Bird Droppings October 26, 2023
Education often draws from NOW.

A few years ago, a teacher offered me a book on curriculum, or she said “Dumbing down of America” by Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld. It has been a few months since I picked this book off the shelf while reading various books at Barnes and Noble, as I do so often. This book is about the dumbing down of America, pointing out all the faults in the educational system and how we are in worse shape than 100 years ago. The book advocates homeschooling and alternatives to public education, and a public-school teacher offered this book to me, which I find amazing. Maybe my general demeanor, on the other end of the scale politically, did not get through too well. However, as I think back 100 years ago, not all children were educated in public school.

Many kids lived at home or in rural situations where education was not considered. Mandatory education was still being worked on as late as 1974. In 1972, in Macon, Georgia, as a part of my work involving disabled students, we found 284 children who had never been in school in less than 60 days. All were disabled and not required at that time to attend school; in reality, most had nowhere to go. Now, all children are educated in the United States or have the right to free and public education.

I researched today and found many articles opposing today’s educational systems, all of which had a basis in religion and morality. Interestingly enough, Outcome-based education was condemned and accused of causing humankind’s ills, and John Dewey was the originator and cause of educational dysfunction. These educators, against outcome-based education, were preaching content simply having the right answers. Take a test, and all is well, and teachers nationwide are complaining about teaching to the test and not what students need to get on in life or college. According to many teachers, much of the thanks can go to the No Child Left Behind legislation, our national educational program. Over two years ago, I had written a Dropping and am borrowing a paragraph or two from that particular day.

“The man who can make hard things easy is the educator.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently watched a young man struggle with an equation in his math class homework. He asked me for help, and without asking exactly what he needed help with, I answered X=3 and was told I was wrong even though the answer was right. How could I answer without solving the equation was his question? I wasn’t thinking about math at the time, and since we were working on essays about “how teachers could teach better,” and he alone in the class was finished, he was catching up on homework, which was math. I apologized for answering, not realizing he needed a solution as well. It wasn’t about the answer; it was how to get it.

“I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself.” John Dewey

As I was thinking further about this subject, it dawned on me whether I want children who know all the answers, dates, formulas, and such or if I want children who can find the answers. In my wanderings today, I found an excerpt from an 8th-grade final test in Salinas, Kansas. It’s interesting to try and see what you know. It is from Dr. Blumenfeld’s book, where he shows how we are so far behind.

“Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay, and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 ft. long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthongs, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret’ u.’
5. Give two rules for spelling words with the final’ e.’ Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use them in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.” Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld, The Dumbing Down of America

The interesting part for me was the language arts sections were the hardest. Looking at history and math, other than the experiential aspect of agriculture questions, they are simple compared to today’s classes. I opened up a 1968 biology book from college and compared it to a Biology book used in our high school. It is amazing how much different they are. Different is an understatement. The new book had more difficult material, which was not even discovered in 1967. So where does this take me?

Will I teach content or context? Will I teach about specifics, or will I teach outcomes? I often use the example of a liter bottle; you can only put a liter in it, and how we select and choose what goes in is difficult. The funny thing is that compared to 1900, we have hundreds of times more information to learn, often with little context. Quantum Physics was not even around, along with DNA and many other aspects of science. Countries have changed, as have who and how events occurred in history. So, is it content or context? While it is great to know every date in US history, I would rather know that the student can find the dates but can tie it all together and not simply give me facts. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and your hearts.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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