Newstradamus

Larry Wright/The Detroit News

For those who believe that young people today are enriched by access to more information than all the preceding generations combined, an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education is — to quote its author — horrifying.

Ted Gup, a professor of journalism at Case Western Reserve University and the author of “Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life,” for years has given a current-events quiz to his introductory journalism classes to get a sense of what they know — and don’t know.

His early fear that students would be offended by the dumbed-down quiz were unfounded: Only one in a class of 21 could name the secretary of defense. Eleven of 18 couldn’t say what country Kabul was in, despite the U.S. being at war there for years. Given a list of four countries — China, Cuba, Japan and India — no one could say which were democracies (hint: the last two).

There’s more: They thought Roe v. Wade was about slavery, that Islam was the principal religion in Latin America, that 50 justices sit on the Supreme Court, and that the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1975.

“It is not easy to explain how we got into this sad state,” says Gup, but he points to the steep decline of newspaper readership, the explosion of a “citizen journalism” that often generates more heat than light, and the demotion of civics at high schools in favor of technology.

Calling for current events to once again be made an essential part of the curriculum, Gup writes, “A global economy will have little use for a country whose people are so self-absorbed that they know nothing of their own nation’s present or past, much less the world’s.”

He finishes by quoting scholar Robert M. Hutchins, who warned that “the death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and undernourishment.”

If you agree, and are a parent, encourage your kids to follow current events in the newspaper or news Web sites that traffic in essential facts, not just celebrities and entertainment news. Talk around the dinner table about what’s going on in the world.

If you’re a teacher, integrate national and international events into your daily classwork. The Times-Standard’s Newspapers In Education program can help — call Promotions Director Heidi Todar at 441-0557.

Meanwhile, some older folks aren’t paying close enough attention to the news, either. They looked at Thursday’s headline in the Times-Standard — “39 horses seized at Miranda farm” — and then phoned to attack the people at Miranda’s Rescue.

People, you need to chill, and read before you freak. The horses were taken from a farm near the town of Miranda in southern Humboldt County. Miranda’s Rescue is an organization near Fortuna founded by Shannon Miranda that HELPS animals.

We’ll have a quiz later.