It all started in the early 40's when excellence became the enemy by Wayne Lundberg
(libertarian)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Dumbing of America and how it started
The dumbing of Americans started shortly after WWII with good intentions. Teachers, parents religious leaders, the PTA and School Boards across the country were counting the blessings of having won wars on two fronts. There was a huge sigh of relief; palpable to even those of us living abroad. We saw it through the movies, media, books, letters from home and even the Sears Catalog.
What we could not see, however, was that we had chosen to go against nature. Unlike the gardener who dead-heads and trims the sick plant life to foster healthy growth; we Americans chose to do the opposite. To dead-head the smartest in the class in order to elevate the morons to equality.
The result is that we drug the so called ADS (Attention Deficiency Syndrome) kids - who are really just bored to death as the teacher struggles to teach the lower half of the percentile. An impossible task and one which simply creates a frustrated teacher who will soon begin teaching to the blackboard, which further bores the smart ones into more daydreaming and angst.
You can trace the easy acceptance of the first sample' drug from the friendly neighborhood dealer. You can trace the growing acceptance of cradle to grave philosophy, and you can certainly trace the growth of a bureaucratic regime now dominated by Robin Hood type do-gooders' from this point in time and the normal' curve.
Was it a conspiracy from the far left? I doubt it. Did the far left recognize the opportunities for them to eventually take over? Absolutely! And in so doing, promote, preserve and encourage this continuing abomination against nature.
My first year of schooling was in Riverheights, Utah. I was in the first row along with 7 other kids. The next row over were some 10 students in second grade. Third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade were in the remaining rows. One teacher taught us all. There was no tolerance for mischief and a stiff hard ruler was often used on deserving wrists. There was discipline in that schoolroom. It was 1941 and I was six years old.
By 1942 I was in the Mexico City School; one kid of some 20 in the second grade. The same discipline as I had experienced in Utah. Tough, demanding, but oh! so rewarding when getting a good grade. There are fewer real pleasures in life than to be recognized for having done something well and there is no greater pleasure in life than that of self actualization. These were the greatest gifts I have ever received in life. To know that I could achieve more than I thought possible - at a very early age. Had I been tempted by the local drug dealer I would have laughed as I skipped away in wonderment at their stupidity in thinking that I could be a sucker to their lies.
In '46 I was back in Riverheights and now finishing grade school. But things had changed. The teachers were explaining the normal curve' and how grading would be based on averages'. I did not understand this until one day I was knocked down in the playground by a fellow student who accused me of being responsible for his bad grades because I had raised the normal curve'. Years later my tires were slashed in the factory parking lot by fellow employees because I had made more than the normal' amount of parts on my turret lathe. It had only taken 15 years for the sickness to become a national plague.
I begged my parents to take me back to Mexico where I had to repeat sixth grade before being admitted to a government school. I thrived in that school! The teachers were professionals. My biology teacher was a medical doctor and his office just a few blocks away. I earned his respect and would correct student papers in his office under his supervision. My shop teacher had his own carpentry shop, the math teacher an instructor at the military academy, our civics teacher a practicing attorney. There was no room for nonsense. Not one teacher in the school had graduated from a teacher's school.
I came back to the States, joined the Navy, finished college with aid from the GI bill and have since become the most successful person on the face of the earth.
I credit my success with the values I learned, through experience, and tough teachers, during that early period. A period in our history before the pressures to be normal went beyond persuasion, and have become law. You don't believe it? The reality is that the wealth created by honest work is being taken from us, at gunpoint, for distribution to those who can't or won't, and whose vote is being bought by our own stolen wealth. And don't say that taxes are not collected at gunpoint. When the marshal comes to your door and takes you away to prison, a gun is what persuades the reluctant citizen to comply.
We continue to dumb America by trying to lift those who simply don't have what it takes - mentally, physically, morally - through artificial means such as the normal curve and Redilin while we continue to push those with real potential down to the lowest common denominator. My daughter took an extensive set of exams, something like an expanded IQ test, and her score was way above average. She was counseled. The counselors showing her ways of how she could become normal! It has taken years for her overcome the stigma.
We humans should not be so arrogant as to believe we know better than nature. If we continue on this insane road toward equalizing everybody, we will have created the kind of world that would put most reasonable people to sleep out of sheer boredom and so weaken our gene pool as to make us the easiest victims for whatever warlord that may come around. Easy pickings for a half-bright Saddam type anywhere, anytime.
