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IMO, conservatives fell out of love with public education when I was a kid. Brown v. Board started it.
Then the politicians saw the college kids in the streets shouting 'Hell no, we won't go'. People who know their rights and war mongers cannot co exist so the dumbing down became entrenched.
Also, for years PTA was lobby for better education for all schools. Part of the dues stayed with the local school, some went to the state and some went to the national. While many local school PTAs were manage by moms who thought buying stuff for their school was the purpose, national was committed to improving education for all. A big movement started to get out of the PTA and have stand alone organizations. Mostly to buy stuff for their own school. PTA was replaced by the DOE. PTA was much more effective and efficient.
During that time, women who taught could make better money working for big business so teaching went from drawing from the top 10% of graduates to the bottom10%.
Our prisons are full of people who cannot read. Prison growth estimates are based on third grade test scores.
There is something bad wrong with a society who rather imprison people than teach them to read. But prisoners who cannot read make cheap labor.
The others in the ed business saw how well Pearson was doing so now come the politicians who want to privatize in order to spread the wealth.
And indoctrination into Evolution theology through public education is exactly what Adolf Hitler did. To be smart, educators need to start pointing out the flaws of the evolution theory.
If you don't want to teach creationism fine, but then take evolution out of the text books also.
Leave theology up to the family.
Evolution is a scientific fact. Creationism is based on religion which is prohibited in public schools. The only reason the theory of evolution is still called a theory rather than a law is because it does not have a mathematical basis like the law of gravity does.
If they keep dumbing down the students. They should make good future Republicans.
Funny since it's liberal democrats that have been dumbing down students for decades. It certainly hasn't been conservatives who have gotten the US into position to spend more per student than anyone else and yet have some of the worst first world results. Only democrats could come up with a system where only 25% of college graduates are functionally illiterate. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/12/16/literacy
Great questions... I know there is still an academic conservative voice, but it is very faint. Does it all come down to the power of the academic left and their ability to drown out, intimidate and shut down conservatives who seek a career in academia?
In some of the major universities this would be true--liberal places like the Ivies, the top-tier liberal arts schools, the top public schools.
But there are scores of Christian colleges, including rather conservative ones, where conservative perspectives on educational content matter. And the second- and third-tier public college campuses tend to to have a "workhorse" approach to curriculum, so conservatives can flourish there without much incident.
At the high school level, perhaps more conservative teachers have shifted to private, parochial, and charter schools, as well as more suburban schools.
But it seems to me that conservative educators *could* have more of a voice about curricular matters if they so desired, but just don't. Maybe it's because schools have segregated in the way I mentioned, or perhaps conservatives just don't go into teaching as much as liberals do.
Quote:
Elements of the alt-right have made a cause of reviving and promoting the classical heroes of Western civilization, but they are mostly well outside the academic mainstream.
That's an interesting idea; I'll have to look into it.
Funny since it's liberal democrats that have been dumbing down students for decades. It certainly hasn't been conservatives who have gotten the US into position to spend more per student than anyone else and yet have some of the worst first world results. Only democrats could come up with a system where only 25% of college graduates are functionally illiterate. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/12/16/literacy
It seems to me that this problem goes beyond liberals versus conservatives.
Virtually all of the high-performing school and university systems in the world come from places that have very centralized control over education--national exams and standards for high schoolers, national entrance exams and curriculum for universities.
And you wonder why conservatives don't think much of your idea of "higher education".
The article you attach addresses on particular scandal at UNC. It doesn't show that there's a trend or anything similar in that regard.
Conservatives have plenty of sway in many private schools, Christian schools, and unsexy public schools at the university level, but do not seem to make much of their position in the public realm. It's as if they acquiesced in the anti-intellectualism of the legislators of the states they live in.
Keep in mind that nobody in power of either party really benefits from a well-educated population. Those types of people are more likely to hold people in power accountable and see through their BS. They are also harder to manipulate through advertising, debt, etc.
The biggest problem is two key aspects at the core of modern conservative thinking here in America: hatred of "the other" and denial of science when it's convenient. Misapplication of religion is tied to both of these and is typically used as excuse to justify everything from hating people who are different to pretending climate change is impossible. A well-educated population would be more likely to see through such BS, and well-educated people in general are harder to manipulate with religion. Since the Republican party hitched its wagon to the religious fundamentalists years ago, they can't now support better education since that would undermine their supporters. For this reason, it is no wonder that red states have lower educational achievement than blue states.
Back in the 1980s, debates raged regarding the direction and content of education. A lot of academic leftists promoted what today could be called a "politically correct" approach to education: recognition of works by minorities; emphasis on less heroic aspects of history such as slavery, colonization, and imperialism; and so on.
Academic conservatives, for their part, held the line on "traditional" education: the Western canon; a more heroic and apologetic perspective of world (esp. Western) history; and so on.
Today, all we really hear from the conservatives is how we need prayer in schools, Creationism, no talk of climate change, vouchers for religious education, etc. We also hear about how education has to be linked to "jobs": conservatives have become known for a more vocational view of education.
When it comes to content (the actual curriculum in history and literature; the importance of science; the study of languages), it seems that the leftists own the discussion. Some are still very PC, but many have reclaimed formerly "conservative" icons from the Western canon (Greco-Roman writers, Shakespeare, et al.) and have popularized some well-known as well as formerly underplayed historical icons (Frederick Douglass, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, et al.).
Why is this? Why, in the public discussion (including the political arena), have conservatives lost authority and interest (and knowledge?) in educational matters of content? Is it because "being intellectual" is bad politics for Red State populism, so even Euclid, Augustine, Dante, Cervantes, and Shakespeare (and Americans such as Hawthorne, Poe, and Melville) are suspect?
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I Know you speaking to your own snow flakes and cupcakes. Education under Obama has ind dumb down American Students. What is really sad the new generation In liberal circles barely know Civics and American History.
Conservatives are about the events and great people whom have contributed to the world and has shaped it for better or for worse.
Its amazing the writers you have cited are demonized by the left because some how they are racist. You guys even hate Mark Twain
Climate change is important and how we use our world is as well a hot topic. Liberals have disgraced themselves with "fake science". The planet is always changing period.
The Issue of God. God is real and he fills our lies with wisdom and love. The teachings of Jesus and the will of God gives our children and young adults the base they need to make the right Godly choices for a better world.
If anything Liberals have been trying to marginalize God and the teaching of Jesus for centuries. God always has he last word!
The Teachers unions have controlled the flow of education and are fearful of Charters / homeschooling when the results are notably better and kids get a more attentive education instead of being 1 of 40 kids.
Its early in the Trump administration and time will well. Obama has done nothing more for education and has not left a positive impact. Our students have no hope paying for years of education and are frankly afraid to move the world forward.
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