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Article: Our schools vs. our children's minds: Today's students are failing because the schools no longer believe that they should encourage cognitive development.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- December 8, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Much has been made lately of the anti-intellectualism that permeates American universities. Colleges are being criticized for such ``junk courses'' as ``Vampires: The Undead'' (University of Pennsylvania) and ``The Biology of `ER''' (Purdue University). Other prominent schools have courses on juggling, on witchcraft and on UFOs. Increasingly, they are also offering ``sensitivity training,'' ``encounter groups'' and other forms of emotionalist pap.
But the problem does not begin with the universities. The de-emphasis on serious, intellectual training begins in the elementary schools _ and has been going on for decades. American children still are falling short of ...