Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Perhaps the left thinks that teaching our children how to be unoffensive will cause them to somehow receive everything else through some kind of miracle - you know, like how this universe suddenly appeared magically without a designer/creator?

Great post, and thanks for visiting A Right Angle in a Left Turn World. I like your site, adding a link to it on my townhall site, and my site Political Pistachio.

Very thought-provoking - thanks. I've long believed that part of the decline of actual education in America is due, at least partially, to the lack of competition. We should move more in the direction of school choice and vouchers, and less in the direction of a public monopoly.

Thanks again for the post. AND, thanks for visiting The Valletta Papers.

I never realized how bad education was until I became a teacher eight years ago. No, that’s wrong; I got a clue thirteen years ago when I became a substitute teacher. I wondered at the time, “Why in the world, would they hire me to substitute?” Of course the only reason they hired me is I had a bachelor’s degree in “something”, and I passed the fingerprint screening for perverts. I can’t spell worth a darn [thank God for my computers spell check] and my grammar skills are limited. Maybe my lack of skills is a black eye on not only the secondary education system but our California State University system as well.

The eight grade test while being from Kansas is similar to tests given during that time in other states. I have a copy of one given in California that looks much the same. I can’t pass that test. The only thing I know about a bushel is as it relates to the childhood rime that included “bushel and a peck”. Now that I think about it what the heck is a “peck”? A bushel is of course a unit of measurement; however, I have never used that measurement and have no concept of what it looks like. Bushel basket? How big is that? That is not the point of this comment.

An example why education is in the toilet is one little exercise our district has pushed for the last year or so. It is called, “Checking for understanding”. Now on the surface, it seems reasonable that a teacher should check at times to make sure the students understand the concept that is being taught. My objection to the emphasis placed on the practice is that we are told not to go on with the class until “most” of the class has shown that they “understand”. The results of this, I feel, is the “dumbing down” of the classes. The bright or quick, even average students tune out or become bored. Another dynamic involved is the students become more creative at hiding the fact they don’t understand in order to avoid the scorn of follow students and or the attention of the teacher. We had a former teacher make a presentation at our school awhile back. He managed to go all the way through public school and graduate from college and earn a teaching credential without knowing how to read! It gets better. He taught here at our high school for a time. The point of his presentation was that the educational system had failed him and was failing others as well. Well, dah! I can only imagine the amount of work to not only hide the illiteracy but work around the helps and barriers involved. Millions of taxpayer money is spent daily to help the “targeted” student. We have everything from free meals to tutors for the student that needs or is entitled to special assistance.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think everyone is entitled to an education, and none should be barred because of things outside their control. Just don’t put everyone in the same race! A high school diploma means nothing if the lazy, unmotivated, or mentally challenged are given concisions in order to “earn” a diploma. Would Olympic Gold Medals be admired if the winner was given a concession, say a head start because they hadn’t had time to train for the race. Or, maybe, their parent were poor or from another country, therefore we can’t expect them have put in all that work and training. Well, you get the idea. Earned is a term that is fast losing its meaning in education. Students are prone to say to me, “You gave me an F!” I respond, “No, you EARNED an “F”.

Can education be fixed? Of course it can, and must be fixed or our nation will become one of the “third world countries we seem to pity. But letting the Government fix it is like asking Charles Manson to baby-sit the kids.

I wish it were that the only agenda was creating polite, inoffensive citizens. I believe it is a much more serious problem....undermining America at every turn and in whatever way they can. Schools are much more concerned with making sure students leave the system thinking like little socialists then they are with truly educating. Thanks for the thoughts and I'll see ya around.

Thanks for sharing your experience. You obviously see first hand what is happening inside the classroom. You say that you believe the system can be fixed....where and how should the "fixing" start? Just curious on your thoughts.

My Father scoffed at the education I received. I did worse at what my children receive. The sad part that I am discovering is that people only five years my junior received less of an education than I did. Worse, they lacked any initiative to learn on their own. I have recently heard a colleague remark with joy at his discovery that the Bill of Rights was not an original part of the Constitution. Sadly he thought he was presenting something that I was ignorant of. I graduated in 1984, I learned this information in Elementary School, Junior High School, and Senior High School.

I spend a lot of my time expounding on information that my children get in school. I realize I am responsible for the education of my children but it would be nice to have a little higher ground to start from.


(Don't ding my grammer too much)

Well you won't get that higher ground from our government run schools. I attended a party recently where we had to give clues to one another about which famous person we had written on our backs. A fifteen year old student had George Washington written on her back. I was giving her clues trying to get her to guess his name. She just gave me a blank look at the clue "He is considered the Father of our Nation", so I tried something more to the point..."He was the first President". She still couldn't guess it! To top it all off she is a strait A student.

It would be a wonderful world if all of the problems with the education of America's children could be solve with the voucher magic bullet. Everyone knows that if vouchers enforced, all school children would suddenly come to school prepared with materials and knowledge.

The inate desire to learn and achieve would not be crushed as it is in public schools. The boys and girls would be more interested in learning from the teacher than learning about each other. Every parent would show up for open house, join the PTO, and be at all extra-curricular events.

There would be no apathy about learning and students would venerate and celebrate the smartest students. Every athlete would be a scholar. The Libraries would all be empty of books. Barnes & Noble and the other bookstores would have greater revenues than Abercrombie & Fitch.

Oh, I wish the wonderful magic bullet of vouchers would arrive soon!

Nowhere in this post did I advocate for or even mention vouchers. I am not sure where you are coming from with your comments.

You will find much on this subject in John Stossell's columns. The education system is yet another sterling example of the efficiency and effectiveness of government in action. Keeps costing more while delivering less and becomes less accountable throughout the process. If one were to extrapolate, eventually we will give them all of our money to perform absolutely nothing! Good post.

I agree that the this countries education mess (courtesy of the federal government) is another example of big government screwing things up. But with education it seems to be something even more insidious than just bungled bureaucracy. The education "experts" definitely have an agenda, and that agenda seems to be everything anti-family and anti real history. It seems providing children with an education is not really the goal anymore. The goals appear to be more social in nature.