The Value Wastelands

Critique TheValues waste product Charles Skyes work has been in seen in many prosperous newspapers throughout time, to name a few New York Times and the W both Street Journal. Most of what Skyes writes is educational issues. Skyes has withal written a number of books, ProfScam Professors and the Demise of Higher Education (1988), The Hollow Man Politics and depravity in Higher Education (1990) and 50 Rules Kids Wont Learn In School (2007).Skyes is complex in many other things for example he is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin policy Research Institute and he hosts a radio show in Milwaukee that is popular. Skyes addresses mostly topics that he sees as breakdown in the the Statesn culture. The following critique is from an except from Skyes book Dumbing Down Our Kids Why Americas Children Feel Good About Themselves But Cant Read, Write or Add. Skyes addresses numerous controversial moral issues within American children today, giving statistics from many different surveys claimin g that American children ar non so intune as they once were.Skyes also quotes a few different mickle that have through various studies and or surveys along with his own opinions on these homogeneous issues. Skyes conclusion is that we have given our children start out of irrational morals and that we need to look at the ones who provide them to these children. Skyes includes all that is veto and has no head teacher for any of the positive with our children today. A weakness of this article, Skyes has put down children and their morals and then takes his ratifiers with points that it is the parents, communities, the media and even the church servicees that monastic order need to take a look at and settle the blame there.Charles Skyes excerpt TheValues Wasteland gives an example of a teenager who was accused of rape and the repercussions afterwards. Skyes introduces his readers with statistics and research on issues such as it was gratifying for a man to force sex on a wom an (199). Skyes statistics have his readers believing that this is all teens. Skyes credibility is for his self-gain, only showing his view point. He does not tell his readers where in Rhode Island the statistics were gathered from. Were the statistics taken from only urban areas, or rural areas?Skyes inferences are based solely on one score of students giving a sense of incomplete comparison. The article explicitly and deliberately distracts the readers to other issues that Skyes thinks will establish more at home somewhat morals. A write in survey of 126,000 teenagers found that 25 to 40 percentage of teens see nothing wrong with cheating on exams, stealing from employers, or retentivity money that wasnt theirs(199). Grabbing the attention of the readers with a red herring knowing that this issue would cause the reader to identify.Skyes only includes from the survey that one point. Skyes hasty generalization gives his readers insufficient statistics and what the survey was based on bandage playing on his readers emotions. Skyes purpose for this book clearly shows how he perceives American children. He gives factual statistics on the ostracise influences on American children to sway his readers into believing that todays they are need of a huge change and reform. Skyes has written continuously about the educational issues in America.Taking a look tail end at his other work and what he is involved in now, TV, Radio, books, it is all about the same things educational issues with children and how we need to act on changing it or forever be doomed. Skyes effectively gave all negative statistics, doing his research thoroughly although it was quite biased, skipping over anything that had anything to do with the positive. More than 60 percent of high develop students said they had cheated at least once on an exam(199).Showing the large amount of students that admitted to cheating withal there is nothing to support this statistic as the actual question an d how it was worded and how Skyes actually came to have that 60 percent of students. Did it come from one school or many schools? Skyes needed to give more information about the statistics he acquired and focus less on the negative. Skyes uses the phrase IDIs (I-Deserve-Its) saying that todays kids are all about entitlement and are completely surrounded by personal needs wants and dont wants and rights. (199) Again where is Skyes getting all his information? In the poverty stricken areas or middle class? It really does make a difference where Skyes got his information. Then he could have added in the different neighborhoods that people need to really take a look at and change. As the reader, I dont know. Perhaps it is an all-around assement maybe not but, Skyes is not very clear on the wheres, or hows. His ground is valid to a point but does not give any information for the readers to make a conclusiveness.Skyes leaves this wide open for the reader to think that it is all American kids that are IDIs. Skyes compares American children to Asian children who are not given a choice in what they are allowed to read. Asian children continue to read about stories of perseverance, hard work, loyalty, duty, prudence, heroism, and honesty(200). The examples that Skyes gives that American students used to study are all white and dead benzoin Franklin, Florence Nightingale and Thomas Edison.Skyes boosts that they taught lessons of inventiveness, character, compassion, curiosity, and truthfulness(200). I agree that all of those mentioned are very noble diachronic people but we do have in todays living that carry the same lessons that children can relate with more than a bunch of dead white people. This was a very racist comment made by Skyes and his credibility went right out the window. Skyes has given a lot of statistics of negative morals with our American children of today.He does not allow the reader to make his or her own educated decision without giving anything to go on except the negative statistics that Skyes has provided. Skyes tries to convince the readers that it is not just the schools but parents, media, and church that are to blame for the way American kids are. In addition he has proven his racism with comments he has slipped in trying to sway the reader to think that other children are better than the American child. This excerpt makes me exceptionally angry with Skyes who makes me think that he is all holier than thou.Skyes knocks down the very country he lives in. He makes some very interesting points about the way children may think, but I do not agree with him. I feel that the American children are right where they are supposed to be. These issues have incessantly been. If he really wants a change, Skyes needs to include all the good that could be going on and not leaving teachers, parent, and clergy members feeling helpless. This excerpt was poorly thought out and Skyes really needs to appraise his own morals and social issues.