+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 26

Thread: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

  1. Link to Post #1
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Anti-intellectualism and the "dumbing down" of America

    Ray Williams
    psychologytoday.com
    Sat, 07 Jun 2014 14:57 UTC



    © reddit.com

    There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It's the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility.

    Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, says in an article in the Washington Post, "Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture; a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism."

    There has been a long tradition of anti-intellectualism in America, unlike most other Western countries. Richard Hofstadter, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his book, Anti-Intellectualism In American Life, describes how the vast underlying foundations of anti-elite, anti-reason and anti-science have been infused into America's political and social fabric. Famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said:
    Quote "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
    Mark Bauerlein, in his book, The Dumbest Generation, reveals how a whole generation of youth is being dumbed down by their aversion to reading anything of substance and their addiction to digital "crap" via social media.

    Journalist Charles Pierce, author of Idiot America, adds another perspective:
    Quote "The rise of idiot America today represents - for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power - the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good. It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people whom we should trust the least are the people who best know what they are talking about. In the new media age, everybody is an expert."
    "There's a pervasive suspicion of rights, privileges, knowledge and specialization," says Catherine Liu, the author of American Idyll: Academic Antielitism as Cultural Critique and a film and media studies professor at University of California. The very mission of universities has changed, argues Liu. "We don't educate people anymore. We train them to get jobs."

    Part of the reason for the rising anti-intellectualism can be found in the declining state of education in the U.S. compared to other advanced countries:
    • After leading the world for decades in 25-34 year olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12th place. The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly 50% of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are foreigners, most of whom are returning to their home countries;
    • The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. A surprising 77% didn't know that George Washington was the first President; couldn't name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence; and only 2.8% of the students actually passed the citizenship test. Along similar lines, the Goldwater Institute of Phoenix did the same survey and only 3.5% of students passed the civics test;
    • According to the National Research Council report, only 28% of high school science teachers consistently follow the National Research Council guidelines on teaching evolution, and 13% of those teachers explicitly advocate creationism or "intelligent design;"
    • 18% of Americans still believe that the sun revolves around the earth, according to a Gallup poll;
    • The American Association of State Colleges and Universities report on education shows that the U.S. ranks second among all nations in the proportion of the population aged 35-64 with a college degree, but 19th in the percentage of those aged 25-34 with an associate or high school diploma, which means that for the first time, the educational attainment of young people will be lower than their parents;
    • 74% of Republicans in the U.S. Senate and 53% in the House of Representatives deny the validity of climate change despite the findings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and every other significant scientific organization in the world;
    • According to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 68% of public school children in the U.S. do not read proficiently by the time they finish third grade. And the U.S. News & World reported that barely 50% of students are ready for college level reading when they graduate;
    • According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important;"
    • According to the National Endowment for the Arts report in 1982, 82% of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later only 67% did. And more than 40% of Americans under 44 did not read a single book--fiction or nonfiction--over the course of a year. The proportion of 17 year olds who read nothing (unless required by school ) has doubled between 1984-2004;
    • Gallup released a poll indicating 42 percent of Americans still believe God created human beings in their present form less than 10,000 years ago;
    • A 2008 University of Texas study found that 25 percent of public school biology teachers believe that humans and dinosaurs inhabited the earth simultaneously.
    In American schools, the culture exalts the athlete and good-looking cheerleader. Well-educated and intellectual students are commonly referred to in public schools and the media as "nerds," "dweebs," "dorks," and "geeks," and are relentlessly harassed and even assaulted by the more popular "jocks" for openly displaying any intellect. These anti-intellectual attitudes are not reflected in students in most European or Asian countries, whose educational levels have now equaled and and will surpass that of the U.S. And most TV shows or movies such as The Big Bang Theory depict intellectuals as being geeks if not effeminate.

    John W. Traphagan,Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas, argues the problem is that Asian countries have core cultural values that are more akin to a cult of intelligence and education than a cult of ignorance and anti-intellectualism. In Japan, for example, teachers are held in high esteem and normally viewed as among the most important members of a community. There is suspicion and even disdain for the work of teachers that occurs in the U.S. Teachers in Japan typically are paid significantly more than their peers in the U.S. The profession of teaching is one that is seen as being of central value in Japanese society and those who choose that profession are well compensated in terms of salary, pension, and respect for their knowledge and their efforts on behalf of children.

    In addition, we do not see in Japan significant numbers of the types of religious schools that are designed to shield children from knowledge about basic tenets of science and accepted understandings of history - such as evolutionary theory or the religious views of the Founding Fathers, who were largely deists - which are essential to having a fundamental understanding of the world, Traphagan contends. The reason for this is because in general Japanese value education, value the work of intellectuals, and see a well-educated public with a basic common knowledge in areas of scientific fact, math, history, literature, etc. as being an essential foundation to a successful democracy.

    We're creating a world of dummies. Angry dummies who feel they have the right, the authority and the need not only to comment on everything, but to make sure their voice is heard above the rest, and to drag down any opposing views through personal attacks, loud repetition and confrontation.

    Bill Keller, writing in the New York Times argues that the anti-intellectual elitism is not an elitism of wisdom, education, experience or knowledge. The new elite are the angry social media posters, those who can shout loudest and more often, a clique of bullies and malcontents baying together like dogs cornering a fox. Too often it's a combined elite of the anti-intellectuals and the conspiracy followers - not those who can voice the most cogent, most coherent response. Together they forment a rabid culture of anti-rationalism where every fact is suspect; every shadow holds a secret conspiracy. Rational thought is the enemy. Critical thinking is the devil's tool.

    Keller also notes that the herd mentality takes over online; the anti-intellectuals become the metaphorical equivalent of an angry lynch mob when anyone either challenges one of the mob beliefs or posts anything outside the mob's self-limiting set of values.

    Keller blames this in part to the online universe that "skews young, educated and attentive to fashions." Fashion, entertainment, spectacle, voyeurism - we're directed towards trivia, towards the inconsequential, towards unquestioning and blatant consumerism. This results in intellectual complacency. People accept without questioning, believe without weighing the choices, join the pack because in a culture where convenience rules, real individualism is too hard work. Thinking takes too much time: it gets in the way of the immediacy of the online experience.

    Reality TV and pop culture presented in magazines and online sites claim to provide useful information about the importance of The Housewives of [you name the city] that can somehow enrich our lives. After all, how else can one explain the insipid and pointless stories that tout divorces, cheating and weight gain? How else can we explain how the Kardashians, or Paris Hilton are known for being famous for being famous without actually contributing anything worth discussion? The artificial events of their lives become the mainstay of populist media to distract people from the real issues and concerns facing us.

