The Lazy, Dumb Generation

There are many critics concerned about the fact that former third world nations are gearing up to create generations of ambitious, bright, well-trained people to replace the lazy Americans. China and India, once regarded as agricultural nations warming with millions of peasants and peasant mentality, are now producing well-trained engineers and scientists at a far greater rate than the U.S.

Proof lies in the laziness of a large number of college students, many of whom have no business taking up space in classes and dormitories thus excluding some who may not be able to have parents who can afford to pay tuition but who, in the long run, will turn out brighter, more ambitious and more ready to accept the challenges of the 21^st Century.

This is not the first time I have written about the dumbing of the next generation, but it is getting worse and the professors and TA's in colleges seem to do little or nothing to stop the buying of term papers, even theses by the lazy generation. Yes, some threaten to turn papers into online programs that check for plagiarism, but it is more pervasive than ever. While, at one time, looking for professional ghost writers on the internet to help those for whom English is a second or third language made sense- dishonest as it was, now future scientists, teachers, doctors and nurses are availing themselves at X bucks a page. One can easily see the requests by lazy, stupid students: papers on sociology, philosophy, political science, finance, engineering, book reports, geology, geography, outlines for in-class speeches, interpretation of works of art, history, architecture, archeology, religion, crime and punishment, film and/or theater and musical performance reviews- these are only a few of the requests for "service"- some requests daring to ask for same-day service for a term paper that the student had weeks to prepare for him- or herself.

What is equally galling is that many professors and teachers know there is plagiarism and don't really give a damn, moving students upward and out with degrees they really did not earn nor merit. Students will do anything to get a diploma, just as professors will look the other way to attain tenure. You won't find such a distressing attitude in India or China. It is American education's fault if most of the excellent surgeons in the future will be wearing turbans under their surgical masks and gowns. Parents, why spend thousands of dollars for your kids to go to a college they neither really want to attend and where they will cheat to get through.