Conservatives Hate Education

"Last week, West Virginia University (WVU) announced a plan to raze some of its core programs. The public land-grant university intends to eliminate 9 percent of its majors (32 programs total), all of its foreign language programs, and 16 percent of its full-time faculty members (169 in total). The departments targeted for these massive cuts count Truman, Marshall, Fulbright, and Rhodes scholars among their alumni. These cuts were recommended by the consulting firm rpk GROUP, and there’s every reason to believe they’re a trial balloon for doing this elsewhere. Anyone who cares about higher education should be alarmed about what this portends for public universities."

 

Click on the link below for more information reflecting on another target by the anti-education/anti-critical thinking conservative/Republicans/MAGAs:

The Evisceration of a Public University

Attacks On Education: The Base Of Dictatorships

"With democracy under threat around the world, author Jason Stanley warns that the fundamental danger lies closer to home: in the schools. In his latest book, the American philosopher argues that attacks on education empower authoritarian regimes by reshaping our understanding of the past. Stanley joins the show to discuss."

Click on the link below for the history of dictatorships in recent decades:

Russia, Nazi Germany, MAGA: The Dangers of Weaponizing History and Education

School Lunch Programs Help Society

"John Oliver discusses school lunch programs in the US, and why giving kids free lunch is in all of our best interest."

Click this link for information supporting the need for school lunch programs and their improvement:

How To Be An Informed Voter

If you are like me, you are overwhelmed when you vote and don't know how to vote for local and state offices. Click on this link for a video presenting 3 reliable sources (you will find the links within the video narrative under the video itself) to help you become a more informed voter regarding the important local and state races.

Socrates And Democracy

"We’re used to thinking hugely well of democracy. But interestingly, one of the wisest people who ever lived, Socrates, had deep suspicions of it."

Click on this link for a frank look at the soft underbelly of education in the USA. THIS is the reason why the disinformation and gaslighting of the Republicans are so successful. Even if the Democrats win in November, our democracy will be tentative for decades unless the USA changes regarding education and critical thinking.

School Vouchers

"A recent Washington Post story highlights the growing and exorbitant cost to taxpayers subsidizing vouchers paying for private — nearly always religious — schools. In addition to reporting on the dramatic expansion of voucher programs in states throughout the country, and the eroding line between state and church, the Washington Post article documents the astronomical sums going to religious schools."

Click on the link below for the details:

New Wash. Post exposé discloses huge cost of religious school voucher schemes

Math Education: It's Not Easy

"Dr. Jo Boaler is a leading math education expert and one of the writers of the California Mathematics Framework, a set of guidelines focused on improving equity in California's math classrooms. We first talk about her upcoming book, Math-ish, and the beauty of pursuing more "ish" in our lives. Then, we discuss a recent anonymous complaint that was filed with Stanford University, accusing Dr. Boaler of misrepresenting research to serve her own agenda."

Click on the link below for an example of a new approach to mathematics education that is not well-received in some academic circles:

Dr. Jo Boaler Tried To Improve Math Education. Then An Anti-woke Mob Came For Her

The Need For Appealing To Emotions When Communicating Science

"Although it’s of course always better to frame an argument or present research in an objective, rational matter, people have a tendency to respond well to appeal to emotion. In this sense, presenting scientific research as something that can be evocative, powerful, and emotional is, in my belief, a good tactic to get the general public invested in science. Getting people to care about our research, our study species, and our findings is a difficult task but one that is absolutely necessary for the longevity and development of science at both the national and global levels.

"Pretending the science is emotionless and apathetic is counterproductive to the very things that drove us to do the science in the first place. Although we should attempt to be aware of, and distance, our emotions from the objective, data-based analysis of our research, admitting and demonstrating our passions (and why we feel so passionate) is critical in distilling science into the general population. Science should be done rationally and objectively but driven by emotional characteristics such as wonder, curiosity, and fascination."

Click on the links below for more insight into the need to use emotion to enthuse the general public about science. After all, humans first evolved by surviving using instinct, intuition, and emotion. Science shows us that these processes are BASIC within our psyche and science-based thinking is a late development that is more difficult and many times presents uncomfortable results:

Emotional science: passion, spirituality and curiosity

Confessions of a Real Life Scientist: The Thrill of Learning

https://www.ecrea.eu/page-18206/7356944

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2002484118?doi=10.1073%2Fpnas.2002484118

https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/view/168

Financial Literacy: A Basic Education Need

"Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. When you are financially literate, you have the essential foundation of an intelligent relationship with money, and it will serve you as a starting point to a lifelong journey of learning about financial matters that are more advanced. The earlier you start, the better off you will be financially, because education is the key to success when it comes to money."

Click on the link below for the details:

Financial Literacy: What Is It, And Why It's So Important

Homeschooling: It's Diversity. Threat, And Warning

"Homeschooling has become America’s fastest-growing form of education, according to a Washington Post analysis. This form of education, which largely has roots within evangelical Christian households, has grown into a broader movement, especially since the pandemic. Laura Meckler is a national education writer at The Washington Post and is co-author of a series for The Post called “Homeschool Nation,” which takes an in-depth look at the surge in homeschooling in the U.S. and motivations for its rise, which include concerns over school shootings, curriculum ideologies and more. She joins WITHpod to discuss how this mode of education has evolved, the forces that have driven its growth, recent declines in public school enrollment, the increasing popularity of micro-schools, and more."

