The Hidden Agenda of schools

Ok, so this August I became a freshman at Oklahoma University (Major: Teaching. Minor: Astronomy). I came from Broken Arrow public schools and graduated with 1500 people, I was 368/1500 so I was in the top 25%. I made a 28 on my act and I had a 3.56 overall g.p.a. I didn't take AP classes, but I did take almost every science and math class I could (graduated with 12 science credits and 8 math credits when I only needed 8 and 6). So I was quite confident about my abilities, but to my surprise OU was hella hard! Never before was I asked to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate in all my assignments. At Broken Arrow, the material was very rote; write the notes on the board, study the main points and voila! 100% on the test! (the only hard class was chemistry and astronomy, however I am like Carl Sagan when it comes to the Universe.) But at OU it was so HARD! I also realised all the kids form rich schools and private schools were having no trouble, which bugged the # outta me because most of them where sorority and fraternity kids that had no passion in the Universe/literature/math as I do. It angered me because I felt like high school was a waste of time! (more to talk about but i gotta go read this though)

But then I found this and it makes sense!!!!
cuip.uchicago.edu...

btw I am doin fine in college now, I just had a ton of trouble for about 2months

reply to post by zptramel


Keep up the good work and don't let it get you down. The only time you feel challenge or resistance is when you are moving forward.

I agree with the public school system. I left a private school after 9th grade and then went to public HS. I could not believe it. The stuff they were learning I had in 6th or 7th grade. Amazing.

If the US is going to start competing with the world, the public primary and secondary education has to step up.

I went to a private school from k-2, and in the third grade went into the public school system. Whereas I learned printing in K, and cursive in 1, in third they were just starting with the cursive. In all other areas, I was far ahead of the rest, leaving me very bored. I never lost that boredom of school.

Best of luck, OP, in your pursuits.

Rare find you have here! I like how the study was easy to read and it did wonders to clarify some nagging questions. I have always found this subject rather interesting in terms of social dynamics and how different teachers train minds to work. Thanks you for the insight. I forwarded the link to several teachers I am friends with to elicit their opinions.

reply to post by agentblue


I am wondering now... Could there be a hidden Status Quo in U.S?

Yes I think public schools have an agenda to dumb everyone down. My two sons went to a private school. We adopted our daughter at the age of seven. By that time she was too far behind to make it in that school. I am homeschooling her now because she just was not learning anything at school. Her behavior got strange and she had problems with depression. The school was indoctrinating her, not educating her.

reply to post by hardamber


I couldn't disagree more.

I come from an average (at best) public school. I received a 25 on my ACT and graduated high school with a 3.45 GPA. Upon attending the Ohio State University, I declared a major in Political Science and a minor in American History (my focus being constitutional history, as it relates to my American Political Science major). According to US News & World Report, Ohio State's Political Science Department is 13th best in the United States, higher than more prestigious university's like Cornell. The London School of Economics ranked the Political Science department at Ohio State fourth best in the world.

Now, as a public school graduate (a good public school student, but not a genius), I currently have a 3.27 GPA (I am a junior). I have many friends that graduated from public schools who have done just as well--or better-- than myself. That is not to say that I have not had some struggles, as some college courses are just plain difficult. But speaking as a former public school student, I would have to disagree with the statement that public schools intentionally dumb down their students. In my experiences, nothing could be further from the truth.

The linked article was facinating
thanks for the OP, ten minutes very well spent!


They were shining in their spent.

They were spented.

They awokeneded spented.


It's about Irregular verb conjugations
as the very clear dividing line between upper and lower class.

466 irregular verb conjugations

Someone should e-mail spam the link in the OP.


David Grouchy

reply to post by Judge_Holden


what type of school? Working Class, Middle Class, or Affluent Professional School. It could be Affluent Professional School, my half-brother and half-sister go to one and its a public school.

Welcome to the real world, kid!

Chances are you didn't get a well-rounded education (especially in critical thinking) from your public school. It isn't so much public schools are trying to "dumb you down", so much as they just aren't properly funded anymore. We've gut the education budget, and it's only going to get worse.

One of the consequences of this policy is that secondary schools must now include more remedial courses, just to get entering freshmen up to speed. That costs you, the hopeful college student, more money and it will set you back potentially a year.

My friend is a HS principal, and he's mentioned a number of his teachers are leaving the public system for private schools. The public schools are just getting worse, with less funding.

