| Dumbing Us Down Many can not see the "Dumbing Down" that goes on in schools. I didn't at first either because we are conditioned not to see it. But since I was raised by a teacher in the system, I did see the inside view of the school systems at work. At the time I thought it was the natural order of things. I saw kids labeled. {all of them with one name or another} And the names would follow them throughout their entire time in the system. The teachers {try as they might} would almost always fall into this loop. I would hear, after school, the teachers gossiping about this child and that child. I saw anger in the teachers. Personally I saw the anger and frustration in my mother, who was no different then any other, when she came home after long days in the system. And before the first of the school year there would be like a bidding going on for this child or the other with comments like, "Watch out for this child, he is a troublemaker and will disrupt your class", "You have to keep your eye on her" and "He causes no trouble, his parents obviously raised him with respect". {No, I don't think labeling a kid as "good" is any better than them being labeled a "troublemaker", it still sets them in a mold} No they are not going to make the mistake and do this in front of the parents. {except for maybe trying to appease the parent to mold the child their way at home} I saw this because I was a child of a teacher. i saw the folders while playing in the classroom after school. I heard all the comments. When I was sick I didn't go home I laid in my mom's classroom and listened to the treatment of the kids. The vast amount of school time was not on learning anything of value. It was learning to walk in a straight line, don't chew gum, no talking in class, sitting for hours on end in a room quietly, raising your hand and asking publicly to go to the bathroom, no privacy at all..... And I thought it was ok. We were only kids anyway. We were a commodity where parents filled with guilt accepted tax increase after tax increase to make the system better, while all along kids were learning less and less. Now I see how unnatural the school system is. To pluck you away from your parents and limit their abilities. They teach you that you can't teach yourselves. That you can only learn by someone else teaching you. And there are so many adults that are the proof of that. So many think there are limits on what you can be when you "grow up". The fear is when you are limited to think that because of this {because you are a woman, blind,lame,labeled with ADD...} you can't accomplish that. That is teaching fear, that is Dumbing Us Down. This is seen by parents of every religion. For those who haven't read Gatto or Holt, below are a few of links {both were teachers and both saw this} |
| Link with some recommended books |
| MooneDreamer |
 |