moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (09/18/84)
Some rather disturbing figures were published in this morning's Seattle
Times: someone had taken a poll of the students with the highest GPAs about
political and educational issues. Now, I am not saying that this is the
word on high; since I didn't see the actual poll, I can't tell how it was
worded. Also, a high GPA in high school is not the determination of our
nation's "best" students; but it has long been considered one, and so makes
some of these results more alarming to me.
While the answers to many of the political questions alarmed me (nearly 68%
for Reagan, nearly 70% for organized prayer in school), these reflect my
political views -- I am sure that it is good news to others. However, I
cannot see this figure being greeted by cheers from anyone: Only %40 of the
students polled thought cheating was wrong in courses; nearly 20% thought it
was neccesary to get through courses, and get high college entrance marks!!
I find this very frightening; not only from the standpoint of a devaluation
of the principle of getting an *education* from school, but from the kind of
student one is going to find on the job market, eventually. I don't know
about you, but I don't want to hire somebody who had to copy answers from
his friend's project to pass Operating Systems Theory!
"There's more hoods than we thought!"
"Then shoot MORE BULLETS!"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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