Innocent Bystander: America’s Abandonment of Intellectual Capital
The end of another school year comes with mixed blessing for professors: one of happiness knowing we are free from grading tests and papers, and the dismal feeling we get when we have to grade our next generation of leaders. As a nation we now live a myth and in past dreams of glory days. We tout ourselves as being number one; turning out the best and the brightest, while as a nation we rank 31st in the world academically. Not to forget that when it comes to ethics our nation comes in at number 18. In a sense, we are number 1 in our race to the bottom. I will hold the other dismal statistics for future columns.
Recently, while lecturing on economics to MBA students who were enrolled in a fast-track program and currently employed in management positions–our future captains of Industry. I was disappointed to say the least by what American students do not know about the basics of their own professions and occupations. On the first day of class professors usually start the course by asking some general questions. We expect a high school student would know the answers. Sad to say, when I asked the class what the three main economic systems in the world are today, the general response was stocks, bonds, and credit cards. To my dismay when I had to give them the answers of capitalism, socialism, and communism, the class for the most part was clueless. I further asked if they could define capitalism, socialism, and communism. One or two brave souls shouted out “capitalism has something to do with money, right?” Now this response should convince any doubters as to why we are 31st in the world academically. If this were not enough, I inquired as to what the student did for a living; the student responded that he was in a management fast-track program. Need I say more?
Regretfully, I found myself having to teach our nation’s best and brightest in the executive fast-track program in the slow lane with flashers on–just as a safety measure. Finally, after re-educating them on high school social science and history, we could move on to the economics. You would think with all the technology at their disposal they might have tried to Google the subject prior to entering grad school. But, as America is just starting to realize, there is no room for intellectualism in the classroom, and professors cannot compete with American Idol, reality TV, and the rest of our popular culture that is dummying us down. As fast as we are spiraling downward as a nation, the rest of the world is soaring to the stars intellectually, economically, and ethically.
I will not share the lackluster responses I received when I verbally quizzed my students if they knew what economics was. You get it now; the classroom fell silent. I further inquired, as business executives and fast-track MBA students, if anyone would like to comment on how republicans and democrats differ on their views of economics and how their respective party would turn the economy around. Once again, silence fell upon the classroom. I did have to reiterate to my students that participation is a part of their grade; since there was not one student in the class bold enough to raise their hand. I picked a student at random to answer the question. The humble response was that she did not know the difference between democrats and republicans. When I inquired as to what the student did for a living, she responded that she was a seasoned business executive, a senior director of marketing for a fortune 500 company. Believe me, I wish I were making this up.
So here we have it; American corporations are claiming they are hiring the best and the brightest, while my highly trained, experienced, and educated baby boomer friends, with their strings of degrees and credentials have been unemployed for years. And, when they are called in for a very infrequent interview, they are told they are over qualified? So much for the best and the brightest.
As a result of our nation’s discrimination against is nation’s older and unemployed brain trust, along goes our nation’s intellectual capital. Our “wise” leaders not only outsourced our jobs but have also retired our nation’s intellectual capital. Our nation’s current economic and prosperity indexes have fallen to third world status. And, yes there is one uplifting statistic that should make us proud to be Americans. Recently, America has just been named number 1 as being the coolest people in the world.
Only in America, could compromised intelligence and economic collapse be viewed as cool. I guess being number 31 academically, it will take our nation’s leaders years to figure this out. Regretfully, the unemployed and underemployed baby boomers figured this out years ago. But who is left in America who appreciates the wisdom and knowledge the baby boomers posses in the form of intellectual capital- certainly not our politicians!
Dr. Richard Cirulli is a professor of business and economics, a business consultant, and hosts a weekly cable show dealing with current economic issues. He can be reached at profcirulli@optonline.net.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
