THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IV, Issue # 31, March 26, 2002
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
Home Page   Main Menu   Recent Articles   Site Map   Website Index   Issues & Controversies
  Cyberland University   Political Science, Philosophy, & History: Lectures   U.S. Constitution
  American Constitutional Law   American Constitutional System   American Political System
  Conservatism, Liberalism, & Radicalism   How America Goes to War
  World War IV: Islamist Terror War Against the U.S.A. & the West

HISTORY OF AMERICA'S EDUCATION, PART I:  JOHNNY IS IN TROUBLE
By April Shenandoah

Johnny is in trouble, not because he is playing hooky from school, but because he is attending school. Some of the most negative influences that young people can face today are found in public schools. In the past few decades, this has clearly worsened. In 1940, the top offenses in public schools were chewing gum, talking in class, unfinished homework, and running in the halls. Today, the top offenses are drugs, drunkeness, assault, murder, and rape.

While at school, Johnny not only is confronted with drugs, immorality and violence, but he is also receiving a second rate education. From 1963 onward, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores have dropped consistently each year.

As a result of decreasing literary skills, college textbooks are being rewritten at a lower level so that the students can understand them. Most newspapers and magazines are written at about sixth-grade reading level, which is now the reading level of the average American. If you aren't buying this, compare the literacy level of today with that of early America. Read the Federalist Papers, which were written for farmers and other common citizens in New York. Today's college graduates find the Federalist Papers difficult reading.

You may say, "but Johnny is getting better grades than ever." This is true, which makes the problem even worse, for many young people do not know how little they are actually learning. I've just come to that conclusion in my own life. I am just now educating myself on subject matter that I should have been taught many years ago,

Take for example, the young man who graduated as valedictorian from his Washington, D.C., high school, yet was refused admission to George Washington University because his SAT scores were so low. Due to his excellent grades, in high school, he considered himself a superior student. However, in the words of the Dean of Admissions of George Washington University, "He's been deluded into thinking he's gotten an education."

What is the problem?

Most educational leaders acknowledge that there are problems with our public schools, and most of their suggested solutions involve spending more money. However, in the past few decades, the public education system has dramatically increased its expenditures. In 1950, $8.8 billion was spent; in 1985, $261 billion; in 1990, $353 billion; in 1992, $445 billion. Washington, D.C., schools spend more than $10,000 per student, but is near the bottom of all cities nationally in academics. Increased spending is on the way, yet, with all this spending, educational skills have decreased.

Lack of money is not the problem in our public schools. First of all, where there are no absolutes or discipline, there will be confusion and chaos. Secondly, there has been an agenda in place for many years to turn the tide of education towards a Socialist creed. As early as 1932, Dr. George Counts wrote a 56-page booklet entitled, Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order? In 1948. Dwight D. Eisenhower, then President of Columbia University, appointed Dr. Manfred Kridl, a well-known Marxist, to oversee a "Chair of Polish Studies" made possible by an endowment from the Communist government of Poland.

As the years went by, and your children and grandchildren passed through the grades, you may have noticed that subject matter changed. As teaching methods and types of study changed and government programs were added, everything changed. It is a documented fact that, for many years, American schools have been infiltrated with a steady stream of amorality and humanism. For many years, both parents and teachers have sensed the heavily financed anti-American influences in the classrooms. How about this statement from the 1970 book, The Naked Capitalist: "if they have their way, we will develop a prospective nightmare in our schools--schools without grades, without discipline, without prayers, without the Pledge of Allegiance, without Christmas, without Easter, without patriotism, without morals, without standards of speech or standards of dress." HELLO! Already, wherever "they" have taken over the educational system, we see the worst of their products. Surely the nation deserves something better than this for the billions it is spending on education.

The basic problem is with the philosophy that forms the foundation of education in America. Colossians 2:8 is very insightful in this matter: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." It has been said that the philosophy of education in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

Next time: Noah Webster and education in early America.

More on Education & America's Schools

A Practical Guide to Homeschooling



April Shenandoah is the author of SO HELP ME GOD! (Eden Street Productions, 1999), served as the Los Angeles press contact for the 1988 Pat Robertson presidential campaign, spent more than ten years researching and gathering material pertinent to the changing world we live in, conducts Freedom Tea Party forums which educate those unaware of the stripping of America's freedoms, sits on the board of the National Council of Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, and wears the unofficial title of Ambassador of Prayer.


Copyright 2002 SierraTimes.com



Reprinted with Permission from SierraTimes.com
March 20, 2002

SierraTimes.com
URL:
http://www.SierraTimes.com





Return to Top of Page

Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE,
Volume IV, 2002


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights


Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage

CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION




LINKS TO PARTICULAR ISSUES & SUBJECT MATTER CATEGORIES
TREATED IN THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, U.S.A.:

Africa: Black Africa * Africa: North Africa * American Government 1
American Government 2 * American Government 3 * American Government 4
American Government 5 * American Politics * Anglosphere * Arabs
Arms Control & WMD * Aztlan Separatists * Big Government
Black Africa * Bureaucracy * Canada * China * Civil Liberties * Communism
Congress, U.S. * Conservative Groups * Conservative vs. Liberal
Constitutional Law * Counterterrorism * Criminal Justice * Disloyalty * Economy
Education * Elections, U.S. * Eminent Domain * Energy & Environment
English-Speaking World * Ethnicity & Race * Europe * Europe: Jews
Family Values * Far East * Fiscal Policy, U.S. * Foreign Aid, U.S. * Foreign Policy, U.S.
France * Hispanic Separatism * Hispanic Treason * Human Health * Immigration
Infrastructure, U.S. * Intelligence, U.S. * Iran * Iraq * Islamic North Africa
Islamic Threat * Islamism * Israeli vs. Arabs * Jews & Anti-Semitism
Jihad & Jihadism * Jihad Manifesto I * Jihad Manifesto II * Judges, U.S. Federal
Judicial Appointments * Judiciary, American * Latin America * Latino Separatism
Latino Treason * Lebanon * Leftists/Liberals * Legal Issues
Local Government, U.S. * Marriage & Family * Media Political Bias
Middle East: Arabs * Middle East: Iran * Middle East: Iraq * Middle East: Israel
Middle East: Lebanon * Middle East: Syria * Middle East: Tunisia
Middle East: Turkey * Militant Islam * Military Defense * Military Justice
Military Weaponry * Modern Welfare State * Morality & Decency
National Identity * National Security * Natural Resources * News Media Bias
North Africa * Patriot Act, USA * Patriotism * Political Culture * Political Ideologies
Political Parties * Political Philosophy * Politics, American * Presidency, U.S.
Private Property * Property Rights * Public Assistance * Radical Islam
Religion & America * Rogue States & WMD * Russia * Science & Ethics
Sedition & Treason * Senate, U.S. * Social Welfare Policy * South Africa
State Government, U.S. * Subsaharan Africa * Subversion * Syria * Terrorism 1
Terrorism 2 * Treason & Sedition * Tunisia * Turkey * Ukraine
UnAmerican Activity * UN & Its Agencies * USA Patriot Act * U.S. Foreign Aid
U.S. Infrastructure * U.S. Intelligence * U.S. Senate * War & Peace
Welfare Policy * WMD & Arms Control


This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics, civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.



POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS

POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE

Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.

Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs, International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests, Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy

INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z




THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis

Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor

Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic, Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues


Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity