The Dumbing down of America

Higher Education Spending Defies Study Results
Aug 8 2005 - CNSNews.com

Although federal and state governments have increased their education budgets, several studies show higher per-pupil spending doesn’t help to improve student achievement. Education experts argue that spending priorities focus more on the objectives set by teacher and their unions rather than the student and their quality education.


This fairly well expresses what I have know for a long time. What are your views on the subject?

 

i blamme the jesica simpson show for the dumbing down of america.

*the student to faculty ratio. 30 kids per teacher is a bit high if you ask me.
*the teachers pay is also i big factor. the way we pay them in florida i know alot of them would be better off waiting tables than teaching students.you would think the people we trush are future to should get paid more than some guy that can throw a football of act in a movie.with higher pay comes more accountability
*the arts programs are alway the first on the chopping block when it comes to cutbacks.


i went to school in florida which explains my poor sentence structure.lol

 

I think the education experts in that article have a point. Maybe the education system should be privatized and regulated... I say privatized to move to a more competative atmosphere, I say regulated to keep it evenly balanced and free of scam or rubber stamping.

 

If you don't think that the American public is becoming progressively dumber by the decade, just consider the music many people buy on CDs. What do people watch on television. MacDonalds and Burger King. Obesity. Smoking. Tatoos. How many Americans actually read. Consider how little the average person knows about science, agriculture, and industry.

Religion of the Dark ages. Consider that we are basically revisiting the Skopes "Monkey Trial"! There are supposedly-educated people that argue with the scientific concepts of evolution and natural selection. There are still people who use "witching sticks" to find water and buried pipes. It is popular to "feel" rather than "think." Observe what happened in New Orleans. Finally, look at California's esteemed Legislature. Say no more.

It is difficult to get through an entire day without being sickened by rampant and pervasive stupidity and ignorance. I apologize in advance for my rant. It has been a long day for me.

 

No Foul, No Harm. I agree 100%.

bone

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-4246316-4852723?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

This book convincingly proves that we are improving in every measurable way

 

Dan, I think you (and everyone else who has replied to this thread and who will reply to it) need to be careful in how you characterize "dumbness." Before I express my views on this topic, I want to know exactly how you define a "dumb person" and what changes in society have moved to being "dumber."

After I get those definitions (so that I don't accidentally mistake what people are intending to mean here) I will tell ya what I think!

Thanks!
~AJ

 

Ar they really dumb or are we?

I believe that every generation feels that the generation following them is "dumber" than they were. It's just the way it's always been I'm sure. I don't think the next generation necessarily knows less, they just have a different knowledge base than we or our parents grew up with. Times change and information becomes less or more relevant to the present. The information age is in it's infancy at this stage and no one knows where it'll take us or how we should prepare our children to prosper in such an environment. One thing is clear; learning paradigms of the past will be left in the dust while newer more relevant methods emerge.

I have to draw a distinction between pouring money into teacher's salaries and pouring money into the school system that goes for new books, new teachers, new computers, new supplies, new schools, etc. We, as a society, seem to be willing to short-change the education of our youth while all the time complaining about how much dumber they are. Our ultimate reward will come when the next generation grows up without the skills or knowledge to take care of us, the country, and possibly the western world.

I agree that simply raising teacher’s salaries isn't going to affect much change. As a father of three school-aged children, I am appalled by the lack of resources in our local public schools. The list of supplies needed that comes home with the kids several times a school year is just one sign of the disgrace our political leaders and representatives and you and I will have to shoulder the rest of our lives. Supplies such as dry-erase markers, chalk, tissues, glue, scissors, pencils, and all types of paper that ought to be provided by our leaders are not in the budget that shrinks every year. Shame on this generation...and don't let me hear anyone saying that our kids aren't being educated. They are; educated in our short-sightedness and stupidity!

O.K. I'm done...ohm...ohm...ohm...ohm

 

I went to a private school, were the teachers all made 25k or less. The rate of students that attended college was 100% and the mean SAT score was 1280............doesn't seem like pay had much of an effect....

 

I hav eto disagree moen. I am a 22 year old male, and it seems to me that my generation is intellectually inferior to the 40-60 generation. I blame TV, computers, video games, calculators etc. Everyone has ADD nowadays, amongst other things.

 

How many hours a day do american kids watch TV?

A non-thinking activity for the most part.

How many hours a day do american kids play video games like play-station, etc?

A reaction tool, a reflex tool, but a non-thinking activity for the most part.

There is a dumbing down of America. We have to many people who allow others to do their thinking for them and then they follow the party line. Why, because that is a reaction and in a way a learned reflex.

 

The Department of Education came to being after Jimmy Carter promised teacher's unions that, if elected (1976), he would make education a permanent cabinet department.

So...what happened? Over $500 billion (that's with a "B") has been spent by these paper pushers in D.C. and I think all would agree that the states and local governments are better suited to spend school tax dollars than a socialist working within the Beltway. If you think that for all of "our" tax money spent by this department, we would lead the world in math and science scores. But that's not the case is it??

Also, political correctness also plays havoc in our government schools. Study World War II and government schools will teach how evil the U.S. was for dropping the atomic bomb and interning the Japanese-Americans. You will NOT learn about the Bataan death march and what the Japanese did to the Korean and China populous.

