Do we expect less of everyone in today's society--even the really dumb people? Who calls the shots on the college campuses? Do higher grades in the new millennium mean supersmart students?

The Omaha Bugle-Global News Network

Always proud to display their command of multi-syllabic words, Adam and Jeff consider whether our society is experiencing a "dumbing down" of expectations. Students who have their feelings hurt or who find a class too difficult for their tastes are often able to petition the administrators to have the offending professor fired. Jeff considers how sympathetic his school administrators would have been (not much) to a petition to have a borderline competent instructor removed for grading too hard. Adam remembers the absolute terror caused by the specter of being held back for a year and the incredible motivation it provided to him to apply himself to his studies--if only for a few frantic days. The grade inflation of the last 30 years (which has seen the average high school GPA rise from 2.5 to 3.2) suggests that students have become much smarter while being far less prepared for college--a truly amazing accomplishment. The creation of magnet schools to draw smart kids to under-performing institutions to preserve educational funding is lauded. Both Adam and Jeff agree that teachers are woefully underpaid and would probably prefer to spend their evenings watching Hallmark movies instead of grading the papers of the kids who will one day petition the principal to fire them. The entire point of higher education seems to be lost on many of today's "whiny" students who seem to be more concerned about having their social virtuousness affirmed than in learning how to be a productive (and employable) member of society.