    The current trend of increasing anti-intellectualism now establishing itself in politics and business leadership, and supported by a declining education system should be a cause for concern for leaders and the general population, one that needs to be addressed now.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  2. The Following 33 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), Atlas (19th March 2017), avid (29th February 2016), Bill Ryan (27th February 2016), Bluegreen (27th February 2016), BMJ (17th April 2018), Calz (12th March 2016), Curt (29th February 2016), Czarek (14th March 2016), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), eris23 (28th February 2016), Ewan (27th February 2016), Foxie Loxie (28th February 2016), genevieve (28th February 2016), gord (29th February 2016), JChombre (28th February 2016), Joe (28th February 2016), Kristin (20th March 2017), lunaflare (23rd March 2017), mountain_jim (30th May 2018), Nasu (16th April 2018), onawah (23rd March 2017), Philaletheian (28th February 2016), Rhah (28th February 2016), RunningDeer (14th March 2016), seah (28th February 2016), seko (29th February 2016), Sierra (27th February 2016), Sophocles (29th May 2018), Stephanie (29th February 2016), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018), ZooLife (27th February 2016)

  3. Link to Post #2
    Avalon Member gord's Avatar
    Join Date
    13th October 2015
    Location
    The Vampire State
    Language
    English
    Age
    61
    Posts
    694
    Thanks
    14,972
    Thanked 4,603 times in 673 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    • And more than 40% of Americans under 44 did not read a single book--fiction or nonfiction--over the course of a year.
    Wow, that's just sad. I have over 3000 books scattered around the house. By far the best gift I ever got from anyone was a love of reading and I got that from my parents.
    The only place a perfect right angle ever CAN be, is the mind.

  4. The Following 17 Users Say Thank You to gord For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), Atlas (19th March 2017), avid (29th February 2016), Calz (12th March 2016), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Ewan (29th February 2016), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Hervé (29th February 2016), Michelle Marie (28th March 2017), RunningDeer (14th March 2016), seko (29th February 2016), Sierra (6th March 2016), Stephanie (29th February 2016), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Tinman (24th March 2017), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018), Victoria (18th October 2019)

  5. Link to Post #3
    UK Avalon Member avid's Avatar
    Join Date
    19th March 2010
    Location
    NW UK
    Language
    English
    Posts
    2,883
    Thanks
    58,239
    Thanked 15,632 times in 2,653 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    I remember in the 80's there was a movement in the music business to deliberately promote violence and antagonism by encouraging rap music. Negativity went mainstream with 'artists' such as Beastie Boys, Public Enemy etc. It became 'uncool' to be educated, 'cool' to be a gang member. Drugs were everywhere, and youth seemed to lack moral values. There was no 'respect' for other people's property, and the sound of police sirens became commonplace in our cities.

    I am astounded at the lack of literacy and numeracy. Television also promotes this via Jerry Springer, Jeremy Kyle etc.
    That's my rant over for today...!
    The love you withhold is the pain that you carry
    and er..
    "Chariots of the Globs" (apols to Fat Freddy's Cat)

  6. The Following 13 Users Say Thank You to avid For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), Atlas (19th March 2017), Calz (12th March 2016), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Ewan (29th February 2016), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Hervé (3rd March 2016), RunningDeer (14th March 2016), seko (29th February 2016), Stephanie (29th February 2016), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018), Victoria (18th October 2019)

  7. Link to Post #4
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Dept of Education Study — Graduates in the US Look Like Other Countries’ High School Dropouts

    By Matt Agorist March 11, 2016


    The US Department of Education just released the results from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and they are perilously disappointing.

    PIAAC is a cyclical, large-scale study of adult skills and life experiences focusing on education and employment. Nationally representative samples of adults between the ages of 16 and 65 are administered an assessment of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology rich environments, as well as survey questions about their educational background, work history, the skills they use on the job and at home, their civic engagement, and sense of their health and well-being. The results are used to compare participating countries on the skills capacities of their workforce-aged adults and to learn more about relationships between educational background and employment and other outcomes.

    When comparing the most recent results of US adults and those in other countries, America looks terrible.

    In spite of being only one quarter the size of them, the United States spends nearly the same amount of money on video games as China. One would think since Americans spend tens of billions annually on video games, they would naturally be technologically savvy. However, the results of the PIAAC study show that is simply not the case. In fact, the average American citizen comes in dead last for being able to perform simple technological procedures.

    “Clearly, we have some work to do in this country,” says Peggy Carr, the acting commissioner of the government’s National Center for Education Statistics.

    When it comes to basic technological skills like using email, buying and returning items online, using a drop-down menu, naming a file on a computer or sending a text message — Americans rank dead last.

    But it’s not just daily technology tasks that Americans fail at accomplishing, they also scored terribly in math and literacy.

    According to study, Americans with a high school diploma performed about the same as high school dropouts in other countries.

    So what’s the problem? Is it lack of spending in the education department? No.

    The United States spends more money on education than any other country in the world, yet the average high school graduate can’t even compete with dropouts in other countries. In spite of the ever increasing DOE expenditures, US students continue to trail their rivals on international standards tests.

    “We need to think seriously about how to get them functioning better,” says Carr.

    However, no matter how much money and time the bureaucrats in D.C. throw at education, and no matter how many times they “revolutionize learning” (i.e. common core) that function is more of the same — ignorance.

    Imagine what will happen when Americans get “Free College,” as promised by so many politicians. What good is free college if graduates get out and can’t even tie their own shoes?

    Is any of this really a surprise to anyone, though? Just last month, the writer of the hit comedy Idiocracy, Etan Cohen announced that his fictional movie turned out to be a documentary, and he’s right.

    It seems that public schools these days are little more than factories to reiterate the state’s version of events and stoke an extraordinary amount of cognitive dissonance. Without being able to hold two contradictory thoughts as the truth, how else could Americans continue to refer to this geographical region as The Land of the Free?

    State sanctioned deprivation of rights, liberty, and life, is that what we call “Freedom” these days?

    Sadly, when people do begin to question this paradigm of declining education and the state’s usurpation of freedom, blame is quickly associated and directed toward whichever corporate puppet is in charge. American then just go back to sleep — resolute in the notion that they can vote those bastards out, and it will all be fixed.

