How Long Before You Crack Up?

[Sheilbh]

Yeah - took quite a lot of convincing to get my dad (late 70s, had pneumonia recently) to stay in

(He is now, but still)

[Oexmelin]

A more disturbing conclusion - which anecdotally corresponds to my teaching experience - is that we have trained our young people to be quite obedient and deferential towards constituted authority. Much more so than we usually imagine.

[The Minsky Moment]

For us Americans, which constituted authorities would that be?  The state governors telling us to stay at home?  Or the federal president telling us to rebel against certain of said state governors?

The directives have been explained to the young as efforts to protect others.  So one inference that could be drawn is that youngsters are deferential to authority, another is that they are civic minded and ready and willing to accept inconvenience for themselves to help others.

[Oexmelin]

Yes, it's another conclusion one can reach, as I acknowledged. Both civic mindedness and deference to authority can be true at the same time. My experience suggests students now are much more comfortable asking established authorities for guidance on many matters, to adjudicate disputes and enforce judgments between themselves, much more so than confronting conflict on their own. In the current circumstances, it may turn out it's a good thing. In other circumstances, maybe not so much. I don't see it as a unique problem to « you Americans ».

[garbon]

For us Americans, which constituted authorities would that be?  The state governors telling us to stay at home?  Or the federal president telling us to rebel against certain of said state governors?

The directives have been explained to the young as efforts to protect others.  So one inference that could be drawn is that youngsters are deferential to authority, another is that they are civic minded and ready and willing to accept inconvenience for themselves to help others.

[Josquius]

In my observation what many take out of schools is the exact opposite.
It builds a message into people that authority is always the enemy, facts and experts are not good to listen to and you should hide any attempts to do this, etc...