"Dumbing Down" of America

Not to come across as callous - but the Devil's Advocate just lept up in my head once again ;

Why is it so important to worry about the weaker intellects on this planet?

As far as I remember about school, the majority of my education wasn't as "high level" as it should be because the teachers kept pandering and catering to the kids who really "didn't care" about the topics, their edcuation and so on and so forth.

Needless to say, I had to resort ot my own studies outside of class (and in AP classes) in order to even satisfy my unquenchable desire for information.

The fact is - the school system is flawed and burdened with more and more kids who simply need babysitters while their parents work.

Why should we push forth initiatives to foster teaching entire truckloads of kids who "couldn't care less anyway"?

Survivial of the fittest, I say - let the strong minds find their own avenues and sources for information, let those who are destined to become mindless consumers walk their own path.

It's easy to supplicate an uneducated mind with toys, trinkets and trends.

And if all else fails, we can always throw drugs or incarceration at them to keep them controlled until the Motherships arrive for thier food sources and slave labor.

Honestly - let's let them dig their own graves on this one.

Survivial of the fittest!

Although I agree with you, let them eat dirt, it will still affect us all because, unfortunately, we breath the same air, we walk on the same planet. We are living in an enclosed eco system. The actions of some will always affect the lifes of others. That is why we can't just let them be becuase later on, it will come back to us.

I won't challange that in the slightest - in fact, I have to say you can already see the impending signs of collapse everywhere.

The uneducated are more likely to have far more children than the intelligencia - but in a way, it also keeps the edcuated on their toes, finding new ways to account for the population boom - but true, one day it will reach critical mass.

I'd go into further detail, but it would completely derail the thread.

Hey GeneralEyes, I agree with you although I do believe that unfortunately, so many of the smart kids get caught up in this forced medication scam just because their parents don't know to get their kids off of sugar, food colorings, msg and other dangerous chemicals that cause ADD symptoms in the first place.

There are so many kids in this society that are not gonna make it from day one and yes I think that for the most part, it will be "survival of the fittest".

I would like to take that a step further to say that the ones who will truly survive are the ones that can see that our government is purposely poisoning us and makes a true effort to stay away from the chemicals. So those people who are already on the organic bandwagon are the ones who will survive. Those who don't believe it are doomed to suffer from it.

I'm Canadian and have to agree. I spend alot of time working with kids and am constantly surprised with the amount that they are not taught in school. I've had to teach groups how to read an analog clock (with hands, not a digital readout) and do percentage and fractions. They aren't taught penmanship or even cursive script. It's printing only. And reading is only for the required subject. No one is encouraged to read for pleasure.
I spotted the trend in TV when the Simpsons started. Add in the other dozens of low brow, bathroom humour shows and you get a nice selection of shows guaranteed to teach any youngster that words longer than four letters aren't necessary.

I have to agree with the posts. My wife goes to a local community college, and she is amazed at the total lack of knowledge of her classmates. She is a senior citizen and has an 'A' average in her medical technology classes, the kids who graduated from high school do their best to get a 'C' or a 'D'.
I read an interesting piece on a web site about the how the media 'dumbs' down the population.
I will add the web site for you to look over, the piece is a little long but very enlightening.

www.world-mysteries.com...

The dumming down of the Western World has been going on for about 30 years or so. It started with all the touchy feely courses in elementary school. They started taking spelling, math and science out of the class room, and replaced it with alternative lifestyle studies, and indoctrination.

Also the creation of 24 hour News Channels has not helped the cause either. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is a lot of time to fill. Serious, hard news does not happen all that often. I was watching CNN and breaking news was a car chase in some small town in Texas. Sorry, but that is hardly breaking news. So with hard news being hard to come by,is it any wonder that they fill the time up with fluff Paris Hilton et al, are not newsworthy but their antics does fill time.

I worry about the future.

Originally posted by exrcaf
I worry about the future.

Trust me. You are not alone. There is one thing. Breaking news happen all the time all over the world. The exposure to these happenings is necessary for an intelligent society but unfortunately, part of the dumbing down is the control of the media outlets and thier content. What better way to distract someone if you fill there heads with moronic programming (e.g. Hilton and what not.)

Hi all,

Welcome to planet Earth.

This world is not for you, this world doesn’t like you, and they will do everything (if not all of it) to stop you from finding the truth and true love, and when I say "love" I mean all the love there is. This world doesn’t have love, you do, and they want to kill it. I know how this might sound to some, but I also know, how it sounds to others, and others are the once I care about. I can only hope that this world will fall.

