or even watch TV or Internet news. I implore them at the very least to check the online syllabus every week, but when I enter the classroom, those already there are absorbed in their cellphones.
When asked what the day’s lecture topic is, they sullenly shake their heads or mumble “wakarimasen,” often in a less polite form. What has recently occurred in Turkey? (“Wakannai.”) Who is the current leader of China? (“Wakannai.”) Who is the current governor of Tokyo? (“Shintaro Ishihara.”) I am not making this up.
It is easy to blame yutori-kyouiku (the “education with breathing space” policy from a decade ago), but the fundamental problem is that any sense of noblesse oblige as the price of membership in the intellectual elite has long since vanished. Being knowledgeable is simply not fashionable; in fact, it is decidedly unfashionable. Full story...
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Yes, much of it is the fault of their “environment,” but then the culture of wakannai (dunno) is surely self-perpetuating. By their own admission, they do not read newspapers or even watch TV or Internet news. I implore them at the very least to check the online syllabus every week, but when I enter the classroom, those already there are absorbed in their cellphones.
When asked what the day’s lecture topic is, they sullenly shake their heads or mumble “wakarimasen,” often in a less polite form. What has recently occurred in Turkey? (“Wakannai.”) Who is the current leader of China? (“Wakannai.”) Who is the current governor of Tokyo? (“Shintaro Ishihara.”) I am not making this up.
It is easy to blame yutori-kyouiku (the “education with breathing space” policy from a decade ago), but the fundamental problem is that any sense of noblesse oblige as the price of membership in the intellectual elite has long since vanished. Being knowledgeable is simply not fashionable; in fact, it is decidedly unfashionable. Full story...
Related posts:
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