ideologically driven education
Myra remembers angrily how her education was blighted by compulsory religious instruction spewing out anti-communist propaganda and that of her daughter's with compulsory hygiene instruction spewing out anti-smoking propaganda. Now, she is hopping mad that her grand-children's education is not only going to be blighted by similar political agendas -- this time global warming -- but also by a complete curriculum change.
"Was education ever intended to educate children -- to stretch their minds and inspire them?" asks Myra. "Or was it always intended to be ideologically driven by whatever political agenda was in vogue?"
"I've heard that a complete curriculum change is being proposed -- to replace subjects such as geography and mathematics with more politically relevant subjects such as global warming and financial planning."
"Hello? Since when has global warming been established as an undisputed fact?" asks Myra. "And, although I like the idea of slanting subjects towards a practical application I am not happy about my grandchildren being force fed propaganda and being denied a rigorous academic grounding in time-honored subjects."
"Who are the gnomes responsible for proposing these changes?" asks Myra. "And how dare they dumb down our children more than they have been dumbed down already."
"Grammar started going out of fashion when I was at school -- along with classical Latin and Greek," sighs Myra. "My mother still corrects me for my grammatical errors and wonders how an ignoramus such as I ever gained a university education!"
"Likewise, spelling and the times-tables went out of fashion when my daughter was at school," sighs Myra."Nevertheless, she gained a higher degree than I did and not wanting to be like my mother I never dared correct her or take away her calculator."
"I truly believe that academic standards are dropping with each generation," says Myra. "I would never have passed an entrance examination of my mother's era, and similarly my daughter would never have passed one of my era."
"And, I believe that for every political agenda pushed into schools, some vital academic knowledge is being pushed out."
"Is it the aim of our educational gurus to churn out a bunch of politically correct idiots or what?
"I remember being scared out of my wits by Reds under the beds and the wrath of God when I was at school," says Myra. "And my teachers achieved this politically inspired instruction by dropping grammar, Latin and Greek."
"Similarly, my daughter was scared out of her wits by the evils of smoking and did so at the expense of a thorough grounding in spelling and mental arithmetic."
"So, what are our political masters going to drop from the curriculum in order to indoctrinate the next generation into being good little green environmentalists?"
"Oh, I know, it's going to be history, isn't it?"
"We're going to exchange history for current affairs so that the next generation never gets a chance to learn from the mistakes of previous generations, right?"
"Of course, past events significant to the political agenda being pushed will be mentioned," says Myra, "but all of the blood and guts, the heroes and the villains that we learned about will be dropped, and children will never be able to form their own opinions about anything."
"When teachers push political opinion rather than education and become more concerned about political correctness than academic excellence, we are doomed," says Myra. "Children will be indoctrinated, not educated."
"Okay, I survived my indoctrination -- there never were any Reds under the beds and God was never watching me with an eagle eye -- and my daughter survived hers to become a smoker of all things," laughs Myra, "but did we really need to learn this rubbish and do so at the expense of academic learning?"
"In years to come, global warming like everything else will have lost credibility," says Myra, "and I shudder to think of a world populated by grammatical dunces, bad spellers and people without any grounding whatsoever in mental arithmetic, geography, history, Latin or Greek."
"To be totally cynical," says Myra, "it's as if our political masters want to take us back the Dark Ages of illiterate masses and despotic rulers."
"Was education ever intended to educate children -- to stretch their minds and inspire them?" asks Myra. "Or was it always intended to be ideologically driven by whatever political agenda was in vogue?"
"I've heard that a complete curriculum change is being proposed -- to replace subjects such as geography and mathematics with more politically relevant subjects such as global warming and financial planning."
"Hello? Since when has global warming been established as an undisputed fact?" asks Myra. "And, although I like the idea of slanting subjects towards a practical application I am not happy about my grandchildren being force fed propaganda and being denied a rigorous academic grounding in time-honored subjects."
"Who are the gnomes responsible for proposing these changes?" asks Myra. "And how dare they dumb down our children more than they have been dumbed down already."
"Grammar started going out of fashion when I was at school -- along with classical Latin and Greek," sighs Myra. "My mother still corrects me for my grammatical errors and wonders how an ignoramus such as I ever gained a university education!"
"Likewise, spelling and the times-tables went out of fashion when my daughter was at school," sighs Myra."Nevertheless, she gained a higher degree than I did and not wanting to be like my mother I never dared correct her or take away her calculator."
"I truly believe that academic standards are dropping with each generation," says Myra. "I would never have passed an entrance examination of my mother's era, and similarly my daughter would never have passed one of my era."
"And, I believe that for every political agenda pushed into schools, some vital academic knowledge is being pushed out."
"Is it the aim of our educational gurus to churn out a bunch of politically correct idiots or what?
"I remember being scared out of my wits by Reds under the beds and the wrath of God when I was at school," says Myra. "And my teachers achieved this politically inspired instruction by dropping grammar, Latin and Greek."
"Similarly, my daughter was scared out of her wits by the evils of smoking and did so at the expense of a thorough grounding in spelling and mental arithmetic."
"So, what are our political masters going to drop from the curriculum in order to indoctrinate the next generation into being good little green environmentalists?"
"Oh, I know, it's going to be history, isn't it?"
"We're going to exchange history for current affairs so that the next generation never gets a chance to learn from the mistakes of previous generations, right?"
"Of course, past events significant to the political agenda being pushed will be mentioned," says Myra, "but all of the blood and guts, the heroes and the villains that we learned about will be dropped, and children will never be able to form their own opinions about anything."
"When teachers push political opinion rather than education and become more concerned about political correctness than academic excellence, we are doomed," says Myra. "Children will be indoctrinated, not educated."
"Okay, I survived my indoctrination -- there never were any Reds under the beds and God was never watching me with an eagle eye -- and my daughter survived hers to become a smoker of all things," laughs Myra, "but did we really need to learn this rubbish and do so at the expense of academic learning?"
"In years to come, global warming like everything else will have lost credibility," says Myra, "and I shudder to think of a world populated by grammatical dunces, bad spellers and people without any grounding whatsoever in mental arithmetic, geography, history, Latin or Greek."
"To be totally cynical," says Myra, "it's as if our political masters want to take us back the Dark Ages of illiterate masses and despotic rulers."
Labels: anti-smoking, communism, curriculum, dumb down, education, global warming, politics, propaganda, religion
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