    Boobus Americanus then slips back into la la land, cheering on the increasingly ignorant police state as if they are fans on a football stadium sideline. “My team is winning! USA! USA! USA!”

    But your team is not winning, Boobus!

    Just for a moment, can we stop chanting that “USA is number one”?

    Can we remove the patriotic blinders for a moment and take a look at the categories in which we are actually number one? Because it’s certainly not education and definitely not freedom.

    According to the 2014 Legatum Prosperity Index released last November, in the measure of personal freedom, the United States has fallen from 9th place in 2010 to 21st worldwide—behind such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

    Other such rankings systems show the US as low as 46. Yet somehow, Americans still believe their leaders when they say that terrorists “hate our freedom,” as if the ‘terrorists’ took down the first 45 freest countries and are just now getting to us!

    No, we are most assuredly not number one in freedom nor education.

    But, we are, however, number 1 in the following:
    • Prison Population
    • Obesity
    • Child Abuse Death Rate
    • Hours spent in front of the Television
    • Teen Pregnancy Rate
    • Prescription Drug Use
    • Citizens Killed by police
    • Debt
    • Crime
    • Arbitrary, Immoral and downright evil laws
    So, next time your chest begins to fill with patriotic puff, stop for a second and realize that Americans are number one, but in such a bad way.

    In the meantime, however, we still have the freedom in this country to inform ourselves and others. Only through a lesser ignorance will this massive dumbing down of citizens be curbed.

    Please share this information with your friends and family so that Americans can see that the government’s answer of throwing more and more money into the failed department of education is not the answer.

    Personal responsibility, desire for knowledge, and respect for your fellow human — these are the things that prevent such a tyrannical level of ignorance.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  8. The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), Atlas (19th March 2017), avid (12th March 2016), BMJ (17th April 2018), Calz (12th March 2016), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Ewan (14th March 2016), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Kristin (20th March 2017), RunningDeer (14th March 2016), seko (20th March 2017), Sierra (25th July 2018), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Tinman (23rd May 2017)

  9. Link to Post #5
    United States Avalon Member Silo's Avatar
    Join Date
    29th September 2011
    Posts
    113
    Thanks
    124
    Thanked 462 times in 92 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Four legs good, two legs bad
    just s

    --the consequence of denile outweighs the risk of skepticism

  10. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Silo For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017)

  11. Link to Post #6
    Avalon Member Kari Lynn's Avatar
    Join Date
    26th March 2010
    Posts
    900
    Thanks
    88
    Thanked 1,855 times in 566 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Thank you Herve,
    I looked at the title of your thread and couldn't help but think of what I am going through with my youngest son. Someday I will detail it, but at this time, I'm lawyering up!

  12. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Kari Lynn For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Hervé (14th March 2016), Smell the Roses (25th July 2018), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017)

  13. Link to Post #7
    United States Avalon Member raregem's Avatar
    Join Date
    1st November 2011
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    613
    Thanks
    10,746
    Thanked 3,105 times in 563 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Oh my ..
    When I scanned your headline, "When Education Produces Illiteracy...
    I had to re-read it b/c I saw, "When Education Produces Hillary" ..

  14. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to raregem For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Hervé (14th March 2016), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018)

  15. Link to Post #8
    On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    10th July 2013
    Location
    Project Avalon
    Posts
    3,649
    Thanks
    19,216
    Thanked 16,228 times in 3,216 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Quote Posted by Sophocles (here)
    Prince EA - THE PEOPLE VS THE SCHOOL SYSTEM: I JUST SUED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM !!!



    See my thread: projectavalon.net/What's The Purpose Of Education?
    Last edited by Atlas; 19th March 2017 at 23:20.

  16. The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to Atlas For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (20th March 2017), avid (20th March 2017), BMJ (17th April 2018), Ewan (20th March 2017), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Hervé (19th March 2017), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), seko (20th March 2017), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018)

  17. Link to Post #9
    United States Unsubscribed
    Join Date
    24th September 2014
    Location
    Appalachia
    Posts
    2,551
    Thanks
    9,947
    Thanked 13,078 times in 2,355 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Since Jimmy Carter created the federal Department of Education in the US, children have only been becoming stupider. Nationalized testing standards that force rote memorization, shut down critical thinking and teach children to simply obey authority are major problems.

    Lots of people aware of these issues have been calling for the Department of Education to be shut down and control of education returned to the states for local administration, but if anyone actually tries that you can expect holy hell from the establishment media claiming a horrendous "attack on education," etc. etc. It's all double-think. The Department of Education is itself an attack on education.

  18. Link to Post #10
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    'I was trained to identify resistors': Education whistleblower tells how she was taught to con the community

    Isaac Davis Waking Times
    Mon, 20 Mar 2017 16:46 UTC


    Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt

    "I was taught really how to con the community." ~Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
    Charlotte Iserbyt has a long history of work with the U.S. Department of Education as a former policy advisor during the Reagan administration, as well as having worked for local school districts. In her seminal book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, she tells the story of how her interest in educating children was overshadowed by the dark truth of the modern education system, and the top-down plan to overhaul education to achieve statist aims.

    As the reality that education is used against us sinks in for everyday Americans, her work becomes ever more valuable, and of the many startling truths she has revealed, one fact stands out as particularly relevant to today's environment, where the nanny state increasingly usurps authority over individual and family decisions, turning us into de facto agents of state control.

    Speaking in an interview, Iserbyt explains how school system functionaries are trained to identify resistors, the parents among us whom would dare to object to the unreasonable changes in schools and educational programs.
    'I was trained to identify the resistors. The resistors to the sex-ed, drug-ed, alcohol-ed, suicide-ed, death-ed, those good, smart Americans who realize that anything that education hanging off the end of it is probably not what they're looking for. I was trained to identify those good people, and to go up against them, and actually to go and try to get them to join us through the group process system. Make them feel important, get them on a committee... and that just blew my mind." ~Charlotte Iserbyt
    How does the school system manage to force programs onto local districts which would never want such programs? How do they con people into accepting new ideas for education that really don't make sense for their communities?

