General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Education and America .. WTF is wrong? [View all]Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)Community college is now teaching subjects that used to be taught in high school. Most CC students now have to take 2-3 courses just to make it to English 1A -- which brings one to approximately 9th grade level.
But what I'm referring to is more insidious than that. The latest debacle, of course is NCLB and RTTT because teachers are forced to teach to the test as opposed to teaching concepts and basic constructs. Consequently, students are asked to reach no further than level 1 on cognitive rigor scales. If students aren't taught critical thinking skills they're never taught to challenge; to question. All they know is how to be good consumers, not scholars.
But the decline started well before that NCLB and RTTT. I started teaching CC in the 1990's and the decline was evident even then. I happen to believe that that was planned and, believe it or not, the late Howard Zinn actually agreed with me (or I him).
Historically, one of the first groups to suffer oppression in an oppressive regime (dictatorship or fascism) is to suppress the academics. You can either kill them off or imprison them OR you can make sure that few new ones are made.