The Seeds of Failure

Posted by BenjaminGrimm 11 years, 7 months ago to Culture
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I'm currently reading this book, Dumbing Down Our Kids (Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add) by Charles Sykes. I found this author and his books by complete accident while researching some of the ignorant math methods that the local school has taught my son. These include "touchpoint math" and "lattice or box multiplication". My son is now 12 in his first year of "junior high" and is miserably failing his math course. He has straight "A"s in all his other courses. I objected to these methods when they were first teaching them. I insisted that these methods were destructive because they don't teach children how to do the math, they only provide a gimmick in order to get an answer. Teaching them touchpoint addition doesn't teach them the needed foundation for subtraction, multiplication or division. Remember learning the multiplication tables? Not anymore. When I expressed my concerns to my son's teachers, they responded by telling me that these new methods made it easier for all children to learn math, not just the smart kids. I argued that these methods don't teach anyone anything. The teachers just kept coming back to "including everyone", "leveling the educational field" and "making sure kids pass tests". They just didn't get it. So now, a few years later, I'm beating my head against trying to reteach my son math because his school didn't. This book, "Dumbing Down Our Kids" is full of facts and study result after study result proving what I already knew. This "Outcome Based Education" has been crippling our nation for decades. I see this book in the same way I see Atlas Shrugged. As a warning. Just like Atlas, it presents a harmful practice which society has ignored and accepted and shows us the consequences of our complacency. teaching children like this, that failure doesn't exist, that pandering to the lowest common denominator is not only okay, but expected: it's not wonder America's youth and young adults are so full of a misplaced sense of entitlement and believe anything should be theirs just because they want it. How do you teach right and wrong in a world where the concept of "wrong" isn't allowed to exist? I'm sorry for the rant, but this subject really makes me angry. These practices highlighted in this book are creating the looter and moochers Rand warned about in Atlas Shrugged. We need to take our country back, and we need to start with our children.
SOURCE URL: http://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Our-Kids-Themselves/dp/0312148232


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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 7 months ago
    we heard the same BS regarding Saxon Math when our kids went through. We looked into alternatives, although our children were performing to standards, they were not retaining or developing problem solving abilities based on mathematical foundations. We found Singapore Math. Here is a Core Knowledge write-up on the program. Many home schooling parents use this.
    http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2010/10/06...
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    • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 11 years, 7 months ago
      They were teaching Saxon math when we first moved here. There was such an uproar by the parents, myself included, that it got killed, and now we have Singapore. We also had everyday math, which is suckish like Saxon.
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      • Posted by 11 years, 7 months ago
        This problem is wide and varied and there are definitely many flavors to go around. School should be about learning, not feelings, politics and false test scores. I wish I could find a way to get such a response from my community to protest these teachings. But, like much of the rest of the country, even my son's mother (though she is the first to complain about the school and the teachers) isn't willing to take that extra step toward action.
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        • Posted by LetsShrug 11 years, 7 months ago
          Voiceless cowards...all afraid of offending someone. I for one think plenty of people NEED to get offended...and sooner rather than later. This has gone on long enough. This pussy footing around is getting us NO where. Nothing ever gets done if you're worried about everybody's FEEELINGS... sheesh. I had a co-worker complaining to me the other day about some other co-workers and I said, "Are you going to say all of this to them?" And she said, "I probably should but...." And I said, "If you're not going to say all of this to them, why are you telling me? How is that helping the situation? Either it's worth speaking your mind about, or it isn't. So either speak up and say what you have to say, or shut up about it." I was SO annoyed. ugh.
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          • Posted by 11 years, 7 months ago
            I had something similar happen last week. A coworker who is know to be immature committed a repeated immature act. Literally something which requires 90 seconds on minimal effort. Our new boss starts asking questions, but he started asking the mature crowd. However, no one else wanted to offend this immature individual, so they water down the truth. So by the time I hear about the situation, I'm angry about the act and the accusation. I was finally asked about the situation by the new boss. I stopped him and said "I know what you're talking about and I know where you are going with this. Think about it. Only he has a problem, no one else. So go to him and tell him to grow up. We're all adults, and if he wants to act otherwise, get him out of here."

            Funny how everyone is worried about their "feelings" but never ours...
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  • Posted by LetsShrug 11 years, 7 months ago
    Wow...I love this post! And I just ordered the book. :) Thanks BGrimm. More ammo for my privatize schools argument.
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    • Posted by 11 years, 7 months ago
      I also ordered his book, "A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character". Once I get through both those and the other books I have lined up, I'd like to get his most recent novel, "A Nation of Moochers: America's Addiction to Getting Something for Nothing". Sounds like factual enforcement for our objectivist beliefs.
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