Education Update: getting worse and here's what you can do about it

[BruceDeitrickPrice]

1) Our Education Establishment seems to be entirely dedicated to what Charlotte Iserbyt called "the deliberate dumbing down of America." (Google her book by that name if you want to know more.)

2) But what does that mean exactly? How do they do it? Basically, they undermine literacy; they undermine math skills; they systematically undermine the teaching and acquisition of basic knowledge; and I suspect they consciously undermine what might be called productive character traits (discipline, precision, promptness, responsibility, for example, all the things that most of us associate with the Boy Scout code and/or the Marine code). Here is a very short article titled "Memo to Mothers: how public schools damage your child" which explains these four points in less than a page.... http://www.examiner.com/article/memo-to-mothers-how-public-schools-damage-your-child?cid=db_articles

3) As for what individual citizens can do about it, the very best thing is to familiarize yourself with the gimmicks and sophistries that the Education Establishment uses to work its destructive magic. Find out what Constructivism is. Find out why sight-words don't work. Find out why Reform Math is a joke. Here is a checklist of the main bad actors: "The top 10 worst ideas in education."... http://www.improve-education.org/id83.html

4) Best of all, start thinking of these people as the enemy. John Dewey and his progressive educators never called themselves socialists circa 1910 but that's what they were. It's roughly a straight line from John Dewey to Barack Obama. These people want to use the existing institutions (for example, public schools) to change the country into a different country. Now, if you are a socialist yourself, you will applaud the cunning. But if you are in any sense a traditional American, I hope you'll realize that these people are coming to get you. Sorry to speak in simplistic terms, but that's what it amounts to.

Bruce Deitrick Price / Improve-Education.org / @educatt

[Serpo]

I regret going to school and all the crap they feed into a kids brain.

[mick silver]

welcome to the forum bruce

[crimethink]

If someone wishes to learn, they will learn. The Internet is now ubiquitous. Libraries continue to be available to everyone. Look up facts, read books. Even take university-level classes online, for free. Literally now at the push of a button!

Schools are failing far more because the students are defective, than because the teachers and teaching models are defective (although they are). Remedial English & remedial math courses were not forced on the population; they are reactive to the defects of the students.

The trouble is, most of the American population has no interest in learning anything of value. Negro Football League stats, sexual techniques, Kartrashian gossip, those are what the typical American wants to know.

[Serpo]

yea welcome bruce

[crimethink]

From a few years ago, but still very much relevant:


70657066


I hope no one wonders why China has now become the world's greatest economy, after 137 years of American dominance.

[expat4ever]

I'll bet we can out drink em though.

[Twisted Titan]

“Just look at us.
Everything is backwards:
Everything is upside down.
Doctors destroy health,
Lawyers destroy justice,
universities destroy knowledge,
Governments destroy freedom,
Major media destroy information,
And religion destroys spirituality.

Unkown.

[PatColo]

yeah welcome... er... back, Bruce! (joined March '11!)

check out http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?71931-Core-math-3-x-4-11 pretty good collection of stuff.

[zap]

I didn't read the whole article but it is really ridiculous the common core which expects 4th graders, 9 yrs old to read 500,000 words and they are tested on this.

My DD has read 346,000 to date she used to love to read ... now not so much. they haven't even started multiplication yet ! and they need to know that in order to get to the 5 th grade .. she has passed 1 through 7 , now 8 thru 12 so ........needless to say she is getting flash cards for xmas.

They are pushing the kids so Hard, it makes them not want yo learn anything new.

Just lots of pressure to be this good.

[crimethink]

I didn't read the whole article but it is really ridiculous the common core which expects 4th graders, 9 yrs old to read 500,000 words and they are tested on this.

My DD has read 346,000 to date she used to love to read ... now not so much. they haven't even started multiplication yet ! and they need to know that in order to get to the 5 th grade .. she has passed 1 through 7 , now 8 thru 12 so ........needless to say she is getting flash cards for xmas.

They are pushing the kids so Hard, it makes them not want yo learn anything new.

Just lots of pressure to be this good.

My kids are now young adults, so I don't know about 4th graders, but in the recent past years, the high school curricula was pretty much a joke. Stuff that I knew when I was in 4th grade!

This is from over a century ago, for 8th graders, administered in Washington State (hence, the Washington-oriented questions):

http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2004/july04/1910.html


GRAMMAR

Write the plural of the following words: daisy, leaf, tooth, penny, die, me, tongs, valley, Miss Jones, Mr. Brown.

Name the four kinds of sentences as to use, and the three kinds of sentences as to structure.

Give sentences containing noun, adjective, and adverbial clauses.

Name four kinds of pronouns and give examples of each kind.

In what must a pronoun agree with its antecedent? Illustrate.

He felt the damp of the river fog, that rises after the sun goes down. Diagram or analyze.

Compare: little, much, near, old, up, honest, elegant, famous, neat, merciful.

Write a sentence containing a verb in the active voice, change it to the passive, and explain how this is done.

Name three different ways in which a noun may be used in the nominative case, and three ways in which a noun may be used in the objective case.

Write a letter to a friend describing briefly the country surrounding your home.


UNITED STATES HISTORY
AND CIVICS

What were the three objective points of the Federal forces in the Civil War?

