The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: behind the US’s educational policy

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Oh man, Jack, where shall I start about the "benefits" of OBE? The older Ninjette sat for her HSC last year as the first batch of guinea-pig students to go through the OBE curriculum. Thankfully, I was able to subvert whatever crap she was taught in school through our own private tutoring to give her some common sense; sadly OBE doesn't encourage common sense.

I was part of a large group of very concerned parents and teachers who protested very intensely against the implementation of OBE here. Fortunately, our arguments/common sense prevailed and the State government swapped back to the basic fundamentals of education.

Let me see, how can I best crytallise what the OBE rubbish was all about? It's like this: you get a quarterly school report back from the home room teacher about the child, and it says something along the lines of: "Little Johnny has tried very hard all term to improve on his math. He has scope to improve. But we are really pleased that he shows up for class on time everyday and takes pride in his school uniform."

I don't know about you, but OBE does absolutely nothing for the kids and robs them of a real education.

I have to read this through much more thoroughl , Jack and listen to the vid. But from the bits I've read so far, I hope you are taking this with a grain of salt. If you've read my blog now and again, you know I have my own gripes about the education system in the US, but in rare cases do I believe conspiracy theories of this calibre. Also, when I get material like this, I usually carefully examine the rest of the material on someone's blog to see where their head is at. Nonetheless, I thank you for posting it and making us aware of it. It is something that interests me very much, indeed.

"Inside American Education" by Dr. Thomas Sowell is an excellent book on this very subject. Dr. Sowell is a scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford Univ.

Ninja, I am glad I missed that educational system. Patricia, I only offer this video as an alternative viewpoint rather than any definitive truth. Zak: I read Dr Sowell’s work fairly regularly—I was a subscriber to the Hoover Digest for years.
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I don't know if this is completely accurate, but I can tell you from experience that I have been very disappointed with the quality and content of the education here in Washington state. As of right now, my 12 year old step daughter is being taught about Islam, whereas if she were being taught about Jesus rather than Mohammad, there would be a complete uproar. Don't get me wrong. If they want to teach about ALL religions: Muslim, Christian, Judaism, Buddhism whatever-ism, that would be fine. There is also a great deal of money being spent to ensure that our children can have sex at a younger and younger age, with birth control being handed out like lollipops. I am definitely sending my baby to a private Christian school... I will work 3 jobs if I have to, but she will not be exposed to this crappolla if I have any say in it.
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Jack reading this and watching the video. I say absolutely this socialism crap is all over our country now. I was also reading the comments left here about this article.

Many different people from different states and we are all seeing the same thing and fighting against it.

As I read Patricia's comment, I thought she's not followed this too closely or she'd know just as so many others do. But I was so encouraged by her not discounting this information as false, she as any good and honorable teacher would do, she's going to research this more. The information about this truth is all over the place and I think as a teacher she will be in a position to help do something about this in her community. The research will be heart breaking for her as it has been for all of us who've had to learn what our education system is turning into. My introduction to this was reading children's school text books - that was a rude awakening for me and I've researched it ever since.

Thanks Jack for posting this.
I am not 100 per cent sure about its accuracy, either, but I do know what you mean. It’s political correctness gone over-the-top, and it’s not restricted to the US. I have a feeling there would be schools who would have a problem with teaching Christianity here. Many years ago I vaguely remember an article or a letter to the editor about a protest concerning the raising of the New Zealand flag. The sexualization of children is also a disturbing trend that I also see here.
H. I., I believe Patricia has her head screwed on right and keeping one’s wits about isn’t a bad idea, getting the full story. I am not surprised to find that you discovered the sort of decline via reading children’s textbooks. I wonder if I have kids what sort of school I would send them to. Those parents opting for homeschooling might have the right idea.
education has been set on a socialist path by Marxists
So, who are these Marxists who are dumbing down our schools? Sounds like more right wing paranoia to me. My kids went through the State School system, and never encountered one single red under the bed. But then, they weren't looking for them, were they. They were too busy getting an education.
Specifically, I don’t know, Snowy, and I haven’t read the downloaded book beyond the preface I quoted. I agree that the claims sound a tad extreme, though you’ll notice from some comments above that there is a feeling there has been some decline in values. I do sense, however, that if the education system didn’t allow itself to be “infiltrated” or affected, then it wouldn’t have been.
I doubt any child would be looking for reds, mind you, simply because they don’t care. Until I was around 11 or 12 I didn’t even notice there were other races.

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Jack Yan

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Jack Yan
New Zealand
‘I think they’re wonderful. They have so much courage! Here they are, hurling through space on a molten rock at 67,000 miles an hour, and the only thing that keeps them in their shoes is their misplaced faith in gravity.’—John Lithgow as Prof Dick Solomon, in Third Rock from the Sun
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