It's interesting that (so far) no one has commented on the intended point of my commentary: that changing perspective can be a VERY powerful tool in problem solving...
Well, we all saw the movie Idiocracy. From the left's perspective everything is working swimmingly and the Aristocrats will have their power back and then some in no time.
From the Right's perspective the mold has to be shattered with a sledge hammer and education reborn, which means depriving universities of all their endowments and making the lefts professors penniless.
In the meantime until we get our act together it's enclave, enclave, enclave. Build those bastions high and mighty so the left shakes in fear whenever we ride out to wake the Eloi and drive the Morlocks back underground.
Ref #3 "business" often overlooked in their roll in limiting critical thinking. Since the dawning of the Diamond Age (Nano, Bio, Computational Tech all the related fields) our Business World has sought open pasture with little restrictions in developing their myriad of products without open discussion and debate that might stymie their bottom line and thus we get the quashing of critical thinking and the dumbing down of education. You could likely go back to Dewy for this but it really began to rocket when news merged with entertainment and we were treated with Nancy Kerrigan's Knee and the full days coverage of melting ice cream on the counter top and all it might mean for OJ.
Meanwhile there is a 1911 Cartoon by Robert Minor, that appeared in the St. Louis Dispatch that sums up the Left's merging with the Titans of the Business World as it depicts Karl Marx shaking hands with an eager bunch of Business Titans of the time, (Morgan, Rockefeller, Perkins, Carnegie with Teddy Roosevelt, President and head of the Progressive Party egging them on). So indeed your complaint is well baked in.
When examining Tyranny on a pie chart one should note that Tyranny from the Left (Communism) and Tyranny from the Right (Fascism) both sit side by side atop the chart and are kissing cousins and if your smart you'll realize they work in cooperation, hand in hand. Both want us dumbed down to further their aims.
If you read Das Capital, you'll know the final stage before Shangri La is for all of society to pass through the narrow corridor of govt and chosen businesses allowed to succeed, before merging on the other side for the final wipe out of economic and individual freedoms and if anyone thinks for one minute that we are going to be allowed to merge through that gauntlet to the other side to some better world, they have been hoodwinked. Once total control through tyranny is established the remaining surplus in society will be eliminated. 14 out 15 got to go. The Fabian's want their way and have been making allegiances through out the upper curst for a very long time.
Consent of the governed is the ideal which the framers sought to achieve through a written compact at an historical moment when rule in the hands of a ruler had proven to empower the common flaws of human nature to generally disasterous effect for the individual so ruled.
The research provided by E.D. Hirsch, as argued by cognitive scientists, suggests that critical thinking is domain specific, and that generalized strategies to teach critical thinking are not effective and that too much time is wasted on them. He argues that if you want to engage in critical thinking on social issues, for example one has to master core content in that field to be a critical thinker. in that subject domain. Each subject has its own core content whose mastery is essential to being an effective critical thinker. Progressive education skips or marginalizes this important step, just as it does to learning what it dismisses as "facts," or "rote memorization." But to my way of thinking, you need a head full of facts, theories, names, dates, events, and on and on, which your brain can instantaneously summon and analyze as part of the critical thinking process. You cannot just "Google" these, as some claim. What are your thoughts?
The point made by Hirsch and cognitive scientists is similar to the view of Richard Feynman who once said "a scientist outside of his field of expertise is just as dumb as the next guy."
In order to engage in higher order thinking, you have to have mastered the relevant subject matter and it is usually not transferable to another subject domain. Teaching critical thinking to students in K-12, and mostly at the high school level, is generally taught by having students identify the major point, or the author's point of view, or other such skills that shouldn't consume much instructional time. What is left out is developing core knowledge or cultural literacy that is essential for any truly literate person. And that domain specific knowledge is an essential ingredient is to engaging in critical thinking in that field of study or analysis. It's really just common sense, but today's educators have neglected it and this is reflected in sub-standard reading scores.
Alan Sokal proved this is false when he wrote "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity." The editors of "Social Text" instantly hailed him as a genius.
Roger: I do NOT believe that Critical Thinking is domain specific. However, I'd agree that most strategies to teach Critical Thinking are inadequate — not because of anything to do with Critical Thinking, but rather the methodolgy used.
Redirect a per capital dollar education expenditure to legal guardian of pupil to be spent on school of choice. Of course that entails a political battle and that takes time.
In the meantime for parents who wish to act there is home schooling and personal school loans.
And finally the presidential vote is the best avenue for timely relief from miseducation.
Why do we have the unconstitutional Department of Education? Education is not in the Constitution, and the Tenth Amendment says "If it doesn't fit, you must quit."
While I'm on this rant, why do we have the unconstitutional Department of Labor? Why do we have the unconstitutional Department of Housing and Urban Development?
It's interesting that (so far) no one has commented on the intended point of my commentary: that changing perspective can be a VERY powerful tool in problem solving...
Well, we all saw the movie Idiocracy. From the left's perspective everything is working swimmingly and the Aristocrats will have their power back and then some in no time.
