SAT scores tumble for class of ‘06
National results released by the College Board on Tuesday showed the biggest drop in SAT scores among college-bound seniors in more than three decades….The results come several months after numerous colleges reported surprisingly low SAT scores for this year’s incoming college freshmen. The nonprofit College Board, which had said scores would be down this year, released figures Tuesday showing combined critical reading and math skills fell seven points on average to 1,021.
Well, we may the land of the free and the home of the rich, White Fundamentalist Christians, but we most certainly are not the home of the intellectually agile. When you consider that most Americans couldn’t name the 50 states (never mind their capitols) if their lives depended on it, the decline in SAT scores should hardly come as a shock. Let’s face reality, shall we? Most Americans couldn’t spell “CAT” if you spotted the “C” and the “A”. OK, perhaps that’s a bit hyperbolic, but it’s a very real reflection of the fact that, as a nation, we’re a pretty stupid and intellectuality stunted lot. Critical thinking is a lost art, reaction is the norm, and emotional and iron-clad self-certainty is perhaps the most pronounced American characteristic. We don’t think, we react. We take a minimum of information and draw a maximum of conclusions from it. And just look where that lack of intellectual agility and curiosity has gotten us.
Is it any wonder why Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader and the GOP has been in power for so long? It’s often been said that if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything…and, quite frankly, Americans just don’t care enough to think critically and question what’s being done in their name. It’s the single biggest reason that Republican propagandists have been so spectacularly successful. When you can frame to the debate in simple, “us vs. them” terms, you can repeat lies and know that they will become Gospel truth in very short order. Truth no longer matters. Propaganda and using the media to mold and shape public opinion has taken the place of critical thinking and rational discussion.
The latest SAT numbers are hardly surprising. Let’s face facts; we’re a stupid, easily-led collection of intellectual midgets being led by those well-versed in the art of manipulation and propaganda. And it’s our own damn fault. We have exactly the quality of leadership we deserve. It’s just sad that our standards, and our collective IQ, is so low.