Name the last three presidents in order, and name an important event in each administration.

How did the Colonies of the North and South differ as to social life, education, industries, and customs, prior to the Revolution?

(a) State briefly the causes of the War of 1812. (b) Name two engagements. (c) Two prominent American Commanders.

Give a short sketch of the life and work of one of the following great men: Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, William McKinley.

(a) When and where was slavery introduced into America? (b) How was it abolished?

What has made the names of each of the following historical? Alexander Hamilton, U.S. Grant, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Cyrus W. Field, Clara Barton.

(a) State the qualifications of a United States Senator. (b) Name the Senators from the State of Washington.

How do you distinguish between the terms Puritns, Pilgrims, and Separatists?

Give an account of the framing and adoption of the Declaration of Independence.


GEOGRAPHY

What causes the difference in climate between Eastern and Western Washington?

Name ten wild animals of Africa.

Tell some reasons why the people of Washington are interested in the Orient.

Name the five chief nations of Europe, and give their capitals.

Name five important cities and five products of Canada.

Sketch a map of South America, locating three rivers, five capital cities.

What and where are the following? Liverpool, Panama, Suez, Ural, Liberia, Quebec, Pikes Peak, Yosemite, Danube, San Diego.

Name five of the principal crops of the United States, and tell the section where each is raised.

Describe the Nile and the country through which it flows.

Name the largest country of Asia, three important cities, and three important products.



Today, most American seniors in undergraduate college would not pass such tests.

[PatColo]

I didn't read the whole article but it is really ridiculous the common core which expects 4th graders, 9 yrs old to read 500,000 words and they are tested on this.

My DD has read 346,000 to date she used to love to read ... now not so much. they haven't even started multiplication yet ! and they need to know that in order to get to the 5 th grade .. she has passed 1 through 7 , now 8 thru 12 so ........needless to say she is getting flash cards for xmas.

They are pushing the kids so Hard, it makes them not want yo learn anything new.

Just lots of pressure to be this good.


^ trauma-based mind-kontrol. I heard Dr. Jennifer Daniels describe her Harvard med school experience this way. Commie Core is about discouraging creativity, and or critical thinking/logic. Encouraged is sheeple/group-consensus/bandwagon "thinking".

Has your DD completed her requisite holohoax-indoctination reading yet? :rolleyes:

[BrewTech]

My kids are now young adults, so I don't know about 4th graders, but in the recent past years, the high school curricula was pretty much a joke. Stuff that I knew when I was in 4th grade!




Today, most American seniors in undergraduate college would not pass such tests.

True they wouldn't, but (as you mentioned), with the availability of information the the internet, is there an excuse? I'll admit, I wouldn't mind going through that list and researching all of it (most I could already answer), just to do it. What I wouldn't give to have had the internet available growing up! Today's young people have no idea the opportunity they have to gain understanding and meaning, and for the most part they just blow it off.

Sad beyond words.

[crimethink]

True they wouldn't, but (as you mentioned), with the availability of information the the internet, is there an excuse? I'll admit, I wouldn't mind going through that list and researching all of it (most I could already answer), just to do it. What I wouldn't give to have had the internet available growing up! Today's young people have no idea the opportunity they have to gain understanding and meaning, and for the most part they just blow it off.

Sad beyond words.

No, there is no excuse - none, whatsoever. The desire to seek the Truth and understand reality is no more in most people. Replacing it is a one-way media-driven psychodrome.

[iOWNme]

3) As for what individual citizens can do about it, the very best thing is to familiarize yourself with the gimmicks and sophistries that the Education Establishment uses to work its destructive magic. Find out what Constructivism is. Find out why sight-words don't work. Find out why Reform Math is a joke. Here is a checklist of the main bad actors: "The top 10 worst ideas in education."... http://www.improve-education.org/id83.html

Ummm.....? How about not sending your child to a 'Government' indocturnation camp? The option of not sending your child to State run propaganda centers wasnt even mentioned? WOW.

Lets 'infiltrate' the Bloods and the Crips so we can change them into something virtuous.

[Glass]

A lot of people simply wont know that the knowledge is there. Until you have read a well written book, a real book, you can't grasp the depth of information that can be conveyed in the written word. The ability to look into peoples thoughts in a way that other mediums like video can't do. You read the book, now see the movie. You realise the book is much richer. Fiction and non fiction.

The main risk with the internet is the information becomes easier to change. In books its slower. It takes a longer time for them disappear from circulation.

[Tumbleweed]

I've bought a lot of books over the years and I continue to do so. I didn't buy them just for myself but for coming generations of my family in hope they will gain understanding of all the things we here at this forum are focused on now.

[mick silver]

http://www.dailystormer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/internet-chimpout.jpg

[crimethink]

I've bought a lot of books over the years and I continue to do so. I didn't buy them just for myself but for coming generations of my family in hope they will gain understanding of all the things we here at this forum are focused on now.

Real books are an anchor to the past. As much as I love electronic tools, "digital content" is completely ephemeral. It can be changed or deleted at will. "Down the memory hole" at the push of a button. This has already happened, with things like amazon Kindle books (ironically, 1984 & Animal Farm!).

Those of us who retain books will retain access to the real past longer than most of the population. Of course, most of the population doesn't care about the Truth or the past.