Poor Man Survival
Self Reliance
tools for independent minded people…
ISSN 2161-5543
A
Digest of Urban Survival Resources
Why Americans are Getting Dumber & How to Fix it
A fifth-grade math or rhetoric textbook from 1850 would be
considered college level material today. The way out of this problem is to get
children out of the institutional mode of schooling.
R Recently I learned
that long time economist Thomas Sowell is retiring from his position as a
syndicated columnist. Curious, I flipped through an archive of his
many columns and stumbled on one entitled Education: Then
and Now, written in early 2006.
One paragraph in
particular caught my eye. Like many
of the older generation, Sowell notes that the education he received in the
New York Public School system of the 1940s was stellar and well-rounded, a far
cry from that experienced by children enrolled in the New York Public Schools
of the late twentieth century:
“Some years ago,
when I looked at the math textbooks that my nieces in Harlem were using, I
discovered that they were being taught in the 11th grade what I had been taught
in the 9th grade. Even if they were the best students around, they would still
be two years behind — with their chances in life correspondingly reduced.”
Sowell’s words are
reminiscent of those from another individual well-acquainted with the New York
Public School system: former teacher of the year John Taylor Gatto. In his
book, Dumbing
Us Down, Gatto declares:
“Pick up a
fifth-grade math or rhetoric textbook from 1850 and you’ll see that the texts
were pitched then on what would today be considered college level. The continuing
cry for ‘basic skills’ practice is a smoke screen behind which schools preempt
the time of children for twelve years….”
So why were the
students of previous generations able to handle such difficult material?
According to Gatto, the answer is simple: they didn’t have a school system
which put every student in the same little box. Instead, children were
encouraged to learn when they were ready and at the pace which they desired:
“[T]he truth is
that reading, writing, and arithmetic only take about one hundred hours to
transmit as long as the audience is eager and willing to learn. The trick is to
wait until someone asks and then move fast while the mood is on. Millions of
people teach themselves these things – it really isn’t very hard.”
The investigations
of Sowell and Gatto confirm what many Americans have long feared, namely, that
the content in the classroom has been “dumbed down.”
But Gatto also
hints at an interesting solution – which many of us never hear – when he
suggests that the way out of this problem is to get children out of the
institutional mode of schooling.
Do you think he’s
on to something? Would we see a natural genius and a quest for learning spring
out of many children if they were not consigned to a classroom and the learning
level appropriated for their age?
Republished from Intellectual
Takeout.
Annie Holmquist
Annie is a
research associate with Intellectual Takeout. In her role,
she writes for the blog, conducts a variety of research for the organization's
websites and social media pages, and assists with development projects. She
particularly loves digging into the historical aspects of America's educational
structure.
Yours for better living,
Bruce , the Poor Man
A Final Note…
You Have a
16-Cylinder Brain-Learn How to Use It and Reawaken the Genius Inside You!
Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.
Additional
Resources
The Anatomy of a Breakdown
The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster
Prepper’s Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary
Contact! A Tactical Manual for Post Collapse Survival
Health
Ranger Store
A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production
2 comments:
No doubt about it, I see dumb people everywhere! I'll have to order your new book.
Interesting post as always!
Post a Comment