Education is in trouble. Notice I did not say “public education”. Private schools keep following in line behind the public schools. Even they have lost their edge.
The problem is not Common Core Curriculum (CCC). That is just a symptom. It is just another one of the many smokescreens that the elites of education keep throwing out as a “new” idea. The basic principle that the public is fed claims that we need to have agreement across the country on what is taught. Why? And who said we had not come to that point without the coercive dollars of the federal government trying to buy us into submission?
The problem is the culture of education. The revolutionary aspect of CCC is not the content. The revolution is in the method. It puts a stress on group work that encourages sloth and discourages individual initiative. It rewards mediocrity and punishes excellence. It is part of the plan of the elites to dumb down the population so that they will not notice their loss of liberty. Group work can be effective when you have motivated people who know their stuff. It is nothing but pooling ignorance or parasitism with the majority.
Recently I read about how the failure rate in law schools was rising dramatically. At the other end of the testing spectrum, last year I remember an article talking about how a large percentage, my memory says 25%, of potential recruits for the army can’t pass their basic testing.
I would say that the elites are being successful in their quest for a compliant population. If you have children or grandchildren in school you need to demand common sense not Common Core as the basis for how the schools run.
And remember, even when it comes to school boards, vote the suckers out.
homo unius libri
Interesting. In my private high school in the '70s, I was taught how to learn/ think for myself. In college I learned that, for the most part, one pretty much teaches oneself, the professors are there to expose you to new material or ideas. Sounds like that's not how it is these days.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing you are old enough to remember black and white TV and maybe no TV at all. I attended school in the district I am teaching in now. At that time it was recognized as one of the best in the country. It was also controlled by local people instead of state and federal regulations like we have today. I don't remember much in the way of group work. The world is changing, or should I say, has changed.
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace.