Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Shift to Dumbing Down U.S Education-A Must Read for All Parents!

After this video dropped into my inbox and I had a chance to view it...it really sent me digging to find more information on this subject!

Are You Kidding Me?

If you feel there is nothing wrong with America's education system this may not have much effect on you. I feel like after watching and researching that it in fact affects every family in the U. S that has school aged children.


Charlotte Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration. At that time, she blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms.

Here is a piece from the clip below:

"The teachers have had to continue to go through it...training, re-training, sensitivity training, break their values, no right, no wrong, you got to have all religions represented and be tolerant of everything because that's the new world order."

Her book "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America" has been listed as a #1 best seller by Barnes and Noble in their History of Education category.





Professor Benjamin Bloom, who is mentioned in the video is the man behind the idea. I first went to Wiki-pedia and searched"Bloom's Taxonomy"-here is the definition according to Wiki

I am very interested in learning more about this from public school teachers and those that work in the education field. I don't want to misunderstand this and I understand that anyone can make a video and it look one sided.


Is this something that is being taught in the public school education system?

This video from Jay Leno, is a little one-sided I know. I am sure that those with the right answers have been cut out...but it's amazing the things people don't know.




Those with school aged children...does this make you question what your children are being taught?

I myself, am feel really good about our decision to home school;(

4 comments:

  1. I found it funny that Wikipedia mentioned Bloom saying his book is the most quoted and least read book--so true! Education classes mention it all the time, and yet I've never actually read the book (it wasn't assigned--it's not that I purposely chose not to read it). I will have to ask Karen--she had to study it when she got her teaching certification. I did find an interesting power point that included this goal, based on Bloom's Taxonomy:
    "Multicultural Appreciation: The capability to appreciate and celebrate diversity, including differences in religious beliefs, sexual preferences, culture, reace and ethnicity, and political views"--Student Voice

    The PowerPoint was for student leaders at a college.

    As for the people on Jay Leno, I have had a lot of students really lacking in knowledge, but I've also had a lot of AP students who were very intelligent. It's entertaining to hear dumb answers, so I'm sure Leno had a lot of people give correct answers, but they were edited out, as I'm sure you'll agree. Very interesting videos, Jamie!

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  2. Jennifer, I am so glad you got a chance to read this because I really wanted to hear from a teacher's point of view if this is something they are taught or if this is just someone trying to get media attention. I'd love to hear from others that maybe have read it. As for the "Leno" video...I am sure it was edited, but I think some really didn't know the answers. I added that just for a laugh;)

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  3. Really interesting video, Jamie! I was a teacher (high school English) before becoming a SAH and homeschooling mom. I had to read Bloom's book. I never quite fit in my education classes because I challenged Bloom's ideas. They just didn't make sense. I could never get to the point where I was ok with teaching with these methods. I felt like I was checking my faith at the door and having my hands tied behind my back. It wasn't for me.

    "Diversity" was such a theme in my Master's classes that I turned in the same paper 5 times. 5 different prof's assigned the SAME
    prompt on inclusion and addressing diversity. What's worse is I wanted to teach English. I had ONE class on content. ONE. I am not saying teachers are dumb, but my teaching degree was not, how shall I say, academically challenging.

    I know many teachers still in the classroom, loving every minute and defying the rules placed on them. They actively witness to students and teach. All hope is not lost. :)

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  4. Being that I am a pre-school teacher as well as a homeschooling mom, I find myself wondering what is really best for learning...
    Personally, I've been in public schools, was homeschooled for 3 years and was in Catholic schools for 3 years, too. They were all good. What do I remember the most? Homeschooling. It was the most meaningful education to me, it was fun, but I took a lot out of it...my dad was so excited to teach me math, mom worked on a lot of basics with us, like cooking.
    I do enjoy having diversity in my life. I don't think that means you have to go out and purposely seek it. In my church, there are a lot of people who speak English as a second language. My dentist is Korean, our favorite librarian is black, the girls are learning karate... I think that people need to work and make choices in their life, not having the government in control.
    Charlotte is very interesting! I think her interview is getting the most interesting at the end when she talks about "common unity" the start of Communism...which seems like the road America is headed down.

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