Dumbed Down Ireland

coffee_cake

stepbar wrote:

Compare the leaving cert 10 years ago to the format we have today and you'll soon answer find the answer to the question the OP asked.

I did mine 6 years ago and it was nothing compared to a paper from around 10 years before that... they threw out half the physics course after my year did it as well, so I heard.

dSTAR

nesf wrote:

...however it doesn't mean things are being dumbed down necessarily. Maybe teachers have suddenly become far better at their jobs....Though it does dovetail nicely in with the increased numbers going to college.

I know plenty of college educated people who I would consider dumb.

Some of them have even landed well paid jobs, live in exclusive areas and drive flash cars. But as soon as you challenge them intellectually they shrink away. Their jobs may have required a fair degree of intelligence or specialization at one stage but have become so routine and mind numbing that they have effectively shut themselves down.

So everyday they drive to work the exact same route, perform the same tasks, go to the same canteen for lunch, drive home (the same way!) and flop onto the couch with a beer and watch Neighbours or the Simpsons. They don't read books anymore because according to them they had enough of books and education in university!

They are completely switched off when it comes to social issues and are inherently suspicious of anyone who dares to care about the world we live in. Their lives are characterized by conspicuous consumption and other forms of bland entertainment. In short they are quite content to maintain the status quo and live completely mediocre lives.

Puff puff...

/Ends rant

adonis

yeah i dont think that you can equate points/university education to intelligence.
and im holding firm on the dumb being an adjective and not a verb..
I have never dumbed somebody..
or i dumb you, or you dumb me..
can anyone think of a sentece where dumb is the verb?

id say "dumbed down" is an inseparable phrasal verb actually

joe_chicken

I go by the old expression:
"Empty vessels make the most noise"

And in this society, we seem to attach a microphone to every empty vessel we come across.

But as far as the whole society goes; no, I don't think we're being dumbed down.

joe_chicken

dSTAR wrote:

So everyday they drive to work the exact same route, perform the same tasks, go to the same canteen for lunch, drive home (the same way!) and flop onto the couch with a beer and watch Neighbours or the Simpsons.

When was it not like this?

At least they had the college education in the first place.

50 years ago it would of been straight to the factory/mine/farm, without the chance of educating themselves first.




And anyway.... what's so stupid about watching the Simpsons... Stephen Hawkins does it!

Red Hand

dSTAR wrote:

I know plenty of college educated people who I would consider dumb.

Some of them have even landed well paid jobs, live in exclusive areas and drive flash cars. But as soon as you challenge them intellectually they shrink away. Their jobs may have required a fair degree of intelligence or specialization at one stage but have become so routine and mind numbing that they have effectively shut themselves down.

So everyday they drive to work the exact same route, perform the same tasks, go to the same canteen for lunch, drive home (the same way!) and flop onto the couch with a beer and watch Neighbours or the Simpsons. They don't read books anymore because according to them they had enough of books and education in university!

They are completely switched off when it comes to social issues and are inherently suspicious of anyone who dares to care about the world we live in. Their lives are characterized by conspicuous consumption and other forms of bland entertainment. In short they are quite content to maintain the status quo and live completely mediocre lives.

Puff puff...

/Ends rant

Thats life for alot of people. I guess keeping oneself stimulated is the key, or else you just coast through life, and suddenly realise you are 45 and grey, with nothing worthwhile done.:)