    The answer is that the system actually trains members of the school system to identify, target, and recruit the right people in a community, so that others will play follow-the-leader with people whom they trust.
    "Not only was I trained to identify the resistors, I was trained to go to the important people, high profile, highly thought of people in the community, with the Rotary, Chamber of Commerce Garden Club, you name it. The different groups in our towns. Go to them and convince them of the importance of these new programs... and get them on your side, because when you can get the leadership in a community to go along with it, then the newspaper comes in and says, a committee's been set up with the head of the Rotary, and this and that, and they're all getting behind this task force to discuss whether we're going to have a new sex education program. And then, when Mary Jones, who would ordinarily think, why would we want to have a sex education program when we don't have any problems with kids having sex or anything... she reads that her best friend who's the head of the Garden Club is on this committee... it must be OK." ~Charlotte Iserbyt
    Iserbyt talks briefly about the training manual for district employees which teaches them to be good agents of the state. Written by Professor Ronald Havelock, Innovations in Education: A Change Agent's Guide is the manual for turning the American school system into a Stasi-like program of group think and mindless acquiescence. Yes, there really is a manual which teaches educators how to monitor and interdict parents who wish to have a say in how their children are educated, and according to Iserbyt, it is quite revolting, and very effective.

    The end result of a government program which targets and neutralizes dissenters and resistors is nation-wide conformity with educational objectives which serve the interest of the corporate state while failing children and families.

    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  19. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    Atlas (22nd March 2017), avid (23rd March 2017), BMJ (17th April 2018), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Ewan (23rd March 2017), Foxie Loxie (29th May 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017), Valerie Villars (29th May 2018)

  20. Link to Post #11
    Scotland Avalon Member Ewan's Avatar
    Join Date
    24th February 2015
    Location
    Ireland
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,434
    Thanks
    51,860
    Thanked 18,949 times in 2,388 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    This appears to be it, I have not actually read it - yet.

    In .PDF format

  21. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Ewan For This Post:

    Atlas (23rd March 2017), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Hervé (23rd March 2017), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017)

  22. Link to Post #12
    United States On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    23rd August 2016
    Age
    42
    Posts
    614
    Thanks
    5,034
    Thanked 2,844 times in 572 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Quote Posted by gord (here)
    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    • And more than 40% of Americans under 44 did not read a single book--fiction or nonfiction--over the course of a year.
    Wow, that's just sad. I have over 3000 books scattered around the house. By far the best gift I ever got from anyone was a love of reading and I got that from my parents.
    When I was training with my friend, a Lakota trained shaman, in the deep woods of Pennsylvania, he made it clear to me that book smarts was a phenomenon in need of deprogramming. I was a bookworm in my younger years, and was at first quite shocked by this perspective (my knee jerk reaction was that this was a move to dumb myself down.) However, my training gave me a new perspective on things. At least from the viewpoint of spiritual development, I learned that listening to the inner voice can prove to be incredibly profound, although of course learning how to hear the inner voice, and to trust it, is another issue altogether. With mind control being rampant in our mad mad mad world, I would have to say knowing what to believe in our own thoughts and feelings is tricky at best.

    In a meditation the other day, I explored this issue. An answer I received was that:

    1) the conscious mind has great difficulty with discernment and can be easily duped

    2) the subconscious mind, which has the amazing perspective of remembering *everything* - every little shred of evidence, every memory, event, all sensory input, etc, is not capable of being duped because of this. Our subconscious mind is as close as it comes to "omniscience" - on the individual level. What is so great is that we need look no further than under the hoods of our own vehicles to access this.


    So then, with this issue of propaganda and the development of discernment, when we ask: "How does one know when they are being duped?" I would say, look it up in your subconscious mind.

    In my opinion, filling one's head with so much outside information can drown out and marginalize the inner wisdom that quietly requests our attention. And at the end of the day, the ivory tower of academia is highly overrated, biased, and of course its own self perpetuating propaganda machine. ((see: https://mikemcclaughry.wordpress.com...da-techniques/))

    I see my daughter, who has to be the most beautiful, loving presence in not only my life, but in the lives of many who know her and hold her dear to their hearts. She is truly a gift, and I consider myself blessed to have her in my life. I see the beauty of her spirit, her compassionate and bubbly positivity, as no product of my own mothering, but as an expression of her soul's essence. She has also never been a reader. I used to be distressed about this, having grown up as a bookworm myself. She does like to be read to, but usually does not choose to sit with books. She would rather interact with people - play with her friends - 100% of the time that she has the choice, she will choose people over books. I was always a hard working book smart "nerd" in honors classes - my daughter does the least amount of work required. I do not push her, because I see the inherent wisdom in her choices. Despite the difficulties she has weathered from such a young age, she is the most balanced, flexible, well adjusted, happy child I know.

    So, with all that being said, I wonder if the move away from intellectualism is really all that bad? The wisdom of the heart has nothing to do with books. And clearly, we will not get out of this huge collective mess that we are in in the same way that we got into it (ie by creating problem after problem with our minds). I am open and interested to see where this all leads us.

  23. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to The Freedom Train For This Post:

    BMJ (17th April 2018), Bruno (27th March 2017), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Ewan (23rd March 2017), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Hervé (23rd March 2017), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), Tintin (16th April 2018), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018)

  24. Link to Post #13
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Quote Posted by The Freedom Train (here)
    [...]

    1) the conscious mind has great difficulty with discernment and can be easily duped

    2) the subconscious mind, which has the amazing perspective of remembering *everything* - every little shred of evidence, every memory, event, all sensory input, etc, is not capable of being duped because of this. Our subconscious mind is as close as it comes to "omniscience" - on the individual level. What is so great is that we need look no further than under the hoods of our own vehicles to access this.
    [...]
    Interesting since this is communicated via "text" which is the main ingredient of "books" beside paper... kind of ironical.

    And, with "text" one also runs into what's called "nomenclature" and the meanings of terms depending on their contexts... which leads to this:

    If the subconscious remembers "everything," then, that's also an attribute of one's unconscious which can be interrogated as to what happened to the body and its environs while the occupant was out on some errands or OBE/NDE, etc...

    This, in turns, leads to a major problem with the statement "not capable of being duped" because, if that may be true, it sure can fool the "occupant" with what's called "post-hypnotic commands" as explained with the "Toilet Flushers" (<---) (from my favorite example about the phenomenon) .

    In short, there is no discernment needed with the programmable "subconscious/unconscious" which executes any command just the same... to the bafflement of the occupant.

    Then, of course, since printed texts have been under the control of media moguls and publishers... most of what's available out there is either propaganda and/or distractions.