From the Right's perspective the mold has to be shattered with a sledge hammer and education reborn, which means depriving universities of all their endowments and making the lefts professors penniless.
In the meantime until we get our act together it's enclave, enclave, enclave. Build those bastions high and mighty so the left shakes in fear whenever we ride out to wake the Eloi and drive the Morlocks back underground.
Kurukshetra!!!
Ref #3 "business" often overlooked in their roll in limiting critical thinking. Since the dawning of the Diamond Age (Nano, Bio, Computational Tech all the related fields) our Business World has sought open pasture with little restrictions in developing their myriad of products without open discussion and debate that might stymie their bottom line and thus we get the quashing of critical thinking and the dumbing down of education. You could likely go back to Dewy for this but it really began to rocket when news merged with entertainment and we were treated with Nancy Kerrigan's Knee and the full days coverage of melting ice cream on the counter top and all it might mean for OJ.
Meanwhile there is a 1911 Cartoon by Robert Minor, that appeared in the St. Louis Dispatch that sums up the Left's merging with the Titans of the Business World as it depicts Karl Marx shaking hands with an eager bunch of Business Titans of the time, (Morgan, Rockefeller, Perkins, Carnegie with Teddy Roosevelt, President and head of the Progressive Party egging them on). So indeed your complaint is well baked in.
When examining Tyranny on a pie chart one should note that Tyranny from the Left (Communism) and Tyranny from the Right (Fascism) both sit side by side atop the chart and are kissing cousins and if your smart you'll realize they work in cooperation, hand in hand. Both want us dumbed down to further their aims.
If you read Das Capital, you'll know the final stage before Shangri La is for all of society to pass through the narrow corridor of govt and chosen businesses allowed to succeed, before merging on the other side for the final wipe out of economic and individual freedoms and if anyone thinks for one minute that we are going to be allowed to merge through that gauntlet to the other side to some better world, they have been hoodwinked. Once total control through tyranny is established the remaining surplus in society will be eliminated. 14 out 15 got to go. The Fabian's want their way and have been making allegiances through out the upper curst for a very long time.
Consent of the governed is the ideal which the framers sought to achieve through a written compact at an historical moment when rule in the hands of a ruler had proven to empower the common flaws of human nature to generally disasterous effect for the individual so ruled.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
-- Upton Sinclair
Here's the design for education in America (except maybe in Florida):
1. Preschool is to prepare for Kindergarten.
2. Kindergarten is to prepare for elementary school.
3. Elementary school is to prepare for middle school.
4. Middle school is to prepare for high school.
5. High school is to prepare for undergraduate college study.
6. Undergraduate college study is to prepare for graduate study.
7. Graduate study is to prepare good communist professors.
The research provided by E.D. Hirsch, as argued by cognitive scientists, suggests that critical thinking is domain specific, and that generalized strategies to teach critical thinking are not effective and that too much time is wasted on them. He argues that if you want to engage in critical thinking on social issues, for example one has to master core content in that field to be a critical thinker. in that subject domain. Each subject has its own core content whose mastery is essential to being an effective critical thinker. Progressive education skips or marginalizes this important step, just as it does to learning what it dismisses as "facts," or "rote memorization." But to my way of thinking, you need a head full of facts, theories, names, dates, events, and on and on, which your brain can instantaneously summon and analyze as part of the critical thinking process. You cannot just "Google" these, as some claim. What are your thoughts?
The point made by Hirsch and cognitive scientists is similar to the view of Richard Feynman who once said "a scientist outside of his field of expertise is just as dumb as the next guy."
In order to engage in higher order thinking, you have to have mastered the relevant subject matter and it is usually not transferable to another subject domain. Teaching critical thinking to students in K-12, and mostly at the high school level, is generally taught by having students identify the major point, or the author's point of view, or other such skills that shouldn't consume much instructional time. What is left out is developing core knowledge or cultural literacy that is essential for any truly literate person. And that domain specific knowledge is an essential ingredient is to engaging in critical thinking in that field of study or analysis. It's really just common sense, but today's educators have neglected it and this is reflected in sub-standard reading scores.
Alan Sokal proved this is false when he wrote "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity." The editors of "Social Text" instantly hailed him as a genius.
Roger: I do NOT believe that Critical Thinking is domain specific. However, I'd agree that most strategies to teach Critical Thinking are inadequate — not because of anything to do with Critical Thinking, but rather the methodolgy used.
Redirect a per capital dollar education expenditure to legal guardian of pupil to be spent on school of choice. Of course that entails a political battle and that takes time.
In the meantime for parents who wish to act there is home schooling and personal school loans.
And finally the presidential vote is the best avenue for timely relief from miseducation.
Why do we have the unconstitutional Department of Education? Education is not in the Constitution, and the Tenth Amendment says "If it doesn't fit, you must quit."
While I'm on this rant, why do we have the unconstitutional Department of Labor? Why do we have the unconstitutional Department of Housing and Urban Development?