The article’s definitely giving “old man yells at clouds.” The (alleged) hyper-credulousness of an entire generation is quite a lot to put on students not being required to memorize names and dates in history class. Much like the other various subtle anti-woke undertones throughout, strip away the biased framing he puts on modern education and the only functional differences (to my knowledge) are ditching the memorization, and making space to pursue more individualized selections from a wider, more inclusive sampling of historical knowledge.

I guess we just can’t possibly contextualize or interpret current events without the specific curated (sanitized) historical narratives and nationally approved biases that shaped his world view. “Post-national” really means learning to work with a wider, more diverse community because that’s a key skill in modern society. You know, like having peers with different knowledge than you. It also means maybe just a bit of time spent honestly looking at ourselves.

Sorry Gen-Z didn’t all get inoculated with a standardized America-wary but Canada-special curriculum. I guess without the author’s specific brand of unifying indoctrination, we’re all just cooked. Somebody learned about residential schools instead of the war of 1812, and now they’ll never know America bad. Meanwhile, I was homeschooled for religiously motivated reasons, using American-sourced curriculum that was mainly focused on two top priorities – that I read good and reject evolution. I got zero training in critical thinking, and American exceptionalism came preloaded.

What I didn’t have was a broadband brain-rot feed, with direct access to deliberate disinformation campaigns and intellectual groomers.

Historical knowledge is not why our newest voters are lacking patriotism and buying into American exceptionalism. Elsewise, the things we’ve learned about ourselves nationally over the past decade or two would be curing all ages of national pride. But acknowledging the bad doesn’t diminish the good – it explores the better. Speaking of better, an education that instills wariness toward the U.S. is good, but I bet it won’t help solve the housing crisis. And you know what might give Gen-Z a stronger connection to Canada? Yeah, it’s housing.

So I’m still going to put my money on social media and especially right-wing influencers sinking their claws in young impressionable minds, before their critical thinking/analysis skills are anywhere near adequately developed for an ecosystem that’s rotting plenty of adult brains too – including those with a similar age and education to the author’s. I think most middle and high-school teachers will indicate they’ve already figured this out, as half the commenters in here are also doing. I’m not sure why the author can’t.