    In the end, yes, one needs to have a good chat with one's "subconscious/unconscious" to find out what are the programs which have been laid in there, whether that be propaganda or strongly held unsubstantiated beliefs.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  25. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    BMJ (17th April 2018), Bruno (27th March 2017), Ewan (23rd March 2017), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), The Freedom Train (23rd March 2017)

  26. Link to Post #14
    United States On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    23rd August 2016
    Age
    42
    Posts
    614
    Thanks
    5,034
    Thanked 2,844 times in 572 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    Interesting since this is communicated via "text" which is the main ingredient of "books" beside paper... kind of ironical.
    Haha! I love this! So true!!

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    If the subconscious remembers "everything," then, that's also an attribute of one's unconscious which can be interrogated as to what happened to the body and its environs while the occupant was out on some errands or OBE/NDE, etc...

    This, in turns, leads to a major problem with the statement "not capable of being duped" because, if that may be true, it sure can fool the "occupant" with what's called "post-hypnotic commands" as explained with the "Toilet Flushers" (<---) (from my favorite example about the phenomenon) .

    In short, there is no discernment needed with the programmable "subconscious/unconscious" which executes any command just the same... to the bafflement of the occupant.
    Here is the rub for me: the executed command is only baffling to the occupants conscious mind - since of course it has no awareness of the command being given to (and quite clearly remembered by) the subconcsious mind. The subconscious mind knows all about it, and so of course would not be baffled by why the occupant is choosing to flush the toilet whene'er the collar is tugged - "Why am I doing this? Because you told me to - duh!"

    Although I would agree with you that this is a duping in a way - the subconscious mind does not question the command or say - "But WHY flush the toilet?" It simply responds to the suggestion - "You want me to do that? Okay."

    However, in terms of being unaware of the commands or what is going on behind the scenes - which is I think more along the lines of the kind of duping I was getting at in my previous post - then this I would say the subconscious mind is indeed well equipped to avoid.

    Thanks for the dialogue - this little foray into consciousness and mind control is proving to be more intriguing and fruitful for me than I previously realized.

  27. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to The Freedom Train For This Post:

    BMJ (17th April 2018), Bruno (27th March 2017), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Hervé (23rd March 2017), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018)

  28. Link to Post #15
    Avalon Member lunaflare's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th March 2010
    Posts
    550
    Thanks
    785
    Thanked 2,338 times in 435 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Thankyou for your post about your daughter, Freedom Train.

    I see the beauty of her spirit, her compassionate and bubbly positivity, as no product of my own mothering, but as an expression of her soul's essence.

    I would say that, yes, your mothering allows for the flowering of this beautiful spirit; your daughter:
    You see her.
    You love, appreciate and respect her.
    The fact you are a trained Shaman suggests you most likely model a love and deep respect for the Natural World. People are part of the Natural World: Nature.

    Perhaps there will be a time when your daughter will choose other way of interacting with Life/learning...perhaps not.
    The fact she is happy- "bubbly"- is celebration in and of itself.
    I think these are tenets of a holy wisdom we can cultivate and encourage in others.
    Last edited by lunaflare; 23rd March 2017 at 17:18.

  29. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to lunaflare For This Post:

    BMJ (17th April 2018), Bruno (27th March 2017), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018)

  30. Link to Post #16
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    You’re censored because “someone might get the wrong idea”

    by Jon Rappoport Mar 27, 2017

    Recently, I was a guest on a radio show. At one point, I cited a mainstream journal review I have mentioned many times—the famous 2000 Journal of the American Medical Association revelation by Dr. Barbara Starfield, which concluded that the US medical system kills 225,000 people a year in the US.

    The interviewer asked whether mentioning this could dangerously convince people not to go to a doctor, when they should see a doctor.

    I hadn’t heard that gem in a long time.

    Maybe you shouldn’t talk about this, because it could give people the wrong idea

    I said people could get the wrong idea from many statements.

    Getting the wrong idea is a chronic condition. It pops up all the time.

    If you refrained from saying something because people might get the wrong idea, you could decide to say nothing. Ever.

    There is no limit to what you could say that someone might interpret in his own peculiar way.

    Further, what happened to the idea that you should speak the truth?

    I guess that’s out. Too dangerous.

    Of course, in my radio interview, the host was just playing the devil’s advocate. He was presenting “the other side.” For “balance.” He knew what he was doing. Actually, I’m glad he made his point. It gave me a chance to talk about people “getting the wrong idea.”

    These days, there is a wider problem. We didn’t get to it on the radio show. People complain that something you say triggers them. Boom. Their problem becomes your problem.

    You uttered the word “girl.” And that initiated their cascade of reaction. Therefore, you committed a sin.

    It’s a form of psychological warfare. You shouldn’t say X because X might trigger somebody. Welcome to the victim culture. Idiot’s delight.

    Here’s another angle. Since the education system doesn’t teach anyone how to think logically, you shouldn’t speak or write logically. If you did, you would be confusing and/or offending untold numbers of people. You must cater to them. If you use logic, you’re an elitist.

    And how about this? ELIMINATE TEACHING GRAMMAR BECAUSE GRAMMAR IS RACIST. That’s right.

    Daily Caller (2/20/17): “An ‘antiracist’ poster in a college writing center insists American grammar is ‘racist’ and an ‘unjust language structure,’ [and the writing center is] promising to prioritize rhetoric over ‘grammatical correctness’.”

    “The poster, written by the director, staff, and tutors of the University of Washington, Tacoma’s Writing Center, states ‘racism is the normal condition of things,’ declaring that it permeates rules, systems, expectations, in courses, school and society.”

    “’We promise to emphasize the importance of rhetorical situations [?!] over grammatical “correctness” in the production of texts,’ announces the poster. ‘We promise to challenge conventional word choices and writing explanations’.”

    Maybe someone can explain why the author of that college proclamation used English grammar to defame English grammar.

    Why didn’t the author write, “Use grammar bad because why tradition and nobody should.” Much better.

    Stop all grammar. It could give people the wrong idea. It could make them think their own ignorance of the subject reveals “a lack of education.” They could fall into a funk and think something is wrong with them. They could be triggered.

    Here’s a proposal for a university study: seek out and find the one person on the planet who has the very lowest understanding of logic and grammar, who can’t read a word, who is triggered by the greatest number of utterances. Find that person, and then recommend everyone on the planet adjust their utterances to please that one person…

    So that person won’t get the wrong idea.

    Then society will improve.

    Then we will reach new heights of share and care.

    Then we will be humane.

    Then we will bow down to that one person.

    She/he will become the standard.

    She/he will lead us.

    She/he will teach us all, in the fullness of time.

    Amen.

    When that person dies, we can preserve his/her brain and keep it ticking, as a reference for future generations:

    Utter nothing that might give that brain the wrong idea.

