Posted on 04/28/2019 6:53:16 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
Few if any could actually recite the multiplication tables and often have trouble distinguishing addition from multiplication.
It is painful watching young men mentally counting to find the product of two one-digit numbers.
They tell the kids "tell me why the viewpoint I told you to have is correct." They think that is an example of critical thinking when it's just parroting back what they were told. The teachers don't understand. The administrators are even dumber.
“It’s guaranteed those two-thirds will never be literate, as that term has been traditionally used. Some may learn to read in a painful struggling way, but they won’t be reading a daily paper or curling up with a good book.”
I’m certainly not defending the public school system - far from it. But isn’t this a bit over the top? I went to a very good private school, but still did poorly in elementary school for whatever reason - I was a bit of a social misfit, easily overwhelmed, usually distracted and unfocused.
Around eighth grade, my curiosity began to develop and I became interested in everything around me - I discovered I had a good brain and could even compete in school. No thanks to my droning teachers, I began to self-educate and then there was nothing stopping me.
That was in the 50’s and early 60’s. In the 80’s and early 90’s, I watched some of my children (also at a fine private school) go through the same transformation. I don’t have first hand knowledge of public schools of the past, but I know plenty of people who attended, and their stories aren’t that different from mine.
Today, things are different in public schools. They are an abject failure, but their biggest failure isn’t what they FAIL to teach, but rather what they SUCCEED in teaching - namely, progressivism and political correctness.
All you need to become a fast reader is intellectual curiosity, which comes naturally to our species. Public schools of today are dumbing down that curiosity, punishing dissent and shaming questioning minds. They routinely shame young children who do not conform to the progressive ideology - stifling their natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
Falling behind in reading and math skills in the fourth grade is not the end of the world - it’s amazing how fast a child can catch up, once their interest is sparked.
Having said that, I do agree with the gist of the article: the public school system is causing untold damage to our youth - just not in the way the article describes.
A very sad summary of our ed situation.
Shhhhh.... the teachers at this school get to fight for their curricula. Some of it is common core but some passes inspection without being. It’s a public school, with charter status and different ed style.
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