Summary: The case for conspiracy is simple: the public schools couldn’t have become so dysfunctional by accident. When bad things keep happening, maybe somebody likes it that way. —– Education statistics in the United States tell a grim story. The news always seems to be bad. Why is that? I’ve argued for many years that […]

Summary: Constructivism is not just anti-knowledge, it’s also anti-minorities and anti-poor. The less you know, the less you will ever know, thanks to this destructive fad. —- Constructivism is the latest fad burning through American public schools. Here’s a quick definition: children are supposed to invent their own new versions of all knowledge, while teachers […]

Summary: The premise of public education is that children will be educated and thereby lifted up to a better future. The reality is sometimes more cynical, as our elite educators scramble to promote their ideological agenda. ——- Probably the most famous example of world-class cynicism is the wrought-metal sign above the gate into Auschwitz. Three […]

It’s generally agreed that the public schools are sub-par and could be much improved. But how? Everyone seems to assume we need some big new concept, and who cares what it costs. We hear relentless shilling for Constructivism, 21st Century Skills, and now National Standards. Right on cue, Obama is out of the gate with […]

Imagine the chagrin of our elite educators. They have labored for a century to purge content, facts, and knowledge from the classroom. This was a long march indeed, finally culminating in almost total victory. Students were taught little. They learned little. They knew little. As the great John Dewey said years ago, school is properly […]

The following plea–written 55 years ago and addressed to all the teachers of America–is still solid gold today: “You are a grade-school teacher. I know that you are doing a conscientious job, that you work overtime for very little pay, that you love children and are proud of your profession. Aren’t you getting tired of […]

All statistics tell the same story: we’re living in a period of educational decline. Despite ever larger expenditures, American students know less and less. “This is a huge and unexpected mystery,” according to Bruce Price, founder of Improve-Education.org. “One-room schools, where a solitary teacher might have to deal with 30 students of different ages and […]

Perhaps you saw the exchange on television.

Summary: In dumbing down the country, the Education Establishment had dumbed itself down! ————————————————– Years ago I wrote a sci-fi story in which disease wiped out the thousands of people living in a huge space station. All the technology continued on autopilot; sensors, missiles, and robots perfectly defended the space station. Humans approaching the station […]

Summary: Never Mind the Barbarians Outside the Gates. What About the Ones Inside? ——————————- Ever since history began, there were always bad guys trying to smash through the gates. Sometimes the barbarians had a bigger army or greater cunning; but by common agreement “barbarians” are always the less civilized, the less educated. They were the […]