Who are our students?

Parker’s reading about idiocy in our society, and how teachers can combat this dilemma, was very interesting. Teachers are suppose to be the soldiers on the front line battling idiocy, and they are suppose to be winning. It makes sense, because every child in America is suppose to go through the school system, who’s purpose is to help turn a person into an informed citizen. Teachers have to take the students that go through the schools and mold them into these model citizens. They have to recognize the complicated times that all of us live in, and that a students life is noticeably different today then just a few years ago. Danger has been imminent since 9/11, and since then everyone has felt less safe in their country. People are drawing lines between themselves and everyone else in an increasing rate, and doing this has a negative affect on society. Parker says that in order for learning to occur, a person has to go out and interact with the public. If people start fearing each other, they are going to be less likely to learn from each other. Parker says, “It is my right to do whatever I choose, goes the argument, with the added and supposedly selfless rationalization of protecting “my” family from dangers real and imagined” (Parker 2). If more emphasis is placed on the self than the public, people will be less concerned with democratic issues that involve everyone, and society will be negatively impacted by the idiocy of these citizens. What the teacher has to do is help the students understand society more clearly, and to pierce through the veil of fear that covers our society these days.