are we dumbing down ????

Question

with 35% of middle school students under the impression that the U.S. fought with (meaning not against) the Germans in world war 2, The "cold war " was the first time germs were used in combat,and E=Mc2 is a musical group from Canada should we be stepping up our efforts as parents to ensure literacy ???

Answer 1

I believe that parents are the single biggest factor in a child's development when it comes to intelligence and literacy (of every sort). My mother used to be an elementary school teacher in the 1960s. She quit because she hated the job, but she taught me and my sister to read and basic math and history before we started kindergarten. I grew up on Masterpiece Theatre. My sister and I were both in advanced classes all through school. My mom helped to raise my niece and nephew, who are apparently geniuses by modern standards. My niece is six years old and in first grade, and gets sent to the fourth grade class for reading. My nephew is eight and in third grade and gets sent to the fifth grade class for reading; he actually reads at a sixth grade level but that's a different school. All this simply because they had someone who read to them from the time they were infants and emphasized the importance of reading and learning. There are a few other similar kids in their classes, but most are dull-witted and uninterested and more excited about TV and video games than learning. And yeah, I chalk it up to parents who set bad examples and don't work hard enough to install a love of learning in their kids. That's the biggest hurdle - it doesn't matter how good your schools and teachers are, if the kids aren't motivated, they won't learn very much.

Answer 2

http://mwhodges.home.att.net/1895-test.htm



Go to the above address and take the 8th Grade 1895 graduating test.



See if you can pass it.



Then answer your own question.



In my community prior to 1975 our students could match any in the country. Today those who enter the 9th Grade will have in excess of a 39 percent dropout rate by the time that class completes the 12 grade.



Even among those who complete all twelve years a significant number have trouble reading. There is even a larger group which cannot read with any degree of comprehension.



Go to any store (such as a McDonald's) where young work and watch them make change from a simple transaction. They can hardly read the computer to determine what change the customer has coming and they certainly have difficulty counting change back to the customer and most often hand the change to the customer saying, 'here is your change.'



Certainly don't ask a student to parse a sentence.

Answer 3

Absolutely not,



I think we have more information at out fingertips then every before. The result of that is we need to prioritize what information is important and what is not.



Unfortuneatly this does include some basic things like arguably useless history, Long division, graphing of any sort, spelling, and the thousand of other useless things we make our poor children memorize that will never ever be used as an adult.



We leave in a world that is far more complicated then it was 20 years ago and our kids have to cram much more information into there heads in order to survie in society. Simple functions like reading email, maintaining a pc, online chat, using a search engine, using a message forum, having a cell phone, etc... are paramount to a child having a future in almost any office setting.



Having a employee that can explain to me the theory of relativity or what the heck that cat is in quantum physics really means nothing other then idle chat at the water cooler...

Answer 4

Watch Jay Walking on Leno. Many peoples' knowledge is atrocious.



And, yes, literacy is the correct word. For example, you could say historical literacy. I've seen the reference often.



Until parents value eduation and make sure that they support efforts of schools to increase the difficulty of curriculum we will continue to fall behind many other developed countries, especially in the sciences. Kids will naturally focus on the opposite sex and pop cultural vs. learning. We have to fight it.

Answer 5

I don't know if we're dumbing down or simply asking too much of our teachers. My wife is a teacher, so I know how hard they work and how much time and effort they put into their jobs. At least here in Tennessee, teachers are now asked to teach character to the students. The responsibility of teaching morals and values to our children should be the parents' burden, not the teachers', but teachers have to do a lot of this now simply because too many parents are lazy when it comes to raising their children. Also, we as a nation have become so PC that we have handcuffed our teachers. This is the message our law-makers have sent to our teachers - "You can't paddle them because it's abuse, you can't take away recess time because they're fat and need the exercise, you can't say anything that may hurt their self-esteem, etc." I'm sorry, but if my son, when he gets to school, is acting like a little sh*t, then I want the teacher to do something about, even if he is embarrassed. If he's acting like a little punk, he needs to be embarrassed, it would teach him some humility. We're not dumbing down as much as we're asking our teachers to not only teach our children, but we're asking them to raise our children, too.

