Like most college comp instructors, every semester I give students a brief essay assignment at the start of the term in order to get a sense of their writing skills. I want to know where they are individually, and I want to know where they are as a group. And I want to see if anyone got themselves placed into to one of my sections despite their obvious need for remediation. Standard stuff.
I usually ask them to tell me what they think the most serious problem facing the nation is right now, and how they might solve it. They can say whatever they want; I don't care if they pick terrorism or The Zombie Apocalypse. I just need to see how they write.
Looking at their papers this week and thinking back to past semesters, I'm struck by a certain phenomenon.
By far, most students unsurprisingly say the economy is our biggest problem. But what's intersting is that the students who seem the most familiar with the current National Discourse are more likely to identify the Deficit as the danger. Students less familiar with the ND are more likely to cite unemployment.
By more familiar I mean the students who use quotes or statistics (even though I didn't ask for these), or else mention events like the asinine Default Drama or the latest jobs report. By less familiar I mean students who rely mostly on their own observations and experiences.
This is fascinating because the second group of students is in fact correct. Unemployment is the immediate crisis.
I'm not at all claiming that my conclusions here are in any way scientific. But it does seem to me broadly true that the more my students listen to the Serious People chatter and ignore the evidence they might discern by using their eyes, the more likely they are to be misled.
