A National Disgrace: The Education System and the Dumbing of America
A National Disgrace: The Education System and the Dumbing of America
A National Disgrace: The Education System and the Dumbing of America
Norman W Wilson, PhD
America is in serious trouble. Whenever a nation's educational system falters because of misplaced and often misguided learning-teaching goals, the whole country suffers. Maybe not today, but a couple of decades down the road it will be all too obvious. We will have a very heavy price to pay for the dumbing of America.
As an educator for forty years I am concerned about current trends in the educating of our country's young. In 2007 (the year for which figures are available) there were 4,000 'charter schools' in the United States serving over one million students. Forty one states now have laws allowing charter schools according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Charter schools were created with less restrictions than regular schools. Why was it necessary to create a secondary system? If legal restrictions were the primary issue, why not just change the laws?
Early in the month I came upon an article announcing the African American Charter School Administrators Association was bringing suit against one of the southern states. I have found this disturbing that there is such an organization. I thought we had gotten past the disgusting discrimination of the 1960's. Certainly the existence of African American Charter Schools is blatant discrimination. Reversed discrimination? This raises the question of the real reason for the creation of charter schools to begin with. Are they created to perpetuate racial discrimination? Are they a way to circumnavigate both federal and state laws?
According to the June 2010 Associated Press, many of our schools are switching to a four day week. And this is not because of some deep philosophical approach to educating our young. It's to save money. What would be saved if the expensive sports programs were eliminated? How much did it cost to build the USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier? In 2009 the estimated cost was $14,000,000,000, that's 14 billion. Think what could have been done with that money had it been spent on a viable national educational system.
Home schooling is now in a rampant up surge. According to the U. S Department of Education over 1,000,000 students are home-schooled. (Figures available for, 2007 only). It is predicted that this growth will continue at a rate of about 15% per year. John Holt author of Why Children Fail estimated that nearly 500,000 families would be doing home schooling. That was back in 1978. It has passed that figure. What's happening to the higher math? The sophisticated physical sciences? Are parents equipped intellectually and physically to teach these courses to their home schoolers? No. They send them to the public schools, the very institution they have held in such disdain.
Not all that new upon the stage of education is what has been called unschooling. [John Holt again] Unschooling refers to those educational philosophies and practices that supposedly allow children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience and social interaction, (hmm, does that include sex, too) rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. Smacks of the musical Mame doesn't it?
Unschoolers often state that learning any specific subject is less important than learning how to learn. And they may be right, but withdrawing children from 'formal' educational programs certainly is not the answer. The answer lies elsewhere? Europe, Japan, China? No! It lies with the parents and non-parent tax payers. But there's the real challenge. Getting a positive involvement.
Surveys report the reason why parents are choosing to keep their kids out of the public education system is three-fold: safety, dogma, and the lack of moral values being taught in public schools. Keeping the children at home or creating charter schools is avoiding the fundamental issue.
If parents want the system to change then they have to do it. And that does not entail withdrawal. It means getting directly involved. And not just when it comes time to vote on bond issues. It means daily involvement in the schools, working to change the focus of curricula, making the teacher a learning manager and not a dispenser of non-relevant information.
A personal anecdote illustrates. While I was an undergraduate in college I decided to hitchhike home for the weekend. I was picked up by a truck driver. Upon learning I was studying to become a teacher he asked if I could name all the presidents of the United States and the years they served. I could not. He could and did. Then he commented: "And you call yourself educated." I thought to myself, "So what? If I want to know who was president at any given time I can look it up." That kind of information was not relevant then and it is not now.
I conclude with a quotation from Susan Jacoby's Washington Post article, The Dumbing of America. Ms Jacoby states, "There is no quick cure for this epidemic of arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism." She continues, "It is past time for a serious national discussion about whether, as a nation, we truly value intellect and rationality." [Dated January 17, 2008]
Guess we don't.
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