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Our take on . . .
Dumbed-Down Education    
BONUS
Betcha didn't know we've been partnering up the Commies!
U.S. Education Secretary Signs Partnership with Chinese Communists Who Put Dissidents in Re-Education Camps
Soviets in the Classroom: America's Latest Education Fad
Baldy's Bombast, by Tom Kowitz

July 30, 2011_
My turn to brag. Finally.
The reason most people don't brag is that it's rude in polite society. Now, I'm not too concerned about the delicate sensibilities of members of polite society, so bragging is definitely an option for me. And yet, I don't brag. Here's why: I have never had anything to brag about. I'd brag my ass off if I could.

I'd brag about my '68 Camaro SS convertible, if I had one. I'd brag about my cats to no end if they did cool stuff like rescue little kids from burning buildings, instead of just sleeping all day every day for years. If I were a scratch golfer, I'd brag brag brag to no end, unlike the few scratch golfers I have known, who never talk about it. If I had arms and abs and a tush to kill, I would absolutely brag about them, leaving humility to those with better manners.

So my apparent humility and good manners are nothing of the sort. Humility has been forced upon me, because I haven 't had anything to brag about.

Until now.

The fall semester of the 2011-12 school year will be starting soon, and my 19-year-old daughter, who is the age of your typical incoming college sophomore, is an incoming college senior. Yes, she is two years ahead of schedule. Sadly, her GPA has suffered due to her heavy workload, and it now stands at 3.88.

Is she smarter than your typical incoming sophomore? Perhaps. Is she smarter than your typical smart incoming sophomore? I don't think so. She has accomplished what she has through hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, for which there is no substitute and for which she has no superior. She started the fall semester of the 2010-11 school year with thirty-three hours. She now has ninety. Think about that for a minute. Where twenty-four hours in a school year is considered full-time, thirty keeps one on pace to graduate in four years, and thirty-six is considered a heavy load, this kid piled up fifty-eight. Fifty-freakin'-eight.

How? Hard work, dedication, sacrifice.

I often remind her of the "Rules of Success" of John Wooden, legendary basketball coach at UCLA. Specifically, these two rules, which are closely related:

"Concentrate on what you can control"; and

"Focus on the effort not the result."

How interesting: Wooden constantly reminded his players to focus on effort, not winning, yet for many years all UCLA did was win (in Wooden's last nine years as a head coach, his teams were 259-12 and won eight national championships, including a seven-year stretch in which they were 205-5 with seven national championships).

I also remind her of what Danny Thomas told his daughter Marlo: "I raised you to be a thoroughbred." Except I modify it. I remind my daughter that Twice A Prince, My Gallant, Private Smiles, and Sham were thoroughbreds, too. They were the thoroughbreds who were at the starting gate with Secretariat at the 1973 Belmont Stakes but were in another zip code when Secretariat crossed the finish line. I tell my daughter: "You're Secretariat." I tell her that thoroughbreds don't have a chance against her. She believes me.

Besides giving a little advice now and then, I have had very little to do with my daughter's work ethic. She definitely doesn't get her scholastic aptitude from her parents. If we can take any credit at all, it's not for what we have brought to her, but rather for what we have kept away from her. To name a few: daycare, television, school, junk food, and fluoride. She has taken it from there.

My greatest reward by far is that she loves hanging out with her dad. Sorry about the bragging.
Charlotte Iserbyt
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America
We're going to cheat on this one and let Charlotte Iserbyt, our guest on April 24, 2010 and author of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America handle it. Check out  www.deliberatedumbingdown.com. Here's an excerpt from her bio there:

Charlotte Iserbyt is the consummate whistleblower! Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms.