Posted on 10/29/2016 5:32:06 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
Bloodletting was, for more than 2000 years, the most common form of medical treatment on the planet. Theory and tradition agreed that the body sometimes had too much blood in it, and the best thing was to let it out.
According to Wikipedia, "Bloodletting was used to treat almost every disease. One British medical text recommended bloodletting for acne, asthma, cancer, cholera, coma, convulsions, diabetes, epilepsy, gangrene, gout, herpes, indigestion, insanity, jaundice, leprosy, ophthalmia, plague, pneumonia, scurvy, smallpox, stroke, tetanus, tuberculosis, and for some one hundred other diseases."
The doctor could cut a vein. Another method, dating back to 800 BC, employed a bloodsucking parasite. One species is even named after this function: Hirudo medicinalis.
"Leeches became especially popular in the early nineteenth century.…Through the early decades of the century, hundreds of millions of leeches were used by physicians throughout Europe." (Wikipedia) Modern science has concluded that in almost every case the bloodletting was harmful or, at best, irrelevant.
A soldier might suffer a major wound resulting in the loss of blood. Never mind. Doctors would prescribe bloodletting, and then more bloodletting. "The withdrawal of so much blood as to induce syncope (fainting) was considered beneficial, and many sessions would only end when the patient began to swoon." (Wikipedia)
So imagine a patient, pale and sickly, with dozens of leeches fastened to his skin. The patient takes a turn for the worse. What is the answer? More leeches.
In fact, what was actually the correct solution? First, get rid of the leeches. Which brings us to the perilous state of K-12 education. The patient is sick. The patient is covered with leeches. Experts demand: more leeches for this patient. Of course, the patient becomes sicker. Meanwhile, the cure is simple and cheap. Get rid of the leeches!
If you go back 80 years and make a list of all the reforms and experiments attached to public education, you will find that hardly one of them resulted in better results. Nearly every one was a leech sucking blood out of the children and the school system.
Whole Word (also known as Look-say) was introduced in 1931. That was a particularly large and nasty leech, still a pandemic. If the Education Establishment could get away with not teaching reading, while pretending to teach reading, anything was possible. The floodgates were open. New Math, Constructivism, Discovery Method, Self-Esteem, Multiculturalism, Relevance, No Memorization, Whole Language, Cooperative Learning, No Cursive, Sight Words, Common Core Math,…. you would need a page to list all the pretentiously proclaimed but ultimately destructive leeches. Enough.
How do we fix our schools? You will note that the Education Establishment's answer is always the same: MORE LEECHES. That is, they always want to try a new gimmick (for which they will be exorbitantly paid).
The correct answer is not to add bad stuff, but to get rid of all the bad stuff that was added in earlier decades.
Go back to 1930 and look at the typical public school curriculum. In a pinch, that would work fine. Teach all the basic skills, all the fundamental facts and knowledge, that were routinely taught, to the degree that each student can handle this information. Now the students have a foundation for acquiring a genuine education.
Ah, a school without leeches. That's what we need.
Do you realize what is happening nowadays? The schools teach almost nothing and give all the students A's and B's. What kind of people would create a school system like that?
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Three-minute video clarifies what works and what doesn't: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuihhEpQETs
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Bruce Deitrick Price explains theories and methods on Improve-Education.org.
Lol.
I can SEE that!
... you never know WHO might pick him up and take him home with her!
Bill the Son has high standards and a vision of upward mobility. (He has his shirts tailored. He drives a vintage BMW.) I'm not worried about his bringing home some slattern.
Tailored shirts? He MUST have SOME income besides "mommy dearest" buying those "necessities."
As for a vintage BMW my oldest friend drives one and I have NEVER known her to be out of debt.
The question is: would he take care of you if/when you ever needed it? Would he care for his father and/or siblings if THEY ever needed it?
THAT would be the true test of his Christianity and character. I'm sure that your answer would be YES for both questions.
TRUE only if they don't bite and will poop outside.
Would he care for his father and/or siblings if THEY ever needed it?
Yeah, he would. He's not a turkey.
“I eat my peas with honey, I’ve done it all my life, it makes them taste funny but it keeps them on my knife.”
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