Review of The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein (Part 2)

Continuing with my review...

Although well researched, the author's motivations appears to be based on errors and misconceptions. He frequently confuses causes with effects, and appears to live in a bubble (which is ironic as he often accuses his professorial colleagues of the same deficiency.) For instance, his laments the disinterest shown in the liberal arts and the career oriented focus of his students, but seems to make no connection between this attitude and the high cost of a college education (or even mentions the issue). If someone is going to go into $100K+ in debt (which cannot even be bankrupted), there had better be some payout at the end. It is simply bizarre that he would believe that someone would mortgage their future to simply become more well rounded. The liberal arts, for their own sake are fine, are simply too high a price. (I suspect many of his English majors are actually pre-law or the like.) In addition, as evidenced by the lack of apprentices in the construction trades, more people are choosing white collar careers over blue collar work, and therefore some students who would have previously taken different paths are now enrolling in college.

More later...