I don’t know why I am here, (or good people in general) what the reason is, but I hope that in the end, this world will not change me as they please. I know I am in prison but I don’t have to believe I am a "criminal" just because this world tells me so...I did not chose this, and so many haven't, and I don’t know what to say to people who need hope, but I hope that true God (love) saves us from this place.

Again, thank you and good luck.

Check this out.


The United States has quietly withdrawn from an international study comparing math and science students.



www.msnbc.msn.com...

Good find QuasiShaman. I specially like this part.

Conspiracy theorists suggest that the U.S. government withdrew from the study without making any announcement because it anticipated another poor showing. “Maybe they don’t want to hear more bad news,” says John Ewing, executive director of the American Mathematical Society.

Conspiracy thoerists!? What about the parents? If the U.S. has done poor in the past then they should strive for excellence, but they chose not to even participate. That is a shame...

US schools can produce quality students in math and science, if students take advantage. Unlike students in India and China, for example, who major in math, science and engineering at a much greater rate, bright students in past decades in the US have chosen to go into business, economics, law, and bible/church studies.
Most of the nation's leaders have a business/law background, not science. The medical doctor in congress chose to get on the congress floor to give his opinion about a woman connected to a feeding tube, rather than show leadership in getting his country to grow more math/science/engineering students.

Unlike other nations, US schools spend time and money on sports programs and social interests such as clubs and dances. Other countries test their students' academic ability at around the age of 12 to see in which direction the student should go, retest a couple years later, and retest a couple years later again. Students who cannot handle academics or school are allowed to drop out at different ages.
Foreign exchange students are puzzled as to why the US wants to educate everyone the same. Unlike in their own country, they sit in US classes where the IQ range can be from 65 to 165. No Child Left Behind has only intensified this one size fits all--everyone must take college level coursework, regardless if your IQ is 65.

If the US wants more math/science achievement, then parents/culture must encourage students to achieve academically. In general parents/culture must focus on academics over social interests, which includes tv. Years ago Jesse Jackson said that no one is so poor that they cannot turn off the tv. I suppose nowadays that would include computers and game technology, too. And it is everyone, not just the poor, who need to refocus.

While other nations have been working towards where they want to be in the future, the US has been content to debate God, guns, and gays, as if that is all that matters. Much time and money was wasted on the Rhodes scholar president and his dalliances in the Oval office, and his successor was elected on the impression that he was someone you could have a beer with at a barbeque and who would stop and fix your flat tire, not necessary attributes of a world class leader.

Americans seem to be waking from their trance, but they are worthy of only the best in leadership, not just a figurehead. If they are not content with the current situation, they need leadership with a vision for the future, based not on belief but on reality. Americans must learn to see outside themselves, watch world programming or demand that their usual news carry world news.
Americans must do the work of transforming their nation into one for the future. Reclaim their world leadership of new ideas. Old ideas, even rehashed old ones, will only serve to keep the country in the past at best, to let other nations go ahead at worst.

Sadly Homer Simpson has become to the rest of the world in the 21st century, what Jerry Lewis was to the French in the 1960's.

If I have to explain that, you are way too young and wouldn't understand.

I get it. Sigh, grover, the only thing now at which I'm young is heart.

You know, we talk about choice in this country. At a national level, we have a choice. We can be content to remain where we are, or we can advance. We can be content to be creative with movies, inventing Homer Simpsons, or we can expand that creativity into, for example, new energy resources/conservation. Be a world leader in new energy ideas. An individual like Bill Gates can individually benefit from his creativity, or use his creativity with his corporation. However, a national level needs a Bill Gates--like level of leadership.

We're talking now about a country that put a man on the moon. That was a national effort. The billions wasted in Iraq over who controls energy resources. Dear God, we should have elected leaders who put that money into energy research here, to avoid facing off with other countries over energy resources. To those who say voting doesn't matter, it does.

I read where our veterans are not having college paid for to the amount our past vets did. My God, at a time when this nation competes with an India or China that turns out so many more college educated citizens, American national leadership has seen fit to cut back on college for its citizens!

I say that every citizen who meets college academic ability requirements and wants to go should get a free education. Technical education, too. It only makes sense in this day and age.

Too bad our leaders saw fit to squander the money in Iraq.

Again, while we debate internally how "bad" American schools are, the rest of the world is not listening to us and are instead quietly educating their citizens. While we debate creationism in schools, India and China are not listening. India and China have no interest in the Left Behind of the End Times, only in not finding themselves left behind economically.