    Utter nothing that might make that brain think it is inferior or lacking in any way.

    Rather, encourage that brain. Pump it full of messages that confirm its god-like status. Award it trophies. Feed it photos and video showing sprawling centers built in its name.

    Then we can feel secure. Then we can feel safe.

    No one will get the wrong idea.

    Jon Rappoport
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  31. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (25th July 2018), BMJ (17th April 2018), Bruno (27th March 2017), Ewan (27th March 2017), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), happyuk (29th March 2017), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), Tinman (23rd May 2017), Valerie Villars (29th May 2018)

  32. Link to Post #17
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Teacher for 17 years couldn't read or write

    John Corcoran BBC
    Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:01 UTC


    © ALAMY

    John Corcoran grew up in New Mexico in the US during the 1940s and 50s. One of six siblings, he graduated from high school, went on to university, and became a teacher in the 1960s - a job he held for 17 years. But, as he explains here, he hid an extraordinary secret.

    When I was a child I was told by my parents that I was a winner, and for the first six years of my life I believed what my parents had told me.

    I was late in talking, but I went off to school with high hopes of learning to read like my sisters, and for the first year things were fine because there weren't many demands on us other than standing in the right line, sitting down, keeping our mouths shut and going to the bathroom on time.

    And then in the second grade we were supposed to learn to read. But for me it was like opening a Chinese newspaper and looking at it - I didn't understand what those lines were, and as a child of six, seven, eight years old I didn't know how to articulate the problem.

    I remember praying at night and saying, "Please Lord, let me know how to read tomorrow when I get up" and sometimes I'd even turn on the light and get a book and look at it and see if I got a miracle. But I didn't get that miracle.

    At school I ended up in the dumb row with a bunch of other kids who were having a hard time learning to read. I didn't know how I got there, I didn't know how to get out and I certainly didn't know what question to ask.



    The teacher didn't call it the "dumb row" - there wasn't any cruelty or anything - but the kids called it the dumb row, and when you're in that dumb row you start thinking you're dumb.

    At teacher conferences my teacher told my parents, "He's a smart boy, he'll get it," and they moved me on to the third grade.

    "He's a smart boy, he'll get it," and they moved me on to the fourth grade.

    "He's a smart boy, he'll get it," and they moved me on to the fifth grade.

    But I wasn't getting it.

    By the time I got to the fifth grade I'd basically given up on myself in terms of reading. I got up every day, got dressed, went to school and I was going to war. I hated the classroom. It was a hostile environment and I had to find a way to survive.

    By the seventh grade I was sitting in the principal's office most of the day. I was in fights, I was defiant, I was a clown, I was a disruptor, I got expelled from school.

    But that behaviour wasn't who I felt inside - it wasn't who I wanted to be. I wanted to be somebody else, I had a desire to succeed, I wanted to be a good student, but I just couldn't do it.

    By the time I got to the eighth grade I got tired of embarrassing myself and my family. I decided I was going to behave myself now - if you behave in high school you can find your way through the system. So I was going to be a teacher's pet and do everything necessary to pass that system.

    I wanted to be an athlete - I had athletic skills, and I had maths skills - I could count money and make change before I even went to school and I learned the times tables.

    I had social skills too - I ran around with college kids, I dated the valedictorian - the student with the highest grades who gives a speech at the graduation ceremony, I was the homecoming king, I had people - mostly girls - do my homework for me.

    I could write my name and there were some words that I could remember, but I couldn't write a sentence - I was in high school and reading at the second or third grade level. And I never told anybody that I couldn't read.

    When I was taking a test I would look at someone else's paper, or I'd pass my paper over to somebody else and they'd answer the questions for me - it was fairly easy, amateur cheating. But when I went off to college on a full athletic scholarship it was a different story.

    I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is way over my head, how am I going to be able to get through this?"



    I belonged to a social fraternity who had copies of old exam papers. That was one way to cheat. I tried to take classes with a partner, somebody who would help me through. There were professors who used the same test year after year. But I also had to resort to more creative and desperate things.


    In one exam the professor put four questions on the board. I was sitting at the back of the room, near the window, behind the older students.

    I had my blue book and I painstakingly copied the four questions off the board. I didn't know what those questions said.

    I had arranged for a friend of mine to be outside the window. He was probably the smartest kid in school, but he was also shy and he'd asked me to fix him up with a girl by the name of Mary who he wanted to go to the spring formal dance with.

    I passed my blue book out the window to him and he answered the questions for me.

    I had another blue exam book underneath my shirt and I took it out and pretended I was writing in it.

    I was praying that my friend was going to be able to get my book back to me and that he was going to get the right answers.

    I was so desperate. I needed to pass courses. I was at risk.

    There was another exam that I couldn't figure out how I was going to pass.

    One night I went by the professor's office about midnight, he wasn't there. I opened the window with a knife and I went in like a cat burglar. I'd crossed the line now - I wasn't just a student that was cheating, I was a criminal.

    I went inside and I looked around for the exam. It had to be in his office but I couldn't find it. There was a file cabinet that was locked - it had to be in the file cabinet.

    I did the same thing two or three nights in a row looking for that exam but I still couldn't find it. So one night, about one o'clock in the morning, I brought three of my friends with me and we went to the office. We carried out a four-drawer file cabinet, put it in a vehicle, and took it off campus to a college apartment.

    I had arranged for a locksmith to come. I put my suit and tie on - I was pretending to be a young businessman who was leaving for Los Angeles the next day and the locksmith was saving my job by opening it.

    He opened it, gave me a key, and sure enough, to my great relief there were more than 40 copies of the exam - a multiple choice paper - in the top drawer of the file cabinet. I took one copy back to my dormitory, where a "smart" classmate made a cheat sheet with all the correct answers.

    We carried the file cabinet back and at five o'clock in the morning I was walking up to my room and thinking, "Mission impossible accomplished!" - and I was feeling pretty good that I was so clever.

    But then I walked up the stairs, lay down in my bed and started weeping like a baby.

    Why didn't I ask for help? Because I didn't believe there was anybody out there who could teach me to read. This was my secret and I guarded that secret.

    My teachers and my parents told me that people with college degrees get better jobs, they have better lives, and so that's what I believed. My motivation was to just get that piece of paper. Maybe by osmosis, maybe by prayer, maybe by a miracle I would one day learn to read.

    So I graduated from college, and when I graduated there was a teacher shortage and I was offered a job. It was the most illogical thing you can imagine - I got out of the lion's cage and then I got back in to taunt the lion again.

