Civilizations come and go. Sometimes it has happened quickly, with some decisive battle. Often, when you look back through history, it seems sudden because it is compressed by the view back through time—but in fact, it was more gradual.
Our culture is in decline. Our people, in comparison to those whom we call "the greatest generation" have weakened (not every person, but in aggregate). Our sense of ourselves has waned. Our material abundance is at a high, but the shadows are growing long on our spiritual and patriotic life.
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Here's yet another example of our slow slide:
Dumbing Down America's Colleges
...Wake Forest University, Bates, Bowdoin, and a few other small schools have recently decided to make the SAT optional for students applying for admission. Their argument for getting rid of these tests is that it will fling open the doors to “diversity” among the student body. Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch made the ludicrous claim that jettisoning the SAT would help the school, “move closer to the goals of greater educational quality and opportunity.”
Such decisions are less about a selection process intended to serve the best interests of both the student and the school than about marketing intended to put bottoms in classroom seats. It seems the biggest question in college admissions offices today is whether the parents of little Johnny or Jane can afford to pay tuition, even if it includes remedial courses. If the kid has a pulse, he’s in! ...
Can we rescue our culture and return to greatness? Are we too late? When the greatest generation goes, will there be enough people left who get it?
