The Collapse of American Education
Paul Craig Roberts
Forty percent of US fourth graders cannot read. Even fewer can read at their grade level. One teacher responsible for 110 eighth graders reports that only two can read at grade level. https://www.bitchute.com/video/M8fPk94kCupI
Teachers report that kids are not capable of comprehending the content of written material, and that thinking and working out the answer to a problem is beyond their ability.
The 15 minute video in the URL above is worth your time. It shows us that we are raising a generation that is incapable of functioning in any job, or understanding domestic and foreign concerns that require public input in a democracy. In effect, without an educated and thinking public, there can be no democracy. Therefore, the failure of education means the replacement of our political system with something else.
The information in the video blames technology, especially artificial intelligence, which is beginning to undermine the comprehension powers of adults as well. The latter part of the video might strike some as a case for better teacher pay, but as the video makes clear pay is not the reason teachers are leaving education.
The adverse impact of artificial intelligence on learning is just the latest stage in the collapse of education. In previous articles, I have dated the decline in education from the destruction of neighborhood schools. People of the same socio-economic class fit together in more manageable ranges of ability. This makes it possible to hold all students in class to the same standard. Some do better than others, but there are not large differences that result in many who cannot fit within the standard range.
The neighborhood schools were destroyed by social engineering or the integration of different socio-economic classes under the same standard. The result was there were too many who could not meet the standard. Instead of questioning the policy, the blame was placed on racism. To avoid racism the educational standards were lowered. This let the Genie out of the bottle. Other deterioration followed, and the classroom degenerated into chaos and loss of teacher control. Today teachers say they are behavioral managers, not teachers.
Another adverse development was the creation of education departments in universities. In my early schooling years, education degrees were new on the scene. Those who taught my generation had degrees in the subjects that they taught. The math teacher had a math degree.The history teacher had a degree in history. The English teacher had an English degree, and so on. Most of the teachers were teaching because they love their subject, and their appreciation of the subject often passed on to the students and gave them an interest in math, history, language. Teachers had competence in the subject matter instead of in educational theory.
Today we already experience the decline in competence of graduates. Checkout clerks are not permitted to exchange for customers the equivalent in smaller bills for a larger one, because they don’t know how to do it. Customer service representatives are very limited in the help that they can provide. A real problem has to be moved up a level or two to a supervisor. To get an issue resolved today can require 30 minutes or one hour or half a day. I remember when issues were resolved in three minutes and that whoever answered the phone had the authority to resolve the issue. Today the time it takes to resolve the simplest issue is extraordinary.
As the current generation being educated is content to ask AI for answers, they will never be able to answer a question themselves. Everyone will think the same, which will be whatever AI answers. Therefore, those who control the database for AI will control understanding. Moreover, there will be no one capable of challenging the narrative in the AI database.
The consequences of this is extraordinary. Everyone will think the same. Diversity will not exist. Those who control the database will have total control. Humanity simply ceases to exist.
These are the real problems that we face, not whether we should destroy Iran for Israel, or whether Gaza should be turned into a resort. Does the fact that the real issues are unaddressed mean that the educational collapse has already gone so far that we can no longer think clearly and comprehend the real threats that we face?