Answer 6

Probably. They don't pay attention in class and split their information like infinitives. That goes for high school students also. In general, that is. Some so pay attention and we should be eternally grateful for those few. Nowadays kids tht that being a drug dealer is the way to make lots of money so they don't need school. :-) But they are forced to attend by the rents and the law.

Answer 7

Technology has produced many benefits, but its effects on children have been mixed at best. Kids who used to go outside for their recreation now are indoors most of the time playing the electronic gadget of their choosing. Instead of having pen pals with whom letters would be exchanged, kids today text message with their "bff" whomever. Constant exposure to television, video games and the like has resulted in less reading. This is not a new problem, but it is doubtlessly a worsening one. I refer all readers to the wonderful book, Fahrenheit 451.



I think the key is to take the time every day to unplug and go back to the basics. Read history. Write in complete sentences. Discuss something at the kitchen table of substance. And most of all, just take a little time every day to think. We should do this as adults and pass an appreciation of the value of this quiet time to children. This is not easy (and likely barely possible) in today's get-it-done-yesterday world, but I think it is important.

Answer 8

Nope, wouldn't help.



And let's be fair to the kids, I think a lot of people would have got the WW2 question wrong, if that's how it was worded. Also, why would you expect middle schoolers to know anything about Einstein and relativity? I was in high school before I learned calculus, and you want middle schoolers to learn the argueably most advanced mathematics assembled by man to date?

Answer 9

You bet! But will they? Years ago, parents had the time to review homework with their children and the time to pay more attention to their progress in school. Those were the days before cable tv and video games, high percentive of single parent households or both parents working to make ends meet. Sad but true.

Answer 10

Middle school students believe all that? ARE YOU SERIOUS?



Parents should be stepping up to ensure their children can compete with internationals. Yes, outsourcing is a huge deal.

Answer 11

I think the answer is yes. When 35% of kids have an incorrect understanding of who the Americans fought in WWII and why, then absolutely things have been dumbed down.

Answer 12

there are so many more distractions today than their were ever before. I say as a parent, one should limit the amount of video games, internet, television, etc. that a child has access to. for instance...a 5 year old with a cell phone is just rediculous.

Answer 13

Look at the capitalization and punctuation in your question.



The look at the responses.



We are ABSOLUTELY dumbing down our schools. We have turned k-12 into government (read our tax money) funded day care, and now our colleges and universities are trying to teach these idiots what they should have learned in Highschool.



We should eliminate the Public School system and go with a means tested "voucher" system for private schools--that way if the parents aren't involved in making sure their kid gets a good education, they won't be in the same school as my kid.

Answer 14

"should we be stepping up our efforts as parents to ensure literacy ??"

Absolutely! Parental interaction is one of the most significant indicators for the educational success of children.

Go parents go!

Answer 15

Absolutely! Take at look right here on Yahoo Answers. Too many school children these days have no idea how to use a library or how to look up information on their, or even how to do their own homework. They expect others to do it for them.

Answer 16

I think we are becoming dumber by the generation. For instance look at what people say on this site. Also when people use Ebonics wow that makes people dumb. Also look at our music like that song "buy you a drank". I think I even misspelled that.

Answer 17

I think alot of the problem is lazy parents. You have to take your childrens education in your own hands. If more parents would demand better education then the board of education would have to start taking notice and acting.

Answer 18

Without a doubt, the proof is in yahoo answers where you get thumbs down by posting FACTS.

Answer 19

Thats cus kids r too busy talking to friend on their sidekicks,listening to i-pods, and playing psp in the middle of class. trust me im in high school.i figure its not much different in junior high.

Answer 20

And 85% of people on YA just make up stupid statistics and put them in a question with no references.

Answer 21

Just cruise through this site and be appalled! Yes, we definitely are.

Answer 22

It isn't Literacy...It's History!

Answer 23

Yes. You are correct.

Answer 24

yes with computers

Answer 25

yes

Answer 26

Good question, more people should be asking that very thing.

Answer 27

no i think were becoming smarted in diff ways

Answer 28

looks like "no child left behind" is working. great job dubya!

Answer 29

id say hell yea way down.