The State of Education in the Good Ol' U.S. of A.
For those of you who haven't noticed, the educational system in the United States in foundering; dying the slow death of relativism (amongst other things). As a result we (as a society) have produced a few generations that are not as well educated as their parents or grandparents for that matter. We have become more concerned with Political Correctness and an overwhelming urge to make school teachers into social psychologists that we have not only missed the mark, but the entire target. Don't agree? That's OK, you have the right to be wrong!
You might be thinking:
"But
everyone says that our kids are getting smarter! What about the increased
test scores and all?" Weeeeell...
With a little more research we find that the only reason test
scores are on the rise is due to the fact that the
standards have been lowered. What was once not a passing grade
now is. To simplify, children today aren't required to know let alone
posses a mastery of the same material as children prior to them. You might
ask; "What do you mean the standards are
lowered?" Well, it is simple. What students were
once required to know they are no 
longer
required to know. For example; 20 years ago a
question on a History test might have required the
student to know Benjamin Franklin's role in the Continental Congress, his
scientific and literary achievements etc. Today's students are required to
know that Benjamin Franklin was 'One of the Founding Fathers.'
It's like trying to measure something with a rubber ruler, a ruler that
bends and stretches. You don't get an accurate measurement, consider
yourself fortunate if you get the same measurement twice.
Not to mention what percentage of correct answers equates to excellent, above average, average, below average, and failing. In some cases grading correctness and aptitude has lapsed altogether and there are no A's, B's, C's D's, not to mention no F's, it has become an "I" for Incomplete, or a "C" for Complete. There is also a big difference between grading scales, between public and private schools. I know of one school that has a grading scale as follows:
100%=A+
93-99%=A
86-92%=B
80-85%=C
79-76%= D
and 75% and below were an F.
Compared to the scale that was in place when I was in High School in the late 80's:
100%=A+
90-99%=A
80-89%=B
70-79%=C
60-69%=D
59% and below were an F.
Think of it this way. The next time you go to the Doctor's office, the person in whom you are entrusting you life or the life of your loved ones need only know 7 out of every 10 things (of a medical nature) to be considered an "average" Doctor. It puts things into perspective doesn't it? How safe does that make you feel? I'm not trying to pick on Doctors, I am just trying to illustrate the point that the level of education for us today is much lower than it was in yester-year.
One might wonder how these changes were made,
who would let such a thing happen? A very rational and logical
question. There are those involved in education at the Federal level that
want society to be different. They have radically different views on
people, government, religion, etc. They make changes slowly, so they are
not noticed suddenly. They start by influencing what teachers are taught
to teach. 
It is
a very open socialist agenda, it is not a conspiracy and it has been going
on for a long time. Have you ever heard of Antonio
Gramsci? He was a prolific communist and socialist theorist and writer
in the late 1800's and early 1900's and a member of the Frankfurt Institute (for
more information see our article Spiritual
Warfare and the Dialectic Process: Sucking the Poison from the Snake bite).
Gramsci had a lot to say about how society (in the West)
should be, and he believed that change must occur at an almost sub-conscious
level. The way people thought needed to change, the best way to change
peoples thoughts was through education. Is it any coincidence that the 'final
tests' for teachers today is (in slang)
referred to as the Gramscis? I think not.
Apparently the changes have taken effect in the minds of some educrats. As one psychiatrist stated to over 2000 teachers during a Childhood Education Seminar in 1973:
"Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward our Founding Fathers, toward his parents, toward our elected officials, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you, teachers, to make these sick children well by creating the international child of the future.