Is that what we want?
Proof of the dumbing of Americans: The belief that work is something to be avoided; yet work, under the right conditions, is among the most rewarding of all human activities. The belief that a good chewing out will solve the problem; when in reality most people getting the chewing cause the chewing in order to get a dose of recognition. The belief that one must have the television on most of the time; where in fact if the same rules were applied to it as to drugs, it would be outlawed. The common belief that inventions are the result of necessity; when in fact most innovation happens just for the fun of it - as in the case of the airplane, electricity, steam power, Crazy Glue - people exploring the world of opportunities. The common belief that all good ideas come from the boss; the reality is that most new ideas come from the floor or from the outside in spite of the boss' reluctance. The mind-numbing belief that you must do it right the first time; when in fact progress is made from frequent falling down. Picture the champion skater or infant taking their first steps. The incredibly nave belief that managers and supervisors motivate their employees; when the fact is that employees are motivated by themselves but begin to be demotivated by stupid rules and regulations designed for the lower half of the human spectrum. The greatest lie of all is that the acquisition of money is a guaranty for happiness; when the reality is that it is the quest, the striving, for whatever goal, that make the key elements for happiness.
We should eliminate GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as the principal measurement to the nation's status with a GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness). And happiness is the result of individual strife against great odds to achieve worthwhile goals. The marshal's gun taking from those who do, and giving to those who don't simply does not cut the mustard.
These are only a few of the 15 fundamental cultural lies that go against Nature's laws. These are things we have created through the belief that we can do better. They are the lies that make the young kids go to the corner and wait for the pusher. They are the lies that allow smooth talking politicians to buy votes from people who would otherwise be forced to work their way through their problems. They are the lies that are slowly grinding away at the hard tool steel of what once was a civilization based on principles. We are tossing away the very principles that allowed us to win two wars and become the world's leader.
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Very nice first article. Welcome to the Chart, and Thumbs Up!
I hope you'll consider "signing up" for the Columnists Lounge where you will find additional support, help, tips and tricks for writing and editing your articles.
As a victim of the "new math" (early 60s elementary school) I can relate to your article. Luckily my mother was an English Master and encouraged real learning at home, while my father instilled the work ethic that has made me successful. So I can't say I received any benefit whatsoever from the forced "schooling" inflicted on me by the state. And as I peruse the texts my grandchildren are using, I see it only gets worse. Indoctrination has replaced education in public schools.
It's good to see an article from your "old school" perspective. Thanks for sharing it.
If you're going to complain about education (while waxing eloquent about your own wonderful old-fashioned schooling), you might want to start by reviewing the English grammar rules about incomplete sentences and punctuation. You might want to reconsider hyperboles about your personal success and unnecessarily labeling others as "morons." And it's "Ritalin," not Redilin.
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2010-01-26 19:05:20
Hi Wayne,
 I appreciated that you didn't fall into the trap of assuming any faith-based behavior that does not match what one is comfortable must be a conspiracy.
The social implications of public education were well known right from the outset. It was intended to provide a constant supply of low-wage workers and progressive voters. Ta Da! It worked! Until the world got small enough for low priced labor to be sought out around the globe. Now we have a class of overpaid ignoramous TV and entitlement addicts and a dearth of low-skill jobs to keep them occupied at somethig other than crime and breeding.
Nope, not a conspiracy, this was a desired outcome basd on faith that they know what's best.
[Schools are] "in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products... manufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry.
While there certainly has been a watering down of curriculum in many educational disciplines over the last several decades, it has little or nothing to do with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD, on the other hand, has a lot to do with the American drive to succeed against the odds. Quick-thinking, quick-reacting athletes and warriors more often than not "suffer" from ADHD. It is that natural restless edge that caused a lot of people to immigrate to America and to continue migrating west across the continent. Unsurprisingly, ADHD is rarely diagnosed in Western Europe, but increases in frequency across the United States the further west you go to California, Oregon and Washington. The so-called "wander lust" of yesteryear has been linked to ADHD in our day and age. The same genetic trait that once helped us create the American Dream is now a "disorder" we want to drug out of existence. And yet, teachers who modify their instructional approach to accomodate so-called ADHD students find that they reach all students better. ADHD students need interactive education to succeed without drugs in the classroom. And frankly so does everyone else.
