Now you can get a higher score with fewer right answers. Only one out of five U.S. students can write a logical, well-developed essay. Those are just two recent reports about the decline of the American mind.
New ones come out every month or so.
Every study shows a direct correlation between poor intellectual performance and frequent television-watching. We hate these inevitabilities, we try to forget them, cigarette executives deny them, but every child knows them. The interesting question is not whether they're true, but whether we act accordingly. As a society, we're doing more and more to deglamorize and control tobacco products. But so far we're doing no more than griping about inane ads, violent movies, obscene pop songs, vitriolic talk shows, and stupid sitcoms, though they degrade our minds, our families, and our nation.