Dumbing down of our nation. (Post #3)

     In the last post we covered the discovery of fiat currency and dollar valuation. Today, we are going to cover how the education system is failing our students in the area of economics. I know I promised a post on banking and credit, but that one is going to take some explaining, so that will be another post a bit later.
     Okay, so...no real economics in school. Resources on this one are a bit sparse, as I think the education system feels it is doing okay. There were plenty of blogs from teachers and parents to the contrary though, so there is a definite disconnect between what we feel should be taught, and what administrators are allowing to be taught.
     I came across a blog by an economics teacher saying that the students were not learning simple market concepts such as supply and demand, and basic principles of capitalism. He states, "The MME test expects students to know basic principles about economics, and yet the students who graduate from our school don't have the foggiest notions of supply and demand, and when I talk about inflation and investment, they get blank looks in their eyes."In this department discussion with the other teachers, he was summarily shouted down.  "I tried to bring this up, and got lectured by two 'veteran' teachers about how economics should be taught- these two teachers thought that scientific principles were beyond students comprehension, so instead spent class time debating such things as minimum wage, CEO compensations, buy-American policies, and low pay for teachers." He went on to point out that the Great Depression would be a great economics model to use to bring past and present together, "suddenly most of the department was against me- they were upset that the curriculum attempted to be balanced when dealing with the Great Depression". Apparently the consensus of teachers believe that there is nothing to be learned from history, and that a free market system will fail, all the while ignoring the fact that our 'free market system' has not been free, has not been allowed to run it's course, and has been riddled with government interference from the start. What most fail to realize, is that the concept of supply and demand will create a self-correction to the markets, if left to run, unfettered by regulation. A free market system is always self -correcting.
Okay, so there's one opinion of what's wrong with our schools. Let's move on to some more authoritative sources.
I came across a disturbing article on washingtonpolicy.org.

A nationwide survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), in partnership with the University of Connecticut, of 14,000 college students from across the nation. The survey found that when college seniors were tested on four subjects – American history, government, foreign policy and economics – the average correct score was just over 50%.The study revealed two other uncomfortable findings. First, the average college senior scored only 1.5% better on the civics exams than did entering freshman. Second, in 30% of the colleges, outgoing seniors experience negative learning, they actually knew less about civics than did the incoming freshmen.

     That's not the most disturbing part, Manweller goes on to say,

The first step is for each college and university to assess its own institution. The ISI studied 50 colleges. But each college has its own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe a particular university does a great job teaching American history, but not such a good job teaching economics or political science. Just as “one-size-fits-all” does not work in public policy, it probably will not work in fixing our institutions of higher education. Once education leaders at each college knows their own particular weaknesses, then they will know where to concentrate their resources. 

     Do you see the problem?  I do: "The first step is for each college and university..."   While it is understood that the study was on collegiate level students, the problem lies not in changing the higher education system, but in the primary level schools. Back when our country was first founded, the boys studied higher math, Greek,Latin, science, celestial navigation (navigating ships by the stars), geography, history, fencing, social etiquette, and plantation management and it was standard fare at the elementary level! The poor learned how to read and write at home, and those who went to school, the upper class were taught by Classical Trivium methods.

The English were the predominant settlers in the New World and as a result education in colonial America was patterned on the English model. It originally developed as a two-track system with people from the lower classes receiving minimal instruction and only learning to read and write, calculate and receive religious instruction. The upper classes were allowed to pursue an education beyond the basics and oftentimes attended Latin grammar or secondary schools where they learned Greek and Latin and studied the classics in preparation for a college education.

     Over the last two hundred some years, we have been dumbing down our education system. If the goal, as they say, is to bring the American schools back into the upper echelon of global education, then why are they pumping our schools full of socialist do-good-er, P.C. programs and gutting the basic academic principles needed for our youth to go out and be competitive in a global economy? The answer is the same. The elite upper classes wish to keep the lower class dumbed down. The more the lower class spends their time wringing their hands over global warming, saving trees and air, and introducing them to deviant sexual behaviors, the less the upper classes have to worry about the sheep sticking their noses into their illegal trading practices, tax evasion, and backdoor deals. It always comes out, and often heard from the political elite these days," the common people are too dumb to understand what is going on, we will tell them what's good for them", or "you wouldn't understand it, so I won't waste my time to have to explain it to you".
     We are now into the third generation of this socialist rhetoric being in our schools, and it's no surprise why our economy is falling apart. The economy is being lead by those who either do not understand it, or those who do, and are deceiving the sheep that their elitist deceptive practices are how it is suppose to work.
     At this point, all I can say is thank God for the boom in homeschooling. We may yet have a chance to retire with a peace of mind that may only come with a revolution of the young, who are willing to stand up and say this con game is over!