The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
on November 7th, 2004 at 1:22 pmAnd the builder of this new world must be education…. Plainly, the first step in the case of each country is to train an elite to think, feel, and act internationally.†The preceding words of Paul Mantoux of Paris, France are taken from the foreword to International Understanding by John Eugene Harley, published by the Stanford University Press in 1931.
This is a quote that Ms. Iserbyt uses in her book The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. Even though she did not “author” this quote, it does reflect the tone of this book.
If you have ever went to grade school in your life (public or private), this book is a must have to your collection. I do not say that lightly.
Ms. Iserbyt, whose extensive years of experience in the educational system and with education policy is used in this book to build a case against the educational system of this country.
Did you know that the real people behind our educational system were industrialist like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and J.P. Morgan? These are people who had no background in education;however, the foundation of the American school system was built largely on their mostly socialist ideologies. Their main goal was not to educate children–it was to make future workers.
Here is an excerpt that discusses how math was never intended to be used beyond the classroom. John Dewey along with O.A. Nelson (another key figure in the development of our school system with socialist slant) are mentioned in this excerpt:
Mr. O.A. Nelson, retired educator, has supplied the vitally important documentation needed to support the ink-up between the textbooks and the Council on Foreign Relations. His letter was first printed in “Young Parents Alert†(Lake Elmo, Minnesota). His story is self-explanatory.
We were 13 at the meeting. Two things caused Dr. Ziegler, who was Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, to ask me to attend… my talk on the teaching of functional physics in high school, and the fact that I was a member of a group known as the Progressive Educators of America, which was nothing but a Communist front. I thought the word “progressive†meant progress for better schools.
The sole work of the group was to destroy our schools! We spent one hour and forty-five minutes discussing the so-called “Modern Math.†At one point I objected because there was too much memory work, and math is reasoning; not memory. Dr. Ziegler turned to me and said, “Nelson, wake up! That is what we want… a math that the pupils cannot apply to life situations when they get out of school!†That math was not introduced until much later, as those present thought it was too radical a change. A milder course by Dr. Breckner was substituted but it was also worthless, as far as understanding math was concerned. The radical change was introduced in 1952. It was the one we are using now. So, if pupils come out of high school now, not knowing any math, don’t blame them. The results are supposed to be worthless.
This book also discusses how people like Edward Lee Thorndike, a psychologist who also took part in the laying of the foundation of our school system, used techniques designed for training animals on children.
Thorndike was the first psychologist to study animal behavior in an experimental psychology laboratory and … apply the same techniques to children and youth;
The big reason that I love this book (roughly 700+ pages) is that almost half of it is bibliography–so as a reader, I can go back and verify the information she presents in this book for myself. For me, I use this book more for reference than for recreational/ reading.
I will NEVER view education the same after reading this book!
During this next week, I will be delving further into this whole issue.
Anyway, check out the author’s website here.
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