Click on the link below for the details of this important presentation signaling major issues in US education:

"Homeschool Nation"

The Most Important Book I Ever Read

There are uncountable great books. However, this one book, that I was required to read as a Freshman in college in the 1960s, was my introduction to critical/science-based thinking and it stuck. What a shame that formal education never has really adopted this simple philosophy:

"We destroy the disinterested (I do not mean uninterested) love of learning in children, which is so strong when they are small, by encouraging and compelling them to work for petty and contemptible rewards — gold stars, or papers marked 100 and tacked to the wall, or A’s on report cards. In short, for the ignoble satisfaction of feeling that they are better than someone else. We kill, not only their curiosity, but their feeling that it is a good and admirable thing to be curious so that by the age of ten most of them will not ask questions, and will show a good deal of scorn for the few who do." ~John Holt

(Book: How Children Fail [ad] https://amzn.to/47wCJvA)

(Art: Photograph by Bernard Hoffman)

The Republican War On Critical Thinking

"History has shown us repeatedly what happens when tyrants take education away from the public. Can the Republican led war on public schools turn generation Z, from Doomers to dumber? OR, will we learn from history so as not to repeat it?"

Click on the link below for the details of the Republican effort to end public education so that ignorance, unsupported ideology, and autocracy reigns in the USA:

The Frightening Reason Behind the Republican War Against Critical Thinking in Schools

A Look At The Status Of Education In The USA

One has to be willfully ignorant not to see that education in the USA is at a crisis point. There are too many factors involved with the issue for me to address in one post. The following is my STRONG opinion regarding the curriculum within public high schools. I am assuming that the elementary and middle schools are doing their job in preparing the students for high school.

This post is prompted by three deficiencies presently:

• Vocational/Trade Education is minimized.
• Many do not need a 4-year college education. It is overly expensive, with many majors not leading to liveable-wage employment.
• Civics needs to be more adequately presented.
• It should not be just one class in high school, it should begin in elementary school.
• Critical Thinking is essentially absent.

HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM

• Basic math (geometry, statistics, and algebra)
• Civics
• Critical thinking
• Reading (fiction; non-fiction)
• Writing
• Basic science (general physics, general biology, general chemistry)
• Basic US/world history
• Electives in prep for future: college; vocational/trade school

Who Should Control Books In Libraries?

Click on the link below for an analysis regarding what organization(s) should be controlling what you can or cannot read in public sources:

Let's talk about the Illinois book ban ban....

What Works In Education

"Today, we take a look at some of the fundamental problems with our education system and explore alternatives to spark ideas for improvement."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the serious problems in education in the USA and the evidence of what works. Nothing with change until society uses science-based thinking to solve the problem:

Alternatives and Improvement to our Educational System

Science-Based Reading Education

"Move over 'Dick and Jane.' A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise.

"For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into homes via commercials for Hooked on Phonics materials and through shoebox dioramas assigned by teachers seeking to instill a love of literature.

"But momentum has shifted lately in favor of the 'science of reading.' The term refers to decades of research in fields including brain science that point to effective strategies for teaching kids to read.

"The science of reading is especially crucial for struggling readers, but school curricula and programs that train teachers have been slow to embrace it. The approach began to catch on before schools went online in spring 2020. But a push to teach all students this way has intensified as schools look for ways to regain ground lost during the pandemic — and as parents of kids who can’t read demand swift change."

Click on the link below for more:

A New "Science of Reading"

Education And Democracy Are 4-Letter Words To Conservatives

"Today, we take a look at the history and present of the interconnected movements to privatize education and dismantle democracy."

Click on the link below for a podcast that exposes the harm of the conservatives in two main areas of society:

Destroying Education and Democracy for Fun and Profit

The Poster Child For Civics Education

With Donald J Trump's indictment yesterday, US society's bifurcation was magnified by the reaction to such throughout our country. Why? What accounts for so many people not understanding the horror of Trump and the Republican Party? 

Growing up, we had mandatory civics education in high school and were encouraged to read newspapers regularly. In fact, we were tested on the news of the day. Because of such, we were aware of a young, wealthy NY real estate developer scamming the city and its residents. That was beginning about 50 years ago!! Thus, there was a general awareness from then on that Trump was a moral low-life.

This blog has a Page dedicated to my vision for tomorrow: 

Parental Control

To conservative ideologues, parental rights/control is the top authority regarding the welfare of children. Is that valid? Is that the best for the individual child and for society? Does a parent with an elementary school level of education have the authority to overrule experts in the spectrum of knowledge disciplines? Click on the link below for a short video by Beau of the Fifth Column for answers to these and other questions regarding this matter:

Let's talk about parents and education

Andy Borowitz: The History Of Anti-Intellectualism In The USA

"As the world struggles with war, inflation, and climate change, political leadership is needed now more than ever. Humorist Andy Borowitz believes good leadership is increasingly hard to find these days. His new book, “Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumber and Dumber,” looks at America’s embrace of anti-intellectualism. He joins Walter Isaacson to talk about this trend's danger to our democracy."

Click on the link below for a sobering interview:

How American Politicians Devolved Intellectually