I had my son bring a Life Magazine picture book of World War II to school and I book marked the Holocaust for "show-n-tell". What happened? I got a note from the teacher teliing me that she felt those pictures for 6th graders were "too graphic". I wrote back that is why we fought...and why we MUST always be prepared to take the fight to evil's door step!

Let's look at it this way...

2+2 equals 4 if you "feel" that is the answer. If you "feel" the answer is something else other than 4 based on your social upbringing or political point of view, who are we to suggest that you may be WRONG. Otherwise, you will be called a racists and mean-spirited. Our schools pass the dumb idiot and that person ends up in the "real' world...totally unprepared and unable to formulate a complete sentence.

Computers and the internet aside, I would take a kid of yesterday I.Q.'s over today's "gimmee-gimmee" kids of today anyday

 

No offense, but at 22, you don't even know what it is that you don't even know yet.

Why hasn't there been a huge drop in SAT scores then?

You guys keep telling yourselves what ever you have to and rationalizing the neglect of the next generation. Like I said, they'll get the last laugh anyway.

 

BECAUSE THEY DUMB DOWNED THE S.A.T. SCORES. It made all of the news and if you "google" this, you will see for yourself.

Since not enough students were NOT doing well on these tests, they made the S.A.T.'s easier. That way we all could feel better about ourselves.

 

Sometimes I wonder at the reversal of progress which seems to have occurred in our ability to think rationally or use sound judgment. It may be that things are no worse than they have ever been and but with the advent of the internet people are now simply able to more readily communicate their stupidity. The proliferation of snake oil and quackery is particularly disturbing. People are willing to pay millions each year for homeopathic remedies which are essentially nothing more than distilled water. The archaic practice of acupuncture attracts more adherents each day. These days acupuncture along with chelation therapy and chiropractic claim to be able to cure almost any ailment. Phrenology, palm reading tarot cards astrology and spirit mediums are all experiencing strong resurgences. But there may be more to it than mere lack of an understanding of good science. For example it is difficult to believe that anyone these days thinks that professional wrestling is anything more than an elaborately staged albeit violent performance. And yet it rakes in billions annually. So perhaps people wish to be deceived, or at least to deceive themselves. But the lemming-like nature of humanity makes this a dangerous situation for mankind when those who know better refuse to speak up. People CAN think more clearly, more rationally. At first it takes a bit of effort, but it can become a habit eventually. There is certainly no lack of reference material these days. The truth can actually be as much fun as the nonsense. When kids learn this humanity profits.

 

Some places fall thru the cracks and that is where parents have to step up and work together. The future is at stake.

Living here in South Dakota our choices for education are considerably limited. Our oldest daughter, 18 years old is attending the University of Alaska (freshman, making A's) and our 2nd daughter, 12 years is being home schooled by the wife along with our neighbors daughter while running a business as well, Superwoman for sure in my book. She (old-lady) choose to do this after another child (kindergartener) was shot in the head with a pellet gun by one of the local feral children who don't venture far from the established routes to and from the local indian reservation. The school this poor child attended was situated just too close to the highway I guess. It's since been closed after a breakin and subsequent fire. No new facility has been constucted and thus it's become harder for two working parents to ensure an adequate education for their kids

The school district our children live in has several classic 'Red One Room Schoolhouses' with 5-10 kids running around which will educate your child thru the 7th grade. Topics might include the best grass (hay) to cut and when to cut it or the proper use of a dehorning iron, LOL. After 7th grade a means to get your children to a larger school is on the shoulders of the the parents. Our nearest High School is 54 miles one way from my mailbox and lots of carpooling takes place.

Our daughter isn't suffering though. She speaks Latin and French and just finished a High School accounting course. The internet is a true wealth of information. In a way (sadly) long gone are the days of a lone 1972 World Book Encyclopedia in the classroom and text books with your dad or mom's name written in the inside cover.

When I graduated there were kids who got their diploma and couldn't read it, so... South Dakota has the LOWEST teacher pay scale in the nation with starting salary for an elementary instructor starting below $20k per year. The local farmers/ranchers (school board members) don't want someone who only works 1/2 of the year to make more than they do. Sad Indeed, but as we found out. Where there's a will there's a way.

Bone

 

The SAT's have gotten easier, that is why one's IQ can be estimated off of the pre-1974 SAT's, and not today's SAT's. I think at 22, with a college education, particularly one involving advanced chemistry, advanced microbiology, and advanced mathmatics, I know plenty. Kids these days don't even speak proper english. They would rather idolize the inane losers on MTV than get a college education, and furthermore, many of the people who are in college are getting worthless, non-challenging degrees such as communication, art etc.

 

Has anyone heard of the study that shows that video games are beneficial for the kids? If it is true we will have a generation of geniuses.

 

I'm going to be nice and say nothing.

 

Here is a little something I found interesting:

States Found to Vary Widely in School Spending
Jun 6 2005 - Education Week

New York and New Jersey lead the nation in school spending, at more than $14,000 per pupil, according to a recent school finance report by the U.S. Census Bureau. Trailing the pack are Utah, Mississippi, and Arizona. Experts warn, however, that state-to-state comparisons can be misleading, since they fail to reflect the fact that some states serve larger populations of students who are more costly to educate (e.g., those learning English as a second language).

For those of you who defend the intelligence of the students of this modern school system, it may be well to remember that we aren't comparing them to the older generation necessarilly, but their peers from foreign countries that surpass our children in almost every catagory, and at any level from elementary through college graduates.