    Why did I go into teaching? Looking back it was crazy that I would do that. But I'd been through high school and college without getting caught - so being a teacher seemed a good place to hide. Nobody suspects a teacher of not knowing how to read.

    I taught a lot of different things. I was an athletics coach. I taught social studies. I taught typing - I could copy-type at 65 words a minute but I didn't know what I was typing. I never wrote on a blackboard and there was no printed word in my classroom. We watched a lot of films and had a lot of discussions.

    I remember how fearful I was. I couldn't even take the roll - I had to ask the students to pronounce their names so I could hear their names. And I always had two or three students who I identified early - the ones who could read and write best in the classroom - to help me. They were my teaching aids. They didn't suspect at all - you don't suspect the teacher.

    One of my biggest fears was faculty meetings. We had them once a week and if the teachers were brainstorming the principal would call on somebody to get those ideas on to the board. I lived in fear that he would call on me, every week I was terrified, but I had a backup plan.

    If he had called on me I was going to get out of my chair and take two steps, grab my chest, drop to the floor and hope they called 911. Whatever it took not to get caught, and I never got caught.

    Sometimes I felt like a good teacher - because I worked hard at it and I really cared about what I was doing - but I wasn't. It was wrong. I didn't belong in the classroom, I was trespassing. I wasn't supposed to be there and sometimes what I was doing made me physically sick, but I was trapped, I couldn't tell anybody.

    I got married while I was a teacher. Getting married is a sacrament, it's a commitment to be truthful with another person and this was the first time I thought, "OK, I'm going to trust this person, I'm going to tell her."

    I practised in front of the mirror: "Cathy, I can't read. Cathy, I can't read."

    And one evening we were sitting on the couch and I said, "Cathy, I can't read."

    But she didn't really understand what I was saying. She thought I was saying that I didn't read much.

    You know, love is blind and deaf.

    So we got married and we had a child and years later it really came home to her.

    I was reading to our three-year-old daughter. We read to her routinely, but I wasn't really reading, I was making the stories up - stories that I knew, like Goldilocks and The Three Bears, I just added drama to them.

    But this was a new book, Rumpelstiltskin, and my daughter said, "You're not reading it like mama."

    My wife heard me trying to read from a child's book and that was the first time that it dawned on her. I had been asking her to do all this writing for me, helping me write things for school, and then she finally realised, how deep and severe this was.

    But nothing was said, there was no confrontation, she just carried on helping me get by.


    John Corcoran and his granddaughter, Kayla Mertes: It was when "reading" to his daughter that John's secret was revealed

    It didn't relieve anything because in my gut I felt dumb and I felt like a fake. I was deceitful. I was teaching my students to be seekers of truth and I was the biggest liar in the room. The relief only came when I finally learned to read.

    I taught high school from 1961 to 1978. Eight years after I quit my teaching job, something finally changed.

    I was 47 going on 48 when I saw Barbara Bush - then Second Lady of the US - talking about adult literacy on TV. It was her special cause. I'd never heard anybody talking about adult literacy before, I thought I was the only person in the world that was in the situation I was in.

    I was at this desperate spot in my life. I wanted to tell somebody and I wanted to get help and one day in the grocery store I was standing in line and there were two women in front of me talking about their adult brother who was going to the library. He was learning to read and they were just full of joy and I couldn't believe it.

    So one Friday afternoon in my pinstriped suit I walked into the library and asked to see the director of the literacy programme and I sat down with her and I told her I couldn't read.

    That was the second person in my adult life that I had ever told.


    Barbara Bush inspired John Corcoran to ask for help and finally learn to read.

    I had a volunteer tutor - she was 65 years old. She wasn't a teacher, she was just somebody who loved to read and didn't think anybody should go through life without knowing how to.

    One of the things that she had me do in the early stages was to try to write because I had all these thoughts in my mind and I'd never written a sentence. The first thing that I wrote was a poem about my feelings. One of the things about poetry is that you don't have to know what a complete sentence is, and you don't have to write in complete sentences.

    She got me to about sixth-grade-level reading - I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. But it took me about seven years to feel like I was a literate person. I cried, I cried, and I cried after I started learning to read - there was a lot of pain and a lot of frustration - but it filled a big hole in my soul. Adults who can't read are suspended in their childhoods, emotionally, psychologically, academically, spiritually. We haven't grown up yet.

    I was encouraged to tell my story by my tutor to motivate others and promote literacy, but I said, "No way. I've lived in this community for 17 years, my children are here, my wife is here - she's a professional, my parents are here, I'm not going to tell this story."

    But eventually I decided I would. It was an embarrassing secret and it was a shame-based secret, so it was a big decision.

    It wasn't easy but once I'd made up my mind I was going to tell the story I told it all across America, I spoke to anybody that would listen. I guarded this secret for decades and then I blasted it to the world.

    I was on Larry King, I was on the ABC News magazine show 20/20, I was on Oprah.

    It was uncomfortable for people to hear the story of the teacher who couldn't read. Some people said it was impossible and that I was making the whole story up.

    But I want people to know there is hope, there is a solution. We are not "dumb", we can learn to read, it's never too late.

    Unfortunately we are still pushing children and teens through school without teaching them basic reading and writing skills. But we can break this cycle of failure if instead of blaming teachers we make sure they are properly trained.

    For 48 years I was in the dark. But I finally got the monkey off my back, I finally buried the ghost of my past.

    Written by Sarah McDermott. Photographs courtesy of John Corcoran.

    Related:
    SOTT Comment: The fact that children can make it through school, and sometimes college, without knowing how to read is truly a shocking fact. But apparently one can even hold down a successful teaching career without being functionally literate. While the above story is tragic, and inspiring, one has to ask - how the heck does this happen? If those teaching our children don't even know the fundamental basics of learning, what does that say about what's being taught? The future looks bleak indeed.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  33. The Following 13 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (25th July 2018), Bill Ryan (16th April 2018), BMJ (17th April 2018), Ewan (16th April 2018), Foxie Loxie (29th May 2018), Mark (Star Mariner) (17th April 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), Mike (5th June 2018), Nasu (16th April 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), Tam (12th August 2019), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018)

  34. Link to Post #18
    UK Avalon Founder Bill Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    7th February 2010
    Location
    Ecuador
    Posts
    34,268
    Thanks
    208,939
    Thanked 457,514 times in 32,788 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    SOTT Comment:The fact that children can make it through school, and sometimes college, without knowing how to read is truly a shocking fact. But apparently one can even hold down a successful teaching career without being functionally literate.
    Quite an amazing story. Here's another one, perhaps a little more poignant:

    I did once encounter someone, a delegate on a training course I was running, who couldn't read or write. His entire life was about making sure no-one ever found out. For him it was a 24/7/365 intricate pretense of enormous proportions, unknown to anyone else but his wife.

