Teaching "innovation"

What public education system has this author observed? It doesn't seem to resemble the American system I am familiar with.

Knowledge that children are encouraged to soak up in American schools — the memorization of planets, state capitals, the Periodic Table of Elements — can only take students so far. But “skill and will” determine a child’s ability to think outside of the box, he says.

Who says American school children are being taught these things? They are not even learning the multiplication tables or how to write cursive. Instead, the curriculum is devoted to promoting self esteem, diversity, and political correctness. Our children are not being taught the basic skills they need to survive in our society, such as how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. We are educating them to become suckers. They are incapable of thinking anything through or expressing their opinions with clarity. You can't teach children to be creative. That comes from within. But you can equip them with the knowledge required not to be gullible fools. You can transmit our Western heritage.

Whites without college have more sense than college graduates

I can't link to this article without registering--don't you hate it when that happens?  So it's in the latest National Review, called Rust Belt Revival — by Duncan Currie, and its all about whites without college; working class whites, who are apparently disenchanted with Obama.

They seem to have more wisdom than college graduates, in that they believe the evidence of their own eyes.  The college educated, on the other hand, pay upwards of $100,000 for four years in which all wisdom, knowledge and common sense are methodically subtracted from their minds.

And mind you, generally it takes five years, maybe six, to get a four-year education.  Graduate school, like batteries, is not included in this six-years.  After graduate school, the student it lucky if he retains his toilet training..

Are Americans getting smarter?

The number of cars with "My son is an honor student at XXX school" bumper stickers seems to be multiplying exponentially. Also--and I admit this is anecdotal evidence--I never seem to hear a young person discussed without assertions that he or she gets nothing but As and Bs.

Are our children getting smarter? Has our educational system improved to the point where everyone is fulfilling his or her potential to the max? Can we rest confident that America's future is in the hands of these budding geniuses?

Or is there a new definition of honor student--someone who attends school most of the time, gives the teachers no lip and doesn't burn the building down?

In Alice in Wonderland there is a dodo race. Everyone runs around aimlessly wherever he wants to, and at the conclusion, everyone wins and gets a prize. Is this the model for the American education system?

Is our children learning math?

A math teacher who attends my gym told me she is teaching seventh and eighth graders math which they should have learned in third and fourth grade. These kids don't know multiplication tables--in fact, multiplication is unknown to them. She cited an example of one boy who was told to multiply 12 by 9. He wrote the number 12 nine times and attempted to add the nine columns up. He at least understood the concept.

Why are our schools so obdurate about avoiding teaching our children anything? They seem to have an absolute aversion to allowing learning to take place. Let me put it another way--why can't the children learn? Their parents learned to add, subtract, multiply and divide, so it's not genetic, because we are dealing with the same gene pool. Our children have not been stolen away and replaced by dolts.

I am far from being a math whiz, but I learned to add and subtract in first or second grade, followed the next year by multiplication, division, and--wait for it!--fractions! Yes, fractions were introduced into my muddled little brain when I was a child of tender years and appeared not to harm my psyche. I memorized the multiplication tables because we were made to. I can't say it was an enlightening experience, but I can multiply 12 by 9 even at my advanced age.

I do despair of our country's future when I witness this. Why is it children can learn to read, write and calculate in third world countries, and ours can't? Why does Iran, a repressive hellhole, have a better educational system than we do?

What are they doing in school all day, playing volleyball?

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