Education Establishment Skillful At One Thing: Ignorance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 15, 2011 -- The Washington Post recently reported: “SAT reading scores for graduating high school seniors this year reached the lowest point in nearly four decades.”

As reading goes, so goes education generally.

“Let me sum this up,” says Bruce Price, founder of Improve-Education.org. “Americans get dumber ever year in every subject. People do not know even the simple stuff. You don’t need SAT scores to tell you this. Every time Jay Leno goes Jaywalking, he chronicles our steady decline.”

See 35 examples below, collected from the many videos on YouTube.

“Bottom line,” Price says, “when you read in the media that our top-level educators are deeply concerned with Learning, Achievement, Higher-Level Thinking, Critical Thinking, Cognitive Skills, and other high-sounding phrases, the proper reaction is: BS. These people are good at only one thing; making sure their students are not well informed.”

Price concludes that Americans don't know very much for the obvious reason that public schools refuse to teach very much. “Yes, they refuse,” Price emphasizes. “When you look at these videos and assess the sort of EASY, low-level knowledge that people do not know, you can reach only one conclusion: our Education Establishment is hostile to education as this term was once understood? That hostility is killing us. Take care of the basic skills and basic knowledge, and everything else will fall into place. Unfortunately, our Education Establishment has spent decades building a fact-free school. Kids are kept busy all day but they are not expected to learn a lot.”

As you read the following typical examples, note two fascinating aspects. First, many people haven’t learned much. Second, they will confidently throw out any little facts they do know. When was the Civil War? How about 1932? Educated people know what they don't know; these people do not. Apparently, they've been trained to GUESS at everything. Reading, math, history, geography--there are no solid facts, only a mush one reaches into, hoping to get lucky. But don't blame these people. Blame bad public schools created by an ideology-driven Education Establishment.”

“Who was president during the First World War?”
“Eisenhower.”

“When did Columbus discover America?”
“1842”

“What separates your inner ear from your outer ear?”
“Your brain.”

“The seven land masses on Earth are called what?”
“A lake?”

“People who live in Appalachia are from what country?”
“Sweden.”

“Who did we get our independence from?”
“Thomas Jefferson.”

“When was the Depression?”
“Late 1800s.”

“Guantanamo Bay is in what country?”
“I wanna say Asia.”

“How many stars on the flag?”
“32.”

“Where is the Alamo?”
“London?”

“Who was the first First Lady?”
“Carol?”

“Blessed are the meek for they shall...?”
“Eat.”

“How long ago did Jesus live?”
“Two hundred and fifty million years.”

“How many justices on the Supreme Court?”
A young attorney: “Twelve...Nine?...Twelve?”

“Who were Lewis and Clark?”
“Superman and...?”

“How about Bush 41?”

“Is it a drink?”

“When was Pearl Harbor?”
“It was...like 1967...The Chinese people invaded America.”

“Who said ‘Give me liberty or give me death’?”
“Bonaparte.”

“Whose face is on the one dollar bill?”
“Somebody famous.”

“Who warned that the British were coming?”
“The Confederates.”

“What two animals are the symbols of the stock market?”
“The snake and the mouse.”

“Who elects Congress?”
“The President.”

“What country did we fight in the American Revolutionary War?”
“France.”

“Who was Neil Armstrong?”
“The first American to walk on the moon.”

“How long ago was Jesus born?”
“I’d say four hundred years.”

“In what month do we vote for presidents?”
“October?...September?”

“Who wrote our national anthem?”
A history teacher: “Somebody B. Scott.”

“If you’re Parisian, what nationality are you?”
“You live in Peru.”

“What year was Independence Day?”
“July 4th, 1864.”

“Where do they speak Gaelic?”
“San Francisco.”

“Egypt is located on what continent?”
“South America.”

“What two sides fought in the American Civil War?”
“Germany.”

“What is the name of our national anthem?”
“I pledge allegiance to the flag...”

“Who landed at Plymouth Rock?”
“The Mayflower, the Pinto and the Santa Maria.”

Price concludes: “Thomas Jefferson said we can be free or ignorant, not both. So we are plainly in a perilous state. I think it’s easy to see that our Education Establishment has been very ingenious at coming up with techniques for watering-down and dumbing-down. The part I can’t figure out is why do Americans put up with this malfeasance? Why doesn’t the Republican Party make education a BIG issue? Why doesn’t every local election turn on who will improve the schools? Why don’t military and business leaders put loud and relentless pressure on the schools to do a better job? Why doesn’t every newspaper in the country raise a ruckus about dumb schools? (Newspapers need readers. Where is it written that newspapers have to conspire in their own destruction?) Why aren’t people yelling: we’re mad as hell and we won’t take it anymore? Meanwhile, the Education Establishment goes blandly on, playing undertaker to American civilization. If these people were as good at teaching as they are at non-teaching, we would have a new Golden Age.”

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(For a quick statement of the problems, see “56: Top 10 Worst Ideas in Education” on the author’s site Improve-Education.org. For further information or analysis, contact Bruce Price at Word-Wise Education, 757-455-5020.)


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More information can be found online at http://www.Improve-Education.org

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