Dumbing Down Our Kids - Why America's Children Feel Good About Themselves but Can't Read, Write, or Add

I actually agree with the author's basic premise that the public education system is too worried about everything except the academic education of our children. I started reading this book prepared to nod my head and say, "uh, huh" while agreeing with his clever way of stating what I already think. I read the first several chapters and then just started skimming over headings. The author, while clearly passionate about his subject matter, keeps saying the same thing over and over. Perhaps, as publically educated readers, he believes we will not understand his message unless he states in 200 times in 100 different ways. I would be very interested in reading a new, abridged, version of this book where Mr. Skyes states his ideas just one time--clearly enough to be understood by his target audience (who I never could honestly identify.) In This Book, Sykes Argues That The School Wars Of The 1990s Will Be The Defining Cultural And Political Debate Of Our Time. While Many Parents Bask In The Glow Of Complacency About Their Own Children's Education, Dumbing Down Our Kids Documents The Collapse Of Standards In Our Schools, The Flight From Learning, And The Triumph Of Mediocre, Feel-good Education That Is More Concerned With Pumping Up Self-esteem Than It Is With Passing On Knowledge. This Dubious Triumph Includes The Latest Educational Fad, Outcome Based Education. Although Known By Different Names In Some States, Obe Is The Most Recent In A Long Series Of Reforms That Have Eroded Our Schools. Charles Sykes Traces These Fads From Their Roots In The Early Progressive Theories Of John Dewey, Through Dick And Jane And Spot, Life Adjustment, New Math, Mastery Learning, And Other Reforms-gone-wrong. Sykes Concludes With A Checklist For Parents, Students, And Teachers Who Want To Evaluate Their Schools, And A Series Of Recommendations To Restore Quality Learning To America. Dumbing Down America's Kids. Scenes From The Front: Mere Facts -- Andrea's Complaint -- Dumbing Down Our Kids -- Losing The Race -- Scenes From The Front: An Endangered Species I -- The American Way Of Denial -- Dumbing Down Our Schools. Scenes From The Front: How Did Einstein Feel? -- Feelings -- The Religion Of Self-esteem -- Scenes From The Front: The Mission Statement -- The Attack On Excellence -- Scenes From The Front: Leaders And Followers -- The Making Of An Educationist -- Scenes From The Front: I Wanted To Be A Teacher -- The New Illiteracy -- Why Johnny Can't Add, Subtract, Multiply, Or Divide (but Still Feels Good About Himself) -- Dumbing Down The Texts -- Scenes From The Front: The Political Classroom I -- Dumbing Down The Tests -- Scenes From The Front: The Political Classroom Ii -- Moral Dumbing Down. The Values Wasteland -- Telling On Mommy And Daddy -- Doctor, Doctor -- The Attack On Learning. The Attack On Learning -- Scenes From The Front: 1928 -- 1958 -- Educational Wastelands -- Scenes From The Front: Mold -- Reform And Counterreform. The Blob -- Outcome Based Education -- Goals 2000 And The Counterreformation -- Scenes From The Front: An Endangered Species Ii -- Schools That Work -- Scenes From The Front: Barclay -- The Coming Educational Revolution. Charles J. Sykes. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

Dumbing Down Our Kids is a searing indictment of America's secondary schools-one that every parent and teacher should read.

Dumbing Down Our Kids offers a full-scale investigation of the new educational fad, sometimes called Outcome Based Education -the latest in a long series of reforms that has eroded our schools.

-Why our kids rank to, or at the bottom of international tests in math and science

-Why self-esteem has supplanted grades and genuine achievements

-How the educational establishment lowers standards and quality in our schools-while continuing to raise their budgets and our school taxes

-The dumbing down of the curriculum so everyone can pass-but no one excel

-How parents, students, and teachers can evaluate schools and restore quality learning

From the author of A Nation of Victims and Profscam comes a searing indictment of our nation's secondary schools and how they cheat our children. Sykes offers a full-scale investigation of the latest trend in schooling--sometimes called Outcome-Based Education--the most recent and most potentially shocking decline in the basic skills of American students.

Dumbing Down Our Kids is a searing indictment of America's secondary schools-one that every parent and teacher should read. Dumbing Down Our Kids offers a full-scale investigation of the new educational fad, sometimes called "Outcome Based Education" -the latest in a long series of "reforms" that has eroded our schools. * Why our kids rank near to, or at the bottom of international tests in math and science * Why "self-esteem" has supplanted grades and genuine achievements * How the educational establishment lowers standards and quality in our schools - while continuing to raise their budgets and our school taxes * The dumbing down of the curriculum so everyone can pass - but no one can excel * How parents, students, and teachers can evaluate schools and restore quality learning As featured on the Today show, C-Span, and NPR's Talk of the Nation, among others, this searing indictment of America's secondary schools offers a full-scale investigation of the new educational fad, sometimes called "Outcome Based Education"--The latest in a long series of "reforms" which has eroded our schools--which supplants grades and genuine achievements with "self-esteem." Offers an expose of American public education, charging that faddish educational theories and the drive to inflate students' self-esteem are causing standards to decline