    I think I was the second person who knew. He worked as a security guard, a good man. He was terrified — literally shaking, and in tears — that he might lose his job, and never be able to find another one. I promised I'd not tell his employer, and I didn't. I think I was able to give him a bunch of useful suggestions.

    OMG. There but for the Grace of God go we all.

  35. The Following 12 Users Say Thank You to Bill Ryan For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (25th July 2018), BMJ (17th April 2018), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Ewan (16th April 2018), Foxie Loxie (29th May 2018), Hervé (16th April 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), Nasu (16th April 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), Tam (12th August 2019), Valerie Villars (17th April 2018)

  36. Link to Post #19
    United States Avalon Member Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    24th January 2011
    Location
    journeying to the end of the night
    Age
    46
    Posts
    5,777
    Thanks
    35,699
    Thanked 50,303 times in 5,692 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Bump...............................

  37. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Mike For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (25th July 2018), Bill Ryan (25th July 2018), Foxie Loxie (29th May 2018), Hervé (29th May 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), Tam (12th August 2019), Valerie Villars (29th May 2018)

  38. Link to Post #20
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: When Education Produces Illiteracy...

    Illiteracy leads to censorship

    by Jon Rappoport Jul 24, 2018
    “…intellectual freedom is a deep-rooted tradition without which our characteristic western culture could only doubtfully exist. From that tradition many of our intellectuals are visibly turning away. They have accepted the principle that a book should be published or suppressed, praised or damned, not on its merits but according to political expediency. And others who do not actually hold this view assent to it from sheer cowardice.”
    (George Orwell, 1953)
    When those who control public discourse, in a nation, see that they are losing to upstarts, that their flimsy ideas are being supplanted by much stronger ideas, the shocked controllers turn to the more direct strategy of censorship.

    In terms of substance, and even popularity, the ministers of truth are losing; so they abandon reasoned discourse altogether. They desert this fertile, competitive, and NECESSARY territory.

    They no longer debate. They ban.

    Among their supporters are crowds of illiterates.

    There are many people who, because their education was a vaporous thing, have no interest in the written or spoken word.

    The reason is obvious: they can’t read.

    Their natural impulse is to make excuses. “Who needs books?” “People who write books are showing their privilege.”

    For these excuse-makers, book burning would mean NOTHING. All that matters is: what slogans should I shout?

    For the illiterate, a book is a mystery. How could anyone put all the words together and write one? Somehow, the author must have a secret method of downloading the book from an elite source, a cloud, a machine, their DNA.

    A book, a report, an article, a study, an essay—millions of people in “advanced societies” don’t have a clue.

    When censorship tightens, who cares? It’s just words.

    IT’S JUST WORDS.


    Elite societal players welcome illiteracy. They love it. It’s one of their cherished goals. Ignorance is good. More than that, illiterate people are easy to convince that repressive censorship isn’t a problem. It’s just something that “happens.”

    If you don’t have “the right ideas,” you should be censored.

    IT’S JUST WORDS.

    Words are useless “things” like tacks and marbles and crayons and paper clips. Who cares?
    “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten.”
    (George Orwell, “1984”)
    At its root, illiteracy becomes a form of reductionism. What can be comprehended, discussed, debated, or reasoned shrinks.

    IT’S JUST WORDS.

    Illiteracy is more effective than political correctness. Untold numbers of people can’t understand the sentences that are floating and flying by them every day. They register this by building up anger. Unfocused anger. They are perfect fodder for know-nothing social and political movements that requite violence and repression. After all, they were repressed, weren’t they? Weren’t they left hanging out in the wind by their education, their schooling? Now is the time for revenge.

    They were limited in what they learned; therefore, limit everyone else.

    Why not?

    IT’S JUST WORDS.

    There is a sub-text percolating in many, many schools:
    “All right, you students, this is your education. We’re going to keep you from learning the language. We’re going to hold it back from you. At the same time, we’re going to praise you and push you ahead from grade to grade. You’ll know something is wrong. But you’ll accept what we do to you. It’s easier. You’ll take a ride through school, and then we’ll dump you out into the world. We’re making rebels wholesale. Ignorant rebels. Rebels without the tools for THINKING. You’ll have to find a place where thinking isn’t important. Good luck. Here’s a suggestion. Find a group where all you have to do is yell and throw rocks. Learn what to yell. Demand your right to get EVERYTHING FOR NOTHING. That is all.”

    ---------------


    Do you want a piece of interesting news? I can offer it, based on my experience of the past 17 years writing online. The declining system of education creates a vacuum. And into that vacuum, writers who do value language step forward, and they do present actual ideas. This is a large vacuum, so it can accommodate many writers.

    They are creating new realities.

    And readers show up.

    Miracle of miracles.

    These writers and readers are the “replacement team.” They are standing in for the colleges and universities and the sloganeers.

    They are not censoring themselves or anyone else.

    They are proliferating language, not reducing it.

    Here is the secret: the history of humans reveals that language does, in fact, expand. It doesn’t lie down and die. It doesn’t wait for know-nothings to catch up. It doesn’t wait for anyone. Poets and novelists and playwrights and essayists find and invent new branches of word and thought.

    They are making the future every day.

    And as far as pure ideas go, no matter how hard some people have tried, Jefferson and Madison and Tom Paine and John Adams are not dead yet. Their shaped principles embedded in sentences live on.

    If at some point, the entire population of the planet were illiterate, except for four writers, those four would invent a new ocean that couldn’t be contained—and somehow, readers would show up.

    Perhaps you think I’m describing a kind of magic, and maybe I am, but I’m also giving you ironclad fact. It has always been so.

    The Internet may have been invented with machine language, but the writers who have appeared on it are multiplying their own language.

    They are outdistancing the machine.

    They always will.

    Jon Rappoport
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  39. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (25th July 2018), Bill Ryan (25th July 2018), deborah7371 (13th August 2018), Foxie Loxie (25th July 2018), Michelle Marie (25th July 2018), RunningDeer (26th July 2018), Sierra (25th July 2018), Valerie Villars (25th July 2018)

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts