Opinion: The Dumbing Down of Our Schools

Propaganda has replaced conventional education

We have a serious problem with our public school system in America.

The public schools in the USA have been converted into political indoctrination centers by the radical left. They took gradual control in the 1960s, and have slowly expanded their control over the past four decades.

The college students who protested the Vietnam War, and who rioted on their campuses are now the professors and administrators and school superintendents.

This is a major issue in the USA today. There is also a raging political debate on whether to allow the right of school choice for parents by using "school vouchers" so they could enroll their children in any accredited school.

There is also a movement towards "home schooling" here in response to the downgrading of our schools. This movement is supported by conservatives, and universally demonized by liberals who consider it "racist."

Today, our schools make absolutely no attempt to educate anyone. They see their goal as "socializing children" so they will be "better people." This means that the important subjects are no longer reading, writing and arithmetic... but are now diversity, feminism, recycling and global warming.

In our schools today, there are no absolute right and wrong. Everything is right. Even math is considered to be a relative science. My first cousin was a high school teacher in NYC for 30 years. He told me that teachers were instructed to never correct a student. If a child said "2+2=5" the teacher was supposed to say "That's an interesting answer. Does anyone else have any ideas?" But in no case was the teacher supposed to correct the student, because it would be bad for their self esteem!

We spend more money per child on education than any other nation in the world, and many third world countries get better results in their schools. Some might think spending more money will guarantee better results, but in this case most of the money was spent on higher wages and benefits for teachers who have strong unions here, and not on improving the education for children.

"Diversity Training" is the most important subject today

We graduate students who cannot read or write beyond grammar school levels. (40% of the high school graduates in Washington DC cannot read or right above a 6th grade level).

We got away with this for a long time. We just used those graduates as unskilled laborers in our factories.

But then we got machines that had computer controls, and employers had to start teaching adults reading and writing!

Our schools no longer teach geography.  Even a large portion of college students cannot find their own state on a map. If they cannot find their own state, do you expect them to find the Czech Republic on a map? Or even know that it is no longer Czechoslovakia but two nations... the Czech Republic and Slovakia?

Our schools no longer teach history. At least not real history. We teach a revisionist history that is designed to make everyone feel good and feel included. Today, young people are not aware that the USA was founded by European white men, who were mostly Christians. Children are taught that our nation's Founders (it is politically incorrect to say "Founding Fathers") were men and women of many races and cultures who all made equal contributions. While this is true today, back in 1776 they were almost all exclusively white Englishmen who were Christians. But this fact is considered offensive to some, so it was changed.

Our schools no longer teach literature. At least not the kind you might recognize as literature. Shakespeare is gone. Mark Twain is gone. Most of the "dead white men" have been purged from the curriculum. They have been replaced by radical writers and poets, most of whom are minorities. This was done to create cultural diversity, and not to improve education.

Our standards have been significantly lowered so that no child will ever fail. Every child is called "an exceptional student." Even those who cannot spell the word "exceptional." We no longer promote students to the next grade when they pass tests, but when they achieve a certain age. ("Social Promotion"... google it.) Standardized tests have been redesigned to be "culturally relevant" and the net result has been everyone gets a diploma and no one can compete with children from Europe or Asia, where standards are still high.

The situation has gotten so bad that the American liberal politicians that many folks admire so much (Obama, Clinton, Gore, Jackson, Sharpton, Kerry, etc.) all sent their OWN children to private schools, while insisting that the public schools are perfect for everyone else. They do this for a simple reason. They love their own children and want them to get a good education. (You might be interested to know that there is a notable exception to this: GW Bush's two daughters attended public schools. Which might be proof that he really wasn't that bright.)

And all of this effort has paid off for the radical left.

In 2008 we elected Barack Obama, a man with a blank resume, and absolutely no qualifications or skills for the job, largely because he is black and we wanted to "make history." The voters had essentially become one giant "OJ Simpson Jury" who wanted to send a message about racism."

9th Graders forced to watch an Obama speech

And look at how the voters for Obama broke down by age (according to CNN):

18-29 ............ 66%
30-44 ............ 52%
45-64 ............ 37%
65 and Older... 16%

There really is political advantage for the left in dumbing down our schools.

Time is on their side.