We all are familiar with the "dumbing down" phenomenon and the impact it has had on today's students.

Last week I conducted a focus group with 10 post-Birthright students, all in Israel on a Jewish Agency funded work-study program for the summer--they study Judaism part of the day and the other part they do community service.

Without getting into the specifics of our focus group, one of the questions was on leadership and their evaluation of different personalities as leaders.
We had a photo of Nikki Haley, along with a caption identifying her as the US ambassador to the UN and a former governor of South Carolina.
Nine of the 10 students still had no idea who she was. And this from current Jewish college students after a Birthright trip.
Is this typical of what is going on "out there"?
Is it simply a matter of not being informed, not having schools review current events?
I would point to another recent study where 66% of millennials could not identify Auschwitz as a Nazi concentration camp.

I am curious what educators have to say about these findings and what this says about this generation's students.

ijm