Reddit reviews Dumbing Us Down -25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling - 25th Anniversary Edition
We found 6 Reddit comments about Dumbing Us Down -25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling - 25th Anniversary Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
He sounds so much like me at his age! I've dubbed the problem of unschoolable creative kids "Artist's Syndrome." I'm not sure what you can do for him short of homeschooling, but you might want to check out the John Taylor Gatto books on schooling bright kids when you have a chance (Dumbing Us Down is a great one). You might also look into some alternative online schools as well (K12, etc), because it sounds like he is miserably depressed in the one he is in. Par for the course with Artist's Syndrome.
Kudos to you for handling all this at 19!
I can tell you how I think we get there, but I don't think we can know exactly what it'll look like.
I think we need to listen to more educators like this man (excuse the hokeyness of the video, it really is quite interesting and informative, and I suggest watching at 1.5x speed) who says we need a drastic overhaul of the education system in America, because we're being dumbed down.
Everyone alive today was born in the era of propaganda, so frankly we're already corrupted. We need to take that into account when we look at psychological studies -- everyone we test has been exposed to our society since birth, so their behaviors aren't necessarily indicative of humans by default.
In the video I linked above, Gatto says that the first requirement of elite private schools is to make certain that kids have a firm understanding of human nature before graduating. I think that this is necessary to teach all humans -- we have to know how we work! If certain people have a much better grasp on how humans work than others, they have enormous advantages. We need to even the playing field and give everyone the knowledge they need to protect their minds.
I also think we need to remove intellectual property law entirely. Humans deserve the knowledge collected by our predecessors. Information is power, and people are hoarding it for themselves when it could be used to better humanity.
> "everything" is best learned in "schools."
Yeah, like the only legit education is formal education.
> Underlying it all a pervasive notion that only "professional TEACHERS" should be teaching kids things (gov't schools, tech schools, college, company sponsored 'training' courses, etc).
True.
Check out this book if you already haven't:
https://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/dp/0865718547
> Yet they -- inexplicably (other than the above nonsense; and as I noted usually "mumbled" in an only semi-coherent manner, said as if they themselves don't really believe any of it) -- refused, or otherwise failed, to pass on that instruction to their own kids: I've known guys who work as mechanics who never even taught their own sons how to even CHECK fluids on a vehicle, much less CHANGE oil or do any other repair work (brakes, whatever). And absolutely ZERO instruction in anything else with "tools" etc.
Some of it might be insecurity. They want their kids to be dependent on them. That might one reason why there are so many 30 somethings still living at home.
> You have to seriously wonder how much the "wife/mom" (cue "suburban soccer mom" type meme) rules in those kinds of households/families ... just how completely emasculated, belittled, henpecked & controlled are these guys?
Seems to be a widespread phenomenon!
> like that the wife {despite probably NOT having actually obtained a college degree -- even a worthless one -- herself} nevertheless feels she married down; that she HATES the fact that hubby ever worked/works "blue collar"... and nevermind that said job/career pays for her home, clothes, food, vacations, etc etc etc {in fact that probably plays into it: resentment overriding/replacing gratitude or even appreciation/respect}.)
Yep. That is another widespread phenomenon. Those who actually "do" the work are not worthy of respect, at least not as much as those who are "in charge" while doing nothing productive. There is also the "nerd" lable that is applied to talented techies and engineers. They are considered lower status than sales and management types (not that I am implying that salespeople and managers types are all bad people, they are considered higher status by default).
> Yeah, like the only legit education is formal education.
This is what people seriously believe... even though the OPPOSITE is in fact true.
To wit:
And many other articles/studies besides -- not to mention various "anecdotal" verification (I've always been able to easily identify people who were "trained/certified" in mundane things like "How to use MS Office" -- versus those who are "self-taught" {self-motivated to learn from the manual, plus puttering around, etc} -- those who are "trained" are invariably almost entirely IN-competent {barely able to perform the most basic tasks}, whereas the self-taught tend to be anywhere from competent to SUPER-competent; and the same applies with a host of other things as well).
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>Check out this book if you already haven't:
>https://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/dp/0865718547
Can't recall if I've specifically read that one, but in general I am well aware of (and have read several/most of) Gatto's works*... and frankly, that book (and others like them) -- deep-dive though they seem to be -- actually BARELY scratch the surface of the REAL problems: the entire concept of "schooling" is broken/fallacious at nearly EVERY level (beyond the "plan/conspiracy" aspect that Gatto focuses on).
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* Also books by John Holt -- including "How Children Learn" and "How Children Fail"; and probably I would most highly recommend one of his LAST books (published posthumously) entitled "Learning All The Time"
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>Some of it might be insecurity. They want their kids to be dependent on them. That might one reason why there are so many 30 somethings still living at home.
Dependent... or CO-dependent; and yes that does indeed seem to be one VERY likely motive (increasingly so as people have fewer & fewer kids).
And -- even ignoring the near-pervasive frequency of narcissism and alcoholic (or child of alcoholic) codependency issues -- it stands to reason that a parent who has only one or two children WILL almost certainly have a higher degree of (unconscious/subconscious) motivation to "cling" to (and even undermine/disable) one or both of them so as to keep them around**, even more so as people's statistical likelihood of living to extreme old age increases; whereas the parents of prior generations (with a half-dozen or even a dozen or more kids), could almost take it for granted that one or more of them just naturally WOULD still be around/near and willing/able to help them.
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** The "worry/concern" that is oft-repeated here in /r/MGTOW -- i.e. the "Aren't you afraid of dying alone???" line -- is IMHO full-evidence/proof by itself that people are HIGHLY likely to do this to their kids.
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>Seems to be a widespread phenomenon!
Again, indeed. And increasingly MORE pervasive as "woman power" (state power acting on behalf of women) grows; IME nearly all "married guys" are at least partially "cucked" in this regard (even if & when they are not actually "technically" being "cucked/cuckolded").
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Very -- and increasingly MORE -- RARE is the man who "puts his foot down" and ACTUALLY "sets the rules" in his own home, regarding his own children. (And one of the reasons why I am NOT bothered about NOT having biological children -- 'cause there is no way that *I* would endure/allow myself to be turned into a doormat in that fashion -- I'd go down "fighting" to prevent it {which of course is ultimately pointless relative to the fate of the kids: doesn't do them a damned bit of good if you're dead, in jail, or forced to be absent from their home/unable to properly raise/guide them}.)
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>Yep. That is another widespread phenomenon. Those who actually "do" the work are not worthy of respect, at least not as much as those who are "in charge" while doing nothing productive. There is also the "nerd" lable that is applied to talented techies and engineers. They are considered lower status than sales and management types (not that I am implying that salespeople and managers types are all bad people, they are considered higher status by default).
Exactly... our society/civilization has become "perverse" in many many ways; sexual perversity is in fact sort of the LAST aspect of "perversity" to become manifest.
Not sure about their reason. Here’s mine.
Dumbing Us Down -25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling - 25th Anniversary Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0865718547/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_b8cVDbKFTKS4J
Also, the fucking Duggars forever poisoned the idea and cemented the negative connotation.
It's pathetic. I blame broken families and 'higher education.'
Critical thinking does exist. It is tangible, provable, teachable.
https://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117
https://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/dp/0865718547/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500933340&sr=1-3&keywords=john+taylor+gatto
Unfortunately, the indoctrination is so complete and the academic masses are so smug and arrogant, there's no getting through to them. They wear their ignorance like a shield.
What's so funny is that they have the zeal of a medieval Catholic clergyman. Haha, the irony is too deep. These are faith based Philistines. Only their faith is in a corrupted political ideology posing as science.