tailgater wrote:You're technically correct.
But a high schooler who doesn't know quantum physics can hardly be considered "ignorant" in the broadest acceptance of the term.
I was talking about being ignorant to things you should already know, which is what most people think of when they use the term.
Tail, I hate to disagree with you (ok, that's a lie, I get a kick out of disagreeing with you, and if you weren't wrong so often my life would be a much duller place).... but your argument is the following:
College students enter ignorant and leave ignorant.
You choose to use a colloquial definition of ignorance, specifying things one should already know.
Are you suggesting we treat colleges like a remedial course, and expect it to teach a student something they should have already learned but haven't? That sort of defeats the concept of "higher learning" doesn't it?
If your high school kid hasn't learned basic algebra, I wouldn't tell you to send them to college. I would expect the same reaction with any other lack of knowledge or understanding you choose to label as "ignorant".
College is intended to reduce the level of ignorance of things which haven't been understood in high school. Otherwise it's just day care for 20 year old children. If you're complaining that kids aren't learning something they should already understand before entering college, then perhaps you are directing your complaints at the wrong institutions.