The Progressive Agenda Being Fulfilled
(by Tunya Audain 100815, comment to Blog School for Thought (SQE) on topic “Saying it as it is” 100814
http://www.societyforqualityeducation.org/index.php/blog/read/saying-it-as-it-is/ )
The deterioration of language skills is real and deliberate. It is a pervasive trend with direct connections to teacher
training where progressivism is the norm. Canadian Deans of Education have signed onto an Accord to produce teachers
to assume social and political roles, to contribute to social change and community transformation.
I recently read an article http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/book_reviews/97169.html
"John Dewey, Dumbing Down, and The Scandal of Dyslexia". The author concludes that Dewey and his buddies, being
socialists, “They were sick of individualism, the pioneer spirit, free enterprise, and people doing their own thing. John
Dewey wanted you to be a happy member of a group. You didn’t need that much literacy or knowledge. Dewey actually
saw these as impediments. He calls, especially in the early grades, for sharply curtailing the study of literature, history,
math, science, geography and such, in order to make room for social activities, specifically, ‘cooking, sewing, manual
training’”.
“To advance his sociopolitical visions, Dewey was eager to dilute content and diminish learning.”
All this is in line with what John Taylor Gatto has been saying in his “Dumbing Us Down. The Hidden Curriculum of
Compulsory Schooling”. Several times a winner of “Teacher of the Year Awards” in New York, when he quit teaching
he said he no longer wished to “hurt kids to make a living.“
Today I found this guest column (from EducationNews) by a teacher also deploring poor English and grammar in this
article “Grammar problems caused by ‘hyper-constructivism’”. http://betrayed-
whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/2010/08/grammar-problems-caused-by-hyper.html (from the blog, Betrayed*)
Robert Archer faults “constructivism” which, unfortunately still exists in teacher training. It’s a form of discovery-
learning and had Dewey as one of the historical figures influencing this development. (See Wikipedia for constructivism).
This is what Archer said: “Somehow, this grammar-is-imbedded movement is supposed to help students naturally take in
what proper grammar is (i.e., grammar by osmosis). It’s very much a hyper-constructivist approach to education; the
students are supposed to “discover” proper grammar on their own as they read good pieces. Then, somehow and some
way, they are to emulate these proper mechanical structures in their own writing. And if the students don’t quite “take it
all in,“ the teacher may take 2.5 minutes here and there to show them what a damn verb is.”
Is all this deliberate, manufactured, dumbing-down? To create a class of poorly educated mass with another class of elitist
rulers? Sounds very Plato to me – philosopher kings! Isn’t this what socialism is all about—We are all equal, but some
are more equal than others?
We need to find more essays and material about this deliberate capture of curriculum by left-wing progressives for their
political purposes. I found an excellent article on the hijacking of art education for the purpose of social justice, etc..
Very, very perceptive and scary. http://www.aristos.org/aris-10/hijacking.htm
Of course, science, math, literature are already seeing social justice themes but I haven’t seen any articles (good
references) as persuasive as the above art article.
Am I a conspiracy freak? I don’t think so. I see the progressive agenda being actualized everywhere. Progressives are
about a number of things, but their main thing is uniformity. NO CHOICES. That’s why they love government
monopoly education.
* Betrayed, the blog sounds like a great place to visit. This is their write-up:
Betrayed – Why Public Education Is Failing http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
Betrayed is an online chat forum for parents, teachers and community members to offer their thoughts on what’s wrong
with public education and how to make it work better for the students…Help teachers and parents take back the classroom
from those who have stolen it.