The lost education boomers brag about, and their spelling

The boomer who brags about being cultured can't spell: what it says about education

Claiming that education was better in the past is a classic of older generations. But when the person saying it writes "sovre todo" (instead of "sobre") or "mumde" (instead of "munde"), the argument falls apart. A viral tweet exposed it: a fifty-something who brags about having read at home and about his children leaving school well prepared, with spelling that doesn't go beyond primary school.

An example that dismantles the narrative

The man complained that young people don't have "a clue" about the syllabus, while writing "sovre" with a v, without accents and without punctuation. One analysis summed it up: "the Dunning-Kruger effect across much of the boomer generation is insane." The bias is well known: the least competent are the ones who most overestimate their ability. And in education, it translates into a generation that asks "and these are people who read Don Quixote at 15?" while quoting a tweet with a list of works that includes La Regenta, and which he himself probably never read in full.

The yardstick: rigour or access?

The issue raises a deeper question. Some argue that in 1970 "there were far more uneducated or even semi-literate people." Indeed, part of the population entered the labour market at 14, as in the case of the fourth-grade EGB pupil (the Spanish compulsory primary track of the time) who left school to help his father, a bricklayer. But another camp argues that the level of rigour was much higher: "what was demanded in primary and secondary education was far more." The key is the selective school: few made it, and those who did were made to study Latin to read The Gallic Wars. By contrast, "nowadays everyone has access to education without really deserving it," according to a widespread view. And there lies the dilemma: is it better to have a system that promotes everyone at a lower level, or one that discards the majority but squeezes the elite?

The PISA report and the mirror of nostalgia

The trigger was the PISA report. The conclusion that Spain comes out looking ridiculous is accepted by every analysis, but the interpretation changes. For some, the system is a failure because the average level is rock bottom. For others, educational level is being confused with "the number of educated people": back then, those who studied "finished with an education that runs circles around today's collectors of master's degrees, postgraduates and microcredentials." The cruder voices go further and blame immigration, feminism or the do-goodism of any reform. But there is one nuance nobody disputes: inequality. Decades ago, the socioeconomic gap was brutal and dragged down the majority; today, the gap in access is smaller, but perhaps wider in "wisdom gained after graduation." And the conversation includes the story of a mother who, without her school-leaving certificate, didn't know how to write a CV and her son did it for her in secondary school. Another viral message brags about having read at 15 The Poem of the Cid, The Book of Good Love, Lazarillo, La Celestina, Don Quixote, Bécquer's Legends, La Regenta and Miau. Whether these were full reads or fragments remains an open question. The ending is not a conclusion. It is an uncomfortable question: if boomers had such a superior education, why do they write "sovre" with a v? The answer may lie in the fact that spelling isn't inherited, it's learned. And that was never a given in any generation.