Making American Children Stupid

On the education front the bad news keeps coming. America’s schoolchildren are becoming dumber. They are less competent in basic English and basic math. Numerous news outlets have reported the results of the latest tests.

Here, from the New York Times:

America’s fourth and eighth graders are losing ground in their ability to read literature and academic texts, according to a rigorous national assessment released Wednesday that is likely to fuel concerns over student achievement after decades of tumult on the educational landscape.

Two out of three children did not meet the standards for reading proficiency set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the Education Department.

The dismal results reflected the performance of about 600,000 students in reading and math, whose scores made up what is called the “nation’s report card.” The average eighth-grade reading score declined in more than half of the states compared with 2017, the last time the test was given. The average score in fourth-grade reading declined in 17 states. Math scores remained relatively flat in most states.

Only 35 percent of fourth graders were proficient in reading in 2019, down from 37 percent in 2017; 34 percent of eighth graders were proficient in reading, down from 36 percent. Overall student progress in reading has stalled in the last decade, with the highest performers stagnating and the lowest-achieving students falling further behind.

Not a very good record. Nothing to be proud of. The Times, like other major media outlets believes that we can solve it all by spending more money on education. None of them recognize that students in charter schools like New York’s Success Academies are outperforming their peers, even their peers in the suburbs. And none of them recognize that the throw-more-money-at-it approach is the teachers’ union policy. You know about the teachers’ unions: with the help of the Democratic politicians they own, they are trying to shut down charter schools.

The stories ignore these points. They also ignore the fact, reported by Stephen Kruiser on Pajamas Media (via Maggie’s Farm) and by Joy Pullman in The Federalist, that the children whose educations have been sacrificed were taught according to the Common Core program.

Pullman explains:

On the same day the NAEP results were released, the college testing organization ACT released  a report showing that the high school class of 2019’s college preparedness in English and math is at seniors’ lowest levels in 15 years. These students are the first to have completed all four high school years under Common Core.

“Readiness levels in English, reading, math, and science have all decreased since 2015, with English and math seeing the largest decline,” the report noted. Student achievement declined on ACT’s measures among U.S. students of all races except for Asian-Americans, whose achievement increased.

Kruiser adds another salient point, namely that schools no longer care about teaching children to read and to count. They have become indoctrination mills, promulgating the dogmas of modern radicalism:

What is left out of the reports cited in the Federalist's article is the fact that -- despite all protestations to the contrary -- most public schools are more interested in liberal indoctrination than education. It's more important to terrorize children with apocalyptic climate change messages than to teach them to read.

To advance their social justice agenda schools around the nation are trying to close the achievement gap between different groups of students by dumbing down the best students… so that the less capable students will feel less bad.

The Daily Caller reports:

School systems across the country are seeking to abolish honors classes, teach how math has been used to oppress people, and let truant students into gifted schools. Advocates say the moves are aimed at diminishing an achievement gap between demographic groups.

And then they blame it all on insufficient government spending.