Lackadaisical parents make the problem worse too, they treat the schools like a babysitter/daycare/social workers, and don't bother to take any interest in their child's education.

reply to post by zptramel


I would say between working and middle... I would say the majority of my peers were lower middle class.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I think you hit the nail on the head with your post.

Schools are not underfunded though, they are not properly structured that is the problem. With excessive regulation and bureaucratic micromanagement from Washington schools have begun to solidly fall behind in statistics compared to schools before the implementation of the Department of Education. Too many regulations, protections, safe guards, and bureaucracy have removed the educational purpose of schooling.

Return the schools to local communities, dissolve the laws requiring students attend school, dissolve the laws requiring students go to school a certain number of days, take the pressure off of teachers and allow them to teach properly and punish properly. If we can do this our education system will require far less money and will yield higher results.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Yeah I know it's pathetic...America SUCKS! I am moving to Switzerland in 5yrs and CANT WAIT!
Thank the pharmaceutical companies for aderall (bought 30 of those and now my critical thinking is wonderful!).

reply to post by Judge_Holden


I just wanted to offer a thought which may or may not reconcile the differences between your apparent experience and that of the albeit small group in this thread. Could it be that you are just a smart person bound for some level of success. I don`t know ya from Adam, but reading the brief few paragraphs afforded me the opportunity to glean enough clues to facilitate a hunch... And if this is true then could it also be true that you attract and are attracted to people of the same nature, explaining why you know a lot of people who succeeded as good as if not better than yourself?
I don`t think the teachers or the principals are INTENTIONALLY dumbing us down... It`s the lawmakers and the people way above them who control the money and control what is and isn`t allowed to be taught, and if you say the parents have the control through pta meetings and "action groups" well they use the media to string the parents along on the new "fear of the week", and when it`s been long enough, they come back around with the same stuff redressed and renamed. So even if the parents control the schools, the parents are controlled by the media, the media is controlled by people who would much rather that we little people don`t get in their way or slow them down by asking questions based in critical thinking. The teachers and other staff are simply forced into a situation where they can only do their best and follow the "curriculum".

The elite students were encourage to use any resource in the room
to solve their math problems, even going into the teachers desk.
It seems that defining a persons limits is how teachers
knowingly or unknowingly indoctrinate a person
to stay in their social class.


David Grouchy

reply to post by davidgrouchy


I think I should edit my resume, perhaps if I used a different style of writing I would stand out to employers. I don't know, I was actually going to write in proper words, however I got the idea that they wanted a creative person....

reply to post by Misoir


I don't know that it's the federal government that undermined schools so much as the states governments. The most invasive federal program has been Bush's "No child left behind" B.S., which mandated standardized testing - schools that under-performed were penalized by having more of their state of federal funding withheld, all but ensuring they went into a death spiral. It also improperly motivated school districts and teachers to ensure their kids passed the standardized tests at all costs, up to and including cheating. State governments are the real funding source for schools, and some states "get it", some don't. You can look at statistics all day long that draw a close parallel between properly funded schools and graduation rates.

There's another dynamic at work here too, though, and that's our culture. We place very little emphasis on education, instead it's mass consumerism, materialism, get rich quick, cheaters win. Wall street versus a work ethic.

Originally posted by hualuzx

believe it or not ,in this world i am the lovest woman for you ,because i am you mother
maternity wedding gown

wtf?
lol

Yes, schools exist to dumb down the population. They only teach what is necessary to have a class of people who believe they exist to work. We are a society built around some controlling many. Schools are one of the best means to ensure continued status quo. There is considerable research done on this issue. It clearly shows the true purpose of public education. The indoctrination into a set of beliefs, and live habits that help prop up certain institutions.

Mrs. Iserbyt has also documented the gradual transformation of our once academically
successful education system into one devoted to training children to become compliant
human resources to be used by government and industry for their own purposes. This is how
fascist-socialist societies train their children to become servants of their government masters.
The successful implementation of this new philosophy of education will spell the end of the
American dream of individual freedom and opportunity. The government will plan your life
for you, and unless you comply with government restrictions and regulations your ability to
pursue a career of your own choice will be severely limited.

The Deliberate Dumbing down of America

John Taylor Gatto-Against School

Deschooling Society

Noam Chomsky-Education is Ignorance