Posted on 11/18/2017 4:27:46 PM PST by BruceDeitrickPrice
Every 12 Years: A Review of the Book Saving K-12 (Part Two) Written By John Biver | 11.18.17
Last time I presented some of the background about why I enjoyed Bruce Deitrick Prices new book Saving K-12: A Citizens Guide to Improving Public Education. In this post, I will present a few examples.
Giving the background on a topic is easy. Choosing examples on that topic when there are so many within one book, is not easy.
The Education Establishment has spent 100 years making public schools dumber, Price writes. Ouch. He explains:
"Thats a common impression which, after years of research, I could finally explain. John Dewey and his colleagues were in love with social engineering. In devotion to this passion, they were willing to throw almost everything else overboard."
Price writes that the two most challenging questions in education are: why do public schools settle for so much mediocrity and inefficiency; and how can we fix the situation?
Mediocrity? Heres Price:
"Please note, my harsh judgment of the public schools is not something I dreamed up. You hear about it in the media every day. The U.S. has 50 million functional illiterates (an unforgivable failure by self-proclaimed experts).
"Our students dont compete well on international tests. A brainy guy like Bill Gates studied the public schools and said, you know what, the schools are so bad they are a threat to the countrys future! In fact, Gates merely repeated what a huge governmental commission concluded in 1983 (the famous Nation at Risk report)."
In part one I noted my weariness with the failure of the national school reform movement. This is from Bruce Deitrick Price:
"If you look back, you can find that many smart, sensible people have been writing laments and alarms about public schools for a long time. The decade 1948-1958 witnessed the publication of at least 10 major books with titles such as Retreat from Learning, Quackery in the Public Schools, Educational Wastelands, and Why Johnny Cant Read.
So, we can take it as stipulated, Price writes, that the nations public schools ran wildly off the tracks, starting a long time ago.
Are you depressed yet?
In the first two chapters, youll read:
1) Culture Wars
American children wander forlornly in an alien landscape they know little about and understand less.
2) Reading Wars
The Education Establishment favors the theories and methods that lead to bad results, and this is most blatantly so in reading . But why? The short answer, I believe, is because John Dewey and his followers were far-left ideologues. They thought leveling was a good plan.
So much of the school reform movements commentary and analysis amounts to a blah blah blah aimed at not overly offending the educational BLOB. Those writers can then still seem friendly to a system that is not friendly to Western Civilization.
In chapter 6, Price brilliantly compares Common Core with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) both of which, he writes, are bad to the bone. Here are ten descriptions that apply equally to Obamacare and Common Core (I have only listed the headings):
Huge Federal Power Grab
Not a Response to Popular Demand
Incomprehensible by Design.
Public Excluded from Legislative Process
Dishonest Marketing
Media Complicit
Very Expensive and Would Get More So
Fundamental Transformation
Totalitarian Intent
Instant Train Wreck
In chapter 7 Price writes:
"Take care of basic skills and basic knowledge, and everything else will fall into place. Unfortunately, our Education Establishment has spent decades building a fact-free school. Kids are kept busy all day but they are not expected to learn a lot."
Math. History. Methods. Common Core. Price covers a lot of ground in 180 pages. In the About the Author section at the end of the book, one of the endorsements reads Bruce Price is one of the 10 people in the country who can explain whats going on in education.
Lenin asked his famous question in 1901: What is to be done?
Today in education, that question remains as hot and as urgent as an oncoming typhoon.
Oh, if Americans would realize the urgency every year marks the end of the 12 years another group of kids has spent going from 1st grade through 12th.
Bruce Deitrick Prices book is worth buying by those who appreciate reading the work of someone who doesnt pull his punches. Click here for Amazon.coms page on Saving K-12. [https://www.amazon.com/SAVING-K-12-Happened-Public-Schools/dp/1681143615 ]
end of article
Ugh. K-12 should not be “saved.” It should be abolished.
It is the income tax that forces women to work—so abolish the income tax.
That would enable tens of millions of women to raise and teach their own children.
And without schools, property taxes could be cut in half, enabling more families to afford a house.
And with property taxes cut in half, that would provide MORE than enough money for people to donate to provide education for EVERY POOR CHILD in America.
ALL the standard objections (e.g., “what about the poor”) to abolishing school are bogus.
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