If Americans want to focus on and continue to debate such things, then that is what they choose. However, we should not then be surprised when we look up to see we've been left behind by the rest of the world.

How I wish for a collective "doh!"

Currently, I'm a junior attending high school in the United States.

I'll have to agree with several of the other posters that the school system is in need of repair. Students are taught to memorize and perhaps gain social skills. Several students are barely literate (I've seen several stumble over "big" words.) and barely care anymore. They cannot answer simple questions when called upon nor can even the smartest give these answers without it being in front of them. Of course, I have even bigger problems with it. Everyone within the school seems brainwashed to some extent during the school year. They have no faculty for criticism, free thought, and are left oblivious to certain ideas of life.

Every summer, this is made evident to me. I notice that each school year I seem unlike myself- more arrogant, more competitive, less critical, respectful to those who I normally would have no respect for. Even in my studies, I feel like I'm in a comatose state, not absorbing anything, not thinking. During the summer, it is the exact the reverse. I become more aware of myself in my thoughts and social relations and become more inclined to study (This summer, it has been biology, religion, sociology, psychology, philosophy, some politics, etc.).

In a perfect school system, I believe I'd stress free thought, free time, and ideas while also including the sciences and humanities. Perhaps I don't give my peers enough credit, but several of them don't seem like they think about the flexibility of their lives- how far it can stretch with the introduction of new thoughts and ideas (especially their own).

Hope I didn't ramble too much there.

Originally posted by desert

I get it. Sigh, grover, the only thing now at which I'm young is heart.

I read where our veterans are not having college paid for to the amount our past vets did. My God, at a time when this nation competes with an India or China that turns out so many more college educated citizens, American national leadership has seen fit to cut back on college for its citizens!

Here is a link to my post on the administration's opposition to increased educational funding for veterans.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

A couple years back when I was in college studying graphic arts under the VA vocational rehab bill... we were assigned in our last class to write a 10 pages essay on the history of printing... after giving the assignment our teacher said that there were only two people in the entire class who could write, and that was me and another woman my age. Then he added that it wasn't the younger students faults though because because about 20 or 25 years ago schools stopped teaching students how to write... how to put words together in a coherent manner. This is true. I was the only one to get an A+ for the assignment instead of writing a dry technical history of printing which all the rest did I took the assignment and wrote a history of the cultural impact of printing.

In another class I was helping my teacher out by going over some papers from another class of hers on biology. The assignment had been to write a paper on DNA. Now this was in April at the end of the semester so you would think that they would have absorbed something by now. I was appalled. I asked her how could she grade some of these papers, not only did some of them not understand the subject, but couldn't even put words together to say anything intelligent.

The state of education in this country is horrifying. We teach to take a test when we should be teaching how to think and how to reason. The understanding of science in this country is equally bad... just read a few of the threads here will verify that abundantly. I am not saying these people are stupid, rather they simply have not been taught the scientific method. The same is true of the arts as well and all of this bodes ill for our country. Hell we have a president who has bragged about being a C student.

[edit on 12-8-2007 by grover]

It's terrible, basically once the education system is broken, or we don't find alternative ways to educate ourselves, we will have a more difficult time trying to communicate to each other. Because, we communicate to a large extent with each other through words. Go to forums and see how our language has been butchered. Have you ever read the message posted by a person who can't spell very well with bad punctuation? Sometimes it's like reading one continuous sentence and you have to struggle to make any sense of it.

We are already lead to believe we are just smart animals. A education system in shambles furthers this notion.

I can't stress how important it is to keep language and it's accompanying rules intact, otherwise we can spell words any way we want, and punctuate them any way we want, without knowing if the person reading your message can even understand it. We need need dictionaries and we need our language structure kept together.

Mis-understanding can lead to confusion, confusion can lead to problems like conflicts.

Troy

one thing we cant ignore is that with the emergence of INTERNET, the overall availibillity of information has actually IMPROVED. Having a lot of information does not automatically improve intelligence, but being able to choose between a wider variety of info, info that goes beyond the evening news and the school curriculum should have a beneficial effect on humanities overall intelligence and awareness.

quiz: what does a conspiracy-theorist have in common with the ruling elite?

answer: he sees most people has being dumb.

I love the internet BUT the big lie of the information age is that information is knowledge and it isn't. Anything can be information, true or false; this administration has proved that, but knowledge is what you have when you get your hands dirty (as it were) doing.