Free Republic

A progressive organization published a list of the “ten worst things” in education. You can learn a lot about why public schools are mediocre by looking at this list. The ten items provide a distillation of what progressive/liberal educators value, and conversely what they consider not worth mentioning. Progressive/liberal thinking dominates our schools, so this is not idle chitchat. Some of the ten items may be problems but they are hardly “the worst.” As you’ll see, there is almost no mention of academic failings, namely, that kids don’t master basic skills nor learn much essential knowledge. (You’ll also notice a...

[Summary: Progressive education tends to celebrate creativity at the expense of knowledge and the traditional curriculum.] Creativity has been a big theme in progressive education for more than 75 years: We are constantly lectured that kids need music, art, theater, etc. This theme is now metastasizing into an oppressive dogma. But why? Ken Robinson, the guru of creativity, is famous for saying “We are educating people out of their creative capacities.” The premise seems to be: if kids do arty things, they will end up being artists. Empirically untrue. Conversely, Robinson says that if children do something rigorous and academic,...

[Summary: Public schools are crippled by an abundance of counterproductive ideas.] -- Sugar is sweet and fun to eat. But too much of it will kill you, just as having sugar in the gas tank will damage your car. We see the same contradiction in education. All new ideas are sold to the public as tasty treats and nutritious as well. In fact, they invariably turn out to be poisonous. Our Education Establishment seems to operate “labs” every bit as destructive as meth labs. Let’s call these laboratories “sugar labs.” That’s where our top-level educators concoct the too-sweet gimmicks that...

Terrified witnesses babble confused stories. Many claim that Edzilla has stupid, bloodshot eyes. He seems shortsighted, barely able to focus on anything beyond his own ravenous appetite for demolition. Sometimes he sways in one spot like a heroin addict waiting for a fix. Sometimes he lurches like a drunk, and marches through a structure as if he never noticed it. A dark ray shoots from Edzilla's forehead, rendering logic impossible. His breath is an electromagnetic pulse that makes the stupidest sophistry seems to be one of life's obvious truths. He hates coherent thinking and will screech until he overwhelms it...

[Summary: To save public schools, we have to fix the underlying sophistries and fallacies.] ---- When we contemplate public schools, two things are certain. Almost everyone agrees that the schools are not as good as they should be, given the huge effort and expenditure. Second, everyone has a theory. You can hardly read a newspaper without some expert telling you yet another reason why the public schools are a mess. Much blame is heaped on parents. Other culprits include popular culture, the Internet, teachers, the students themselves, and of course, the perennial favorite, not enough money. We are often told,...

[SUMMARY: Forget all the excuses. Little that happens in education is accidental.]---------Perhaps the most repeated cliché in American education is this: “They mean well. They just can’t get their act together.”  Teachers, parents, politicians, and editorial writers repeat this cliche when they want to forgive the Education Establishment for creating so many destructive policies and dumbed-down schools.  It’s a sweet and hopeful sentiment. Unfortunately, it’s not true.  They don’t mean well.  And they have got their act entirely together. That’s precisely our problem.  A hundred years ago John Dewey and his followers settled on this formula: they would take over the schools...

Okay, kids, gather round the campfire. There is something you need to know. Something scary.You are a participant in a vast psychological war. Believe it or not, you are the enemy in this war. You are the primary target.Yes, they want you, your unformed personality, your uninformed mind. They want to shape you and make you so that finally you’re indistinguishable from other kids. You’re not supposed to know much, or think much. In Brave New World you would be a Gamma. According to Wikipedia, ”these people are deliberately limited in their cognitive and physical abilities, as well as the...