| the deliberate dumbing down of america - A Chronological Paper Trail: A Chronological Paper Trail |  | List Price: $40.00
Buy New: $29.20
You Save: $10.80 (27%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $29.20
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 27 reviews)
Sales Rank: 308453
Category: Book
Authors: Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, Charlotte Iserbyt-thomson
Publisher: 3D Research
Studio: 3D Research
Manufacturer: 3D Research
Label: 3D Research
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: third
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 715
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.8
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.5
ISBN: 0966707109
Dewey Decimal Number: 370.9730945
EAN: 9780966707106
ASIN: 0966707109
Publication Date: September 1, 1999
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Mostly for John Taylor Gatto Readers...? November 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having just started on the free version of the book on the author's
website, I agree with most of the 5-star reviews here, if not in
letter, then certainly in spirit: education in the USA has been
under focused and intentional assault for many decades.
Yes: 'assault'; Iserbyt is right about this.
While I agree (for the most part) with the axe she grinds, the
grinding noise in the prose is can be quite distracting. I'll
hope to habituate to her tone and style.
I do NOT, however, agree with the author's disappointing conflation
of evolution (a theory she does not accept) with Skinnerism and
Pavlovian conditioning; this is an embarrassing and horrific
category error.
I also disagree with (and recoil from) her statement on evolution
on page G-23 which characterizes evolution as the world view
that "...man is an animal without soul, conscience, intellect,
creativity [or] free will."
The author is free to be a creationist; her book appears (at
this early stage of reading) to be excellent. What should not
escape comment is her mischaracterization of the theory of
evolution, or the believers in that theory. Do evolution
believers think "...humans are soulless, mindless creatures
with no conscience and no creativity"? Really?
Because her ideas are so important, and her research and bona fides
are so solid, I stifle the impulse to back away from her writing
in these few spots. I suggest other readers do the same.
A final gripe: How does anyone involved in any way in "education"
write a book without mentioning John Taylor Gatto?
John Taylor Gatto coined the phrase "Dumbing Us Down" in association
with public schooling in one of his book titles. Gatto's BRILLIANT
book "The Underground History of American Education" is the most
passionate, lovely, heart-breaking, brilliant, and deeply-researched
book on education I have ever seen. Or expect to see. If you haven't
read it, I invite your attention to a free copy of it on
"johntaylorgatto" (put in three w's, dotcom, etc.) Gatto Alert: He's
JUST published a brand-new book; also on his website.
Back to Iserbyt: A creationist who also mischaracterizes the theory of
evolution, believers therein, and who also bends over backwards to
omit reference to the brilliant and seminal work of John Taylor
Gatto...it's hard to give this book 5 stars.
But Five Stars it gets, simply because of the arduous and courageous
research author Iserbyt has apparently done. And because of the
importance of her message. And because she did it while being a mom,
holding down a job, and being deeply politically involved. For that,
we owe her significant thanks.
Reads like a persuasive essay, and persuasive it is! October 16, 2008
Though many people may find the author's thesis difficult to believe, the mountains of documentation and hair-raising quotes from bureaucrats provide more than enough proof to support that thesis.
Try reading an online forum beneath a news article on any reputable news web site. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling are atrocious. The federal bureaucrats cried "CRISIS!" in order to gain further control over the curricula taught in local schools. Then they proceeded to create a crisis that is now evident on almost any online blog.
On that note, beware of those crying for an economic crisis now. Their motives are the same. Declare a crisis, and then seize control to "fix" the problem. That's the pattern.
Thanks to Charlotte Iserbyt for documenting and self-publishing this expose` on the state of public schools today. Check out www.schoolandstate.com for more answers to the dilemma.
Whose Children Are They? July 12, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
America's public schools really don't belong to the American public. They belong to the federal government, not the several state governments as some might imagine and certainly not to the parents of the 50 million children who attend public schools. Federal dollars decide what is taught and not taught in public schools, so if you're wondering why Johnny can't read, write, add and subtract but knows all about rain forests, 3rd world countries and condoms, you can thank your representative and senator who support the teachers unions that beg for those all-important federal dollars that are used to dumb down Johnny, ensuring he learns no more than what Big Brother wants him to learn. It's a frightning scenario, but unfortunately, it's true. Someone doesn't want your kid to learn the verbal skills that enable him to think independently or the math skills that allow him to work independently. Independent thinking goes against the social order. We must work together as a group, not as individuals accountable only to God. We're accountable to each other but most of all to Big Brother. Remember that the next time you question whether your local school has the "right" to teach your 2nd grader about sexual orientation or why your high school senior's SAT score isn't good enough to get into that preferred college. You know, the one most of the rich kids go to. Iserbyt's research proves the government believes you give up your parental rights when you send your children to its schools. If you doubt it, consider some of our more recent federal court decisions. If you disagree with these decisions, it seems you have to decide whether you want to leave your children in Big Brother's care or put your children in a private school or Christian school or home school them yourself.
 Can't see the forest for the trees June 13, 2007
6 out of 25 found this review helpful
The author posits that, since at least 1880, US education has been developed with the goal of producing an army of worker-bots, and that to do this, education has been engineered to destroy the cultural matrix that produced the author's ideal --- the rugged individualist, the "God-fearing, educated man of the early twentieth century."
The author overlooks the fact that in the early 20th century, education was mostly confined to white males of the middle and upper economic strata. She also assumes that fear of God was more prevalent then than now, which seems ridiculous in these times of crusading politicians and burgeoning mega-churches.
The book is a chronology, comprising excerpts from the published works and speeches of noted educators, social theorists, psychologists, sociologists, and other "experts," which she claims prove the existence of a movement to subvert traditional American values. This plot, she believes, was rooted in the desire of American industrialists Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, et al., to create a pliable workforce out of unbending Americans in response to the global convergence of business, politics and culture which they envisioned.
A basic fallacy of the book, I believe, lies in ascribing to classroom teachers vast powers to mold personality, alter values, and channel behavior.
The underlying problem is this: The author sees the trees and descries an orchard producing poisonous fruit. But the orderly planting she perceives to be the work of diabolical Designers is most likely only a tangled forest grown out of the chaotic strivings of humans struggling in utter darkness to improve their world.
That said, if you overlook the conspiracy theorizing, "Dumbing Down" offers an interesting overview of the development of modern educational theory.
 Paranoia April 18, 2007
4 out of 22 found this review helpful
It may be sincere, but its effect on many is probably to discredit better and more carefully thought-out criticisms of modern schooling. Read someone like John Taylor Gatto instead, who has much less of a questionable ax to grind.
|
|
|
