The dumbing down is accelerating

Watched a vid on utoob yesterday. It was about the burying of history, or at least that was the gist of the title. Gotta say, it was quite sad. All of the arguments placed in the vid were valid if you applied just one aspect to them: creative solipsism. That is, ‘ my argument is this, and has to be this to support my theory.’ Repeatedly they voice-over stated “We just don’t know”. How about ‘No Shit! Doofus! Thats why we have archeologists, paleontologists, etc, all working to fill those gaps of ignorance that you so blithely wrap around yourself as if it were a shield from the real world.” And sadly enough, there are MANY MANY many people out there that prefer the comfort of ignorance, over the struggle for knowledge: the same types that are reviving the ‘flat earth’ theory, the ‘the moon landings were shot in a movie studio’,,, Yeah, those types. Just like the commentor I had on here a few years back telling me ‘you can’t melt aluminum in a charcoal fire,’ AFTER he had watched my video of me doing just that!

Its may sound funny, but I have always thought that I had an average IQ. (Its not but thats not the point) yet I see vids, and comments of such and I get downright bloody scared of the future that my granbehbies are going to inherit. Billy Beck coined the phrase “The Endarkenment” for what he saw coming, and there are moments where I feel it coming on; such as watching that video. Watch the first 10 minutesof Idiocracy and you’ll feel it to!

I think the biggest bitch I had about the video was when they quoted Darwin as saying ‘this is only a theory’ in respect to his THEORY of Evolution as if that were something profound and illuminating. Seriously!?!?!

THAT is what our schools and universities are churning out. And usually with preponderous amount of student debt attached to their backsides.

Change of lanes, not direction

I was once asked what I would do if I hit the lottery, and I replied that I would open up a private school along the lines of homeschoolers, hire ONLY teachers that were fed up with the present curriculums, and teach only those kids fed up with school (finding them by interviewing the ‘failures’.)

Heck, it was in the 80’s and I was struggling with schooling, not because I found it difficult, but because I found it boring as all hell. And when I did ask questions, I ALWAYS got empty half-hearted answers or the ‘thats not important’ responses. And always the ‘do it this way or be punished’ even if its RIGHT, method of educating indoctrination. I recently shared an experience about that with my sis. I was in 5th grade and we were learning long division. The teacher had some weird method (don’t recall how it ‘worked’ now) and we had to submit our answers in that method. My grand-dad was an engineer and was trying to ‘help me out’ but would not demean himself to using her ‘method’. Frustrating? You damned well know it. And being the Scot-Irish that he was, his Ire was intense, and poor little me caught between his Ire with real world knowledge and a ‘newmath’ teacher with the power of failing me was too much. Luckily my grandmother intervened and cooled granpa off, but I have never forgotten that feeling of being between the hammer and the anvil. Of course, his method was the better method and is the one I use even to this day, but the ability of failing a student gives moronic teachers an incredible amount of power.

Lets face it, our education system is and has been compromised since Sen. Dewey instituted the current setup. (It wasn’t all him, but he really had more than his fair share in the handiwork.) Before that, schools were small, extremely local, and very much in control of the residents in the community. If a teacher were failing to do his/her job, a replacement was in quick order. The first 8 years were usually enough for Joe Average (and having owned a couple of those texts from that time period, head and shoulders above current schemes) then, if a student were capable AND inclined, they would go to ‘higher school’ and that would expand the knowledge base for furthering into university if that were in the cards. There used to be Lawyers with little more than a High school education and additional book-learning. Doctors of course went on to university, as did engineers and scientists. (Note: the basket weavers were left back home. )

Then, a sheepskin was EARNED, not just payed for. And usually, the student was put through school by some benefactor that spotted their intelligence, or sponsored by a community, if they didn’t come from a family of wealth. The education they received was magnitudes better for the money spent than ANYTHING we see now, even when adjusted for inflation.

I know, I’m howling at the wind here. Just venting my spleen, even though it changes not a damned thing. Stepping back would cause a lot of issues short-term, but stepping back would, IMO, produce a much better educated person much more in-line with their situation in life. Not everyone is going to be the next Einstein or Tesla, and we shouldn’t push education into a one size fits all form (which is exactly what they intend with common core BS.).

I can dream,,,