“Willful Ignorance” is not that ignorant
Jason Abbruzzese’s article “Willful ignorance in the 9/11 generation (3/15/06),” is incorrect in identifying that students are apathetic. Perhaps it is true that we have receded from trying to change the larger face of the world. However, college students of today have learned to focus on improving their local and personal world. It would be misleading to classify this trend as “recent” or even as a matter of ignorance. In fact, it can be said that the lack of student activism on national issues is a result of a more pragmatic, a more realistic, college student population.
Abbruzzese says, “This generation of college students has no use for the idealism of the past.” Our recent past has showed us that the idealism of the past does not work when trying to change the world. American history has demonstrated quite clearly that the efforts of student activists achieved little progress on a national stage. The Vietnam War serves as dramatic example. Large-scale student protest of Vietnam started as early 1965, and it was another ten years until we saw an end to conflict. Students were killed trying to end violence. It should come to no surprise that most students have abandoned student activism. Students from the late 1970’s to the 2000’s have asked themselves the question, “Why waste time on something so large that you can not change it?”
Student activism on national issues has been out of fashion for more than 30 years. We are the legacy of an injurious Vietnam era. We are not ignorant of our world; we simply understand it. College students are not “tame or easily manipulated.” Instead of working against the system, we have learned, through necessity, to work with it. We take advantage of the plethora of opportunities that are available at our fingertips to better our world and our lives. Whether it is volunteering in a hospital, or taking a yoga class, we can make our local and personal world better. We might not be able to save world from war, pestilence, or plague, but we are achieving modest gains everyday.
R. Paul Busco [email protected] 609-496-4696 CAS ’09 American History Major