--Dr. Chester Pierce
So why would schools and educators allow this type of thing to happen? Wouldn't someone notice? Well, people have noticed. Hence this article and many more like it. But how could people especially in the field of education allow this to occur? The reasons are many fold. Basically, it comes down to money. The government says to the educrats: 'You are not required to do things this way, but if you want any Federal dollars for your school systems, then you must comply to our standards.' Most (if not all) states need the money desperately, so they comply to the standards set forth by the Feds. When test scores don't hit what they should (therefore no Federal money due to non-compliance), the state has only 2 legitimate options. 1) They don't get the money, or 2) They lower the standards in their state for testing, so that when the numbers are crunched again, they appear to have improved. This very thing happened in my home state of Indiana, when the (then) Governor found out that our children were not 'up to snuff' he had the standards lowered, the tests changed, and then when the children were tested again there 'was a marked improvement'. Viola! "Our children are learning better and achieving better test scores than any generation before them!" or something of that sort. But it's all smoke and mirrors. There is nothing of substance behind it at all.
The fact is this: Our children are not as smart or as well educated as the generations preceding them. We have all heard stories of a Grandmother or Grandfather or some 'Old Timer' that only had a 6th or 8th Grade education. But how good was that education, what did it include and what was the common expectation? These are things that we don't normally ask when we hear about those people. The fact is that compared to today, the expectation then was much higher, the education was much better and it included much more than most of us are aware of. The following is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
"The following document was transcribed from the original document in the collection of the Smoky Valley Genealogy Society, Salina, Kansas. This test is the original eighth-grade final exam for 1895 from Salina, KS. An interesting note is the fact that the county students taking this test were allowed to take the test in the 7th grade, and if they did not pass the test at that time, they were allowed to re-take it again in the 8th grade."
8th
GRADE FINAL EXAM
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 lie, lay
and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. 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 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of
wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at
50 cts/bushel, deducting 1050 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 6720 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
meter?
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, 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, sub
vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with 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 in connection with a word: bi,
dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
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,
last.
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.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate
depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver,
Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall &Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources
of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
click here for the answers to this test
So how do you think you would
do on this test? How do you think most teachers would do? What about
college students? College Professors? But the most important
and relevant question is; how do you think most 8th Graders of today would
do? Now there are some out there that are trying to purport this as a
myth, hoax, or an urban legend. Some even say that this test was for teachers
applying for a job (due to a portion of the
original document stating that the "applicants penmanship" would be
taken into account for the final grade.)
But they fail to realize that to graduate 8th Grade in 1895 you had to have a
passing grade or you would fail and be held back, so they looked at the
final examination process as an application for advancement into the next grade.
Others that think it is an urban legend, hoax or myth would do well to realize that this test is possessed by the Library and Genealogical Society of Salina Kansas. Libraries and Genealogical Societies are recognized throughout the country as experts with this type of material. If they say that it was for the 8th Grade Final Examination in 1895, I believe them.
They obviously have information that we don't have. This speaks to the state of our educational system today, don't forget, not only was this the 8th Grade test, BUT 7th Graders were allowed to take it as well!
The local newspaper, The Salina Journal published an article on it in 1996 and shortly thereafter so did The Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. So, if you don't believe the Library in Salina, maybe two internationally recognized publications will help convince you. Unless of course you think that they don't research the validity of such claims before publishing articles...
Granted, some of the language is not applicable to modern America, we don't use words like 'rods' or 'levy', and most of us don't know much about the weight of a bushel of wheat, whether or not it is wet, dry, etc. But beyond those things Math, Grammar, History, etc haven't changed over the past 110+ years, just how well we know them and teach them. After looking at this type of thing, it sort of makes sense as to why Home Schooling is at an all time high.
In conclusion, we should set the bar high and kids will strive to reach it. We should let teachers teach and not tie their hands behind their backs. They should be able to use Red ink in correcting tests and quizzes. They should be allowed to use a grading system that objectively analyzes students progressions, strengths and weaknesses. If a student doesn't meet the requirements for advancement into the next grade, then the teachers, not the educrats, should be allowed to fail the student and hold them back. We should make schools a place of learning academic related issues, not experiments in Social Engineering. We spend so much time and energy (not to mention money) trying to improve students 'self image' or 'self worth', when if we would just teach them how to learn and how to teach themselves, they would feel better about themselves and be able to improve themselves even more. Then we would truly have a Nation of "Life-Long Learners"!
Mark Long
19 December 2005