Edmundson Anti Intellectualism

In a place where media is as mainstream as reading, is there a decline of intelligence? Is there even plausible proof to deterioration of American intelligence? Mark Edmundson, author of “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here,” and William Chace, author of “A Question of Honor,” both give their reasoning to this decay of intelligence. Both Edmundson and Chace examine the ways in which colleges and universities play a key role in the problem of “anti-intellectualism” in America. Mark Edmundson informs his readers of his beliefs that college is only the beginning. He starts off his article by addressing this issue with his intended reader, college students. Edmundson speculated that to get a “real education” one must work for it(115). The …show more content…
The courses are taken to expand knowledge, but to get closer to a degree. College life for the students is more about partying and exploring oneself rather than learning. Faculty are vacant in their academic life with students more often than not also, Edmundson discloses. Faculty can be too caught up in in bettering themselves for their personal resume, to actually teach the way they should. Which leads Edmundson to say that neither student nor professor put themselves into the classroom extensively. This can best be shown through the decline of education and its standard through the decades. Education could be seen to not hold the same meaning it once did because no one, not faculty or students care enough to work for the old meaning. College is speculated to be more about building a resume for the future than an …show more content…
Students are told to not cheat and to better their education, but are taught to cheat. Taught from perceiving the people around them. Chace believes that to vanquish cheating, institutions need to enforce trust. Campuses that enforce an “honor code” will only help achieve more woral students. If this changed so could learning itself. Without cheating students could actually better their education, Chace describes. This problem can’t be solved with one aspect of college life, but all of them. Chace relays that students are often given the weight of the world, but this isn 't the case. This burden is not just students, but the whole institutions. The only way to get rid of cheating is to spread “moral awareness,” describes Chace(177).
Both Edmundson and Chance for problems in the education system of today. Edmundson described the bigger picture and Chace one particular aspect. Both trying to reach out to college students, in order to plead the case of change to them and faculty. The pair didn’t blame the students for the issues in education life, but encouraged them to change what they could. They encouraged students to expand themselves, whether for personal enlightenment or moral awareness, Edmundson and Chace made aware the decline of intellectualism and in these two articles were pleading their cases for