Samhain

I think the largest problem this has to do with is education. How many high schools do you know in which philosophy is even a selectible elective course? I remember my high school incorporated it the last year I went, but it never was actualized since there weren't any students signing up besides a handful of others and myself. The desire to know or explore and question the "Big Questions" in life is really not there. More high school kids are worried about their girl/boyfriends, how much they're going to drink on the weekend, what the next dance is coming up, whether or not so-and-so likes them, etc. etc. When one enters into many colleges the scene changes some, and more responsibility is lumped on them, but still, the amount of people who fall into a different type of their high school activities stays around the same level. I'd say that maturity, for most, doesn't come until about their third year into college, some earlier, some later, but that seems to be the mean. Education still doesn't count up high for many students, it's just a means to an end, which, I feel, is sad. The desire to know must be there, and the opportunities to learn as well. A good way to express this would be to see how many kids would go to college willingly if they didn't have to in order to get a decent job nowadays. I'd estimate very few in our society.

Going back to the original problem, I'd say that high school is the place to start educating these young adults in certain areas more, things which will help them question more, because by the time they get into college, the desire to learn is diminished greatly, and it becomes hard for such a mind to start questioning their present ideas, as many see them to not really "matter" since they hold that it is an absolute truth, regardless of who questions it.

Automaton

Keep your hasty generalizations about 14-year-olds to yourself, thank you very much. I consider myself a fairly competant debater, regardless of my age.

MadMordigan

I'm sorry, but if you still live at home with your mommy, I find it almost impossible to take anything you say seriously.

HelenM

I try to evaluate arguments based on their merit.

I think it's rather unfair to assume that young people have nothing to say. I always have hated it when older people treat me that way. So why would I then go on to do it myself?

Anyway, older people can write baseless, unfounded, silly, irrational things too...'older' doesn't always mean 'wiser'

What I will say is that if I encounter someone particularly quick to jump to unwarranted conclusions (as I perceive it) then I feel a bit better if they turn out to be young because then I have more hope they'll moderate and learn as they get older. Older people seem less willing to change...

love
Helen

enrious

I never said I was right.

Nor did I ever say that youngsters have nothing to say, just that their signal-to-noise ratio tends to be very low. To use FastFalcon as an example, has there been a post of substance made by him? Or Lil for that matter?

Samhain, I agree with you - schools shouldn't just teach that x is right, they should teach why it is right and how to arrive at logical conclusions. An example of this is (based on helping a friend's kids with a couple of math questions) that the teach the multiplication tables without properly explaining just what multiplication is and why it would be used.

Automaton - No doubt you are a competent debater, just being here helps you out! The issue to me is not simply how you present a case, it's whether or not you have a case in the first place. For example, a teenaged Xian can sometimes be found giving marital advice based on Scripture. This would be like me telling an Astronaut how to navigate a space shuttle.

Helen - sure, older people can be irrational and so on. But I submit that the odds are lower than an teenager. If, for example, 50% of adult posts are quality posts and kids posts are 10%, then I'm going to focus my time on sifting through adult posts. Nothing personal as we were are there once, but there have been some recent examples that cause me to wonder at the logic of youngsters.

babelfish

Yep there're a couple of us over-40's on here (myself included). My joints ache once in awhile and my eyesight ain't what it used to be, but no need for Depends (TM) yet, sonny!

Kosh

How is this any different than a Catholic
Priest giving marital advice?

Anunnaki

I feel bad for these kids because they are being used as zombie pawns in the endless Christian crusade to rule the world.

I see them on teen shows on the Christian cable stations and they all seem lost with no sense of reality or understanding of how the natural world works.


No. I don`t take them seriously at all. They frighten me,but their arguments are ridiculous no matter what the persons age is.

[ May 17, 2002: Message edited by: Anunnaki ]</p>

sullster

Great to hear from another codger. Sometimes when I read people's ages here, I am appalled at how high mine is in relation.

HelenM

You can get an idea of some peoples' ages from the <a href="http://home.triad.rr.com/snedden/iigallery2.htm" target="_blank">photo gallery</a>

love
Helen