When Education Produces Illiteracy...

[Valerie Villars]

That is one of the nicest essay's, and the truest, I have ever read.

[Smell the Roses]

It is telling that in the original article, two of the main examples used for scientific literacy are the mainstream view on evolution and the mainstream view on climate change. When I first started teaching Biology in secondary school, teachers were still somewhat free to design their own curriculum. I have always found that the most effective way to teach a natural science is to start with the observable, work your way down to the microscopic, then to the unobservable, then to generalities or abstract concepts.

The large concepts such as evolution and climate change are very specialized and difficult to teach properly to beginning students. Therefore, these topics are often taught in the American high school more in the mode of a religion than a science. The tenets of evolution or of climate change, as an individual teacher views it, are hammered into the student and dissent is quashed. The presence or absence of these topics in the curriculum is not a litmus test for good science education. In that regard, the article itself seems politically motivated, although some of its ideas are valid. If you make a child believe that as a beginning science student, they are in any way qualified to make a generalized pronouncement about politically controversial, specialized scientific topics, then you have done that child a disservice.

[Valerie Villars]

I had a step daughter who was adopted from Poland. I really believed she had Asberger's syndrome but tried to no avail to get help for her as her father didn't want to and after all she was his daughter.

She really couldn't read and could not understand abstract concepts. She didn't know how to play games. She could only imitate what others were doing but I could see she was confused because she knew she was missing something.

I don't know how she made it through school because I bowed out after I was rebuffed. I could see ignoring the issue was going to do her more harm than good.

One day her father asked me to help her make her science project. After trying to work with her a while, I could see what he really meant was for me to do it for her. I went back to him and asked him if this was indeed what he meant. "Are you asking me to do the project for her?" He replied "Yes".

Well, I refused based on the grounds that it would do her a severe disservice because at some point in her life there wasn't going to be someone there to "help" her along. She was going to hit a wall and I refused to be one of those who lied to her. The whole situation was sad.

[Sierra]

Hervé, I consider this (When Education Produces Illiteracy... )
the most important thread on Avalon. It has been my personal bête noir for decades, that the source of destruction of what was formerly a magnificent, and relatively free educational system supported by our taxes baffled me. It explains the triumph of Trump, the rampant online bullying, the braying hatred and violence of the populace, the pride in ignorance and stupidity of most Americans, and how we ended up with Betsy De Vos, per Charlotte Iserbyt.

From post #1: This paragraph could have been written about Trump among others:

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.

From post 4: Apparently Project Avaloners are a rare and dying breed...

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.

.

From post 10: The most terrifying statement for any parent to read:

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.

It is going to require a spiritual upheaval of massive proportions to overcome this level of conditioning.

The destruction of our educational system makes bloody perfect, and terrifying sense. Historically, slaves have always been kept illiterate. Just because one is a consumer does not mean one is not a slave.

Kudos Hervé, brilliant thread.

[RunningDeer]

Two pdf links (just in case): The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - link 1 & link 2

Charlotte Iserbyt - Deliberate Dumbing Down of the World

Charlotte Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DDyDtYy2I0M

safvio
Published on Oct 14, 2006

Charlotte Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms.

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
The ABCs of DumbDown blogspot
http://www.americandeception.com

[Valerie Villars]

The importance of libraries cannot be overstated. Whether they are public or private, I have a feeling they will be the leftover vestiges of real knowledge and sharing.

As Walt Whitman said, "I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign'd by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe'er I go, Others will punctually come for ever and ever."

Dictionaries, especially older ones, are really important to keep and preserve, as they are slowly changing words, roots, meanings.