Education Gone Amuck

EDUCATION IN AMERICA.  Most of the people I know don't seem to have extra time for anything serious. That's not much of an excuse for overlooking something as important as our children's education is it.  Are we all so absorbed with the demands of the moment? Of course not, yet many of us complain about our public schools.  Do you know what is happening there?  Surveys indicate that most of us don't have a clue, but we are gradually learning that product, an educated student, is not measuring up to international standards.  

HISTORICAL SNAP-SHOT.  Following World War II American society was changing fast. Our system of education, which at that time was  highly decentralized, fell under the influence of liberal social engineers who  thought the system wasn't fair to all. Certainly, a few states provided a better education than some other states. The element of competition was intended to ultimately raise the quality of education. The liberal educators began to insist that the system must require all states to furnish an equal education. So began the erosion of the American educational system. 

The National Bureau of Education, which in 1939 was a tiny office in Washington, became an official bureau under the Federal Security Agency, and was renamed the Office of Education. In 1953 the Federal Security Agency was given cabinet status and the name changed to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

John Dewey, Educator.  At some time between 1939 and 1953 Americans were introduced to John Dewey, a social engineer, psychologist, philosopher, and education specialist. His growing influence at that time coinsided with the beginning of our educational system's decline.  Dewey presented a good story and our educators bought it.  He convinced the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare that they should  create a mechanism that required all state run schools to meet national standards. The objective was to enforce an equal education for all American students.  Dewey believed his concept would provide a scholastic incentive for all public school students and thereby improve our teaching methodology and improve the quality of a student's education. 

INTERESTING FACT.  There is no Constitutional authority for our National Government to meddle in our State Established and Run Public Schools. None at all.
BUT WHAT IS DEWEY'S THEORY.  To this day, many people still think of John Dewey as the Father of Modern Education. This, despite the fact that his theories are based on first accepting Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Both theories contend that:

1.   positive change is the highest good, 
2.   nothing is constant,
3.   there are no absolute standards, 
4.   everything is relative.

Today, many people have a problem with this on religious or philosophic grounds. They believe:

      *    If relativism denies absolutes,
      *    and God is absolute, then 
      *    evolution denies God.
WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT GOD?  Our founding fathers believed that we should only elect men that had faith in Almighty God,  who would restrain them from error,  lead them to correct decisions, and judge them at the end of days. They also believed every citizen should have a knowledge of the religious contributions to  our history. Granted, they specifically did not want public schools to teach any particular religion, and they forbade the federal government from interfering in any way. The "states" were to be responsible.

Denying God. This was the key used by Karl Marx and Joseph Stalin to tear their people down.  Shouldn't that alone convince us that it's not a good idea?  By removing God from our public schools, we are denying our children over 2,000 years of religious heritage.  John Dewey believed that teaching our students to be better citizens of the new world order is much more important, and therefore religion must be erased from our educational system altogether. He felt that it is more important to teach students to eliminate bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance from their lives. 

John Dewey didn't like God.  He was an atheist, who found fault with established curriculum that focused on content alone rather than content and the process by which it is judged. He wanted to know how the curriculum might contribute to society in the future. This is a bit confusing so let me put it another way. Dewey thought that an experience of a lesson might be rewarding to one person and detrimental to  another. He believed the value (or worth) of the experience must be judged by the effect it has on the individual at the present time, in the future, and it's ultimate contribution to society.

Dewey promoted what he called: 

                  1.  "evolutionary democracy",
                  2.  "evolutionary education", and
                   3. "evolutionary laws". 

He taught that a student's allegiance to his or her country, family, and God are of little or no relevance to education. 

Dewey promoted 

 

 

national tests to measure the equality of educational achievement in all states. He encouraged the federal government to reward those students [schools and school districts] that met the national requirements by paying national dollars per student, and to punish by not paying if they did not. This concept, in several different formats, endurs today despite students falling further and further behind. 

We have since learned, by trial and error, that Dewey's theories do not foster education any more than throwing money at it.

THE PRODUCT IS FAILING
The practical fact is that there has been no change in math achievement or reading scores for over 40 years.

This result has not been caused by our lack of spending tax dollars. In 1970 the Federal Government spent an inflation adjusted $32 Billion dollars on just elementary and secondary education. In 2006 they spent over 160% more. If you divide that by students you will find that the real increase was $435 per 1970 pupil to $1,015 per 2006 pupil. Well more than double. During the same period the Federal Government increasingly demanded more standards, testing, and accountability. The result failed to improve.

Why have they failed? The DOE spent more than enough money - and they began the effort to set new national achievement standards. Where did they go wrong? Could it be that failure is built into the system? When the Federal Government spends money it's not used to improve education. It is used to gain favor with teacher unions, administrator associations, and/or other special interests. The result is that spending goes up and achievement does not. 

The official mission statement of the Department of Education is:

To promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

To accomplish their mission the DOE designs and manages federal "funding programs" for education, and provides financial aid for college assistance. 

Contrary to the usual assumption, Department of Education, (in the past), DID NOT  determine curricula or educational standards. Those functions were left in the hands of states and local school districts. 
The quality  of instruction and level of achievement was also a state process. It was (and is)  called "accreditation".

So, basically the DOE manages a budget that spends federal funds on education, and that's about it. What about those standardized national tests? The ones that are slowly becoming entrenched DESPITE THE CONSTITUTION. The fact is that national testing of elementary and secondary students exists in nearly all industrialized countries, including ours. The United States has indeed a national system of educational testing. As more and more liberal politicians ignore the Constitution, the trend is toward even more national control. 

As our fading, decentralized, state systems bow to the power of  nationalization, the quality of achieving a competitive education fades at the same or even faster rate. The Constitution and it's 10th Amendment become increasingly less relevant.  Nonetheless, during the most recent past, there has been an insistent and growing effort to establish national educational control. 

In 1965 Congress passed the national Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which authorized federal funds for disadvantaged and handicaped children. This national standardized test is now required to receive federal funding for disadvantaged students.

In 1989 our government established six national educational goals.

By 1990 more than 40 states required a minimum competancy examination (MCE) before awarding a high school diploma.

In 1994 two more national educational goals were added and passed into law as the Educate America Act (EAA) that demands accountability on both state and national levels.

Also during 1994 the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) linked federal funding with achievement standards and accountability.

Many states require high school seniors to take the Scholastic Assessment Test  (SAT) and/or the American College Test (ACT) and Advanced Placement (AP) examinations.

There is also the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress  (NAEP) tests also known as "The Nation's Report Card". These tests are given to a group of selected representative students to track long term trends in student achievement.

As you can see, we can no longer continue the fiction that the United States Federal Government has little involvement in the Nation's educational systems. Nor can we deny that our educational systems are seriously underperforming.

What might be done to improve American education?

Bump

For starters

Disband the national DEPT. OF EDUCATION.
    Assign it's necessary functions to logical alternative government offices.

Reduce the power of teacher and administrator UNIONS.
   
Eliminate the unhealthy practice of TENURE.
    Replace it with a rotating board of peers (with 1 year term limit)
    to review and act on all complaints.

Insist that State school districts provide a DISIPLINE representative
for schools with a chronic disipline problem.
    Initiate strict rules (laws) governing student behavior, and appropriate punishments.

Allow no electronic phones, text message devices, iPods or similar, or any 
     other entertainment and communications devices to be carried by a student
     during regular class hours. NONE.

****unfinished blog topic