The number of degrees granted can mislead one to assume that we have a
better educated public today. In fact, our standards of achievement in
higher education is considerably lower. Many decades ago, a doctorate
degree meant that you spent a great deal of time thinking about critical
issues and fundamentally new ideas. That is no longer true. A doctorate
means you took several courses and completed a project. As a result we
have a large number of people with higher degres. The fraction of
population that spends time on critical thinking is probably the same as
it was a century ago.



"Peter Duniho" wrote in
:

"Cecil Chapman" wrote in message
. com...
Jefferson would have been a staunch libertarian

Read his opinions regarding the potential electorate of the
people/comman man,,,, VERY interesting.

I would guess that he was probably right about the people of his time
(education level - rather lack thereof among the 'common folk').

People may be more literate today, but frankly I don't see how they
are significantly better educated. Most people view school as a chore
to get through (and thus retain very little of whatever they "learn"),
and our educational system doesn't really teach very much in the way
of useful critical thinking skills anyway.

Other than being able to read and write, and perhaps knowing a few
more facts about historical dates, how to conjugate a verb, and how to
calculate a tip, I don't really see how the current "common folk" are
much different from those that were around 200+ years ago.

Pete




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