[senior citizen]

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[manaboutown]

Of course we should, along with mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and Latin. Good luck on all that! We are dumbing down, down, down...

[senior citizen]

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[njbchbum]

how old are the people making the decisions which promote the dumbing down of our society - and how old are the people who raised them?

[pparks158]

Yes, we should teach cursive writing. What are the reasons for not teaching cursive writing? I bet it is because it is not "on the state test" or not a "core content standard."

[Schaumburger]

I also think cursive writing should be taught in schools, When I receive thank you notes and card from my nieces (22, 19 and 11), the notes and cards are handwritten, but they are not using cursive writing. I am glad to get their notes and cards just the same.

Will documents even require signatures 10 years from now? In the course of my job, I see a fair amount of employee's and applicant's signatures, and so many people's signatures are illegible (maybe to prevent forgery?). My signature has changed very little since I was a teenager, and it would probably be very easy for someone to forge my signature.

[senior citizen]

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[tainsley]

Yes! Also geography and SPELLING!

[NotGolfer]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

I agree with you 100% and I would have used your same words......"dumbing down". My pet peeve.
So many countries around the world have higher expectations for their students than do we as a nation.

This is why it's very important for education to begin at home, with a love of books and learning in general.........my reward is seeing our daughter and her husband plus our son and his wife.....continuing on with instilling the love of books and learning in general with their own children.........

No one should feel a need to "dumb down".....if so, it's very sad.

Was at a recent conference where the speaker talked about the kids in China and Korea---how they are taught and study. Here, he made some comment regarding computer games---which our kids are more proficient in than achademia these days. Ask any of them a basic geography question or when the civil war was faught or any early American history question. MANY do not know the answers these days. Think (again) the questions on the street that Jay Leno asks.

[Buckeyephan]

I can only speak about what I saw happening in the district where I taught. Over the years, more things that should have been addressed in the home were added to the school day. This included such things as "character education," drug abuse prevention, anti-bullying and such. For each of these, something had to be taken from available time. The obsession with testing also removed such things as handwriting. We were told that if we had favorite topics or "units" we loved to teach that were not directly in the state curriculum and therefore not tested, we could no longer include them. We even had an Assistant Superintendent who issued an order that we were forbidden to teach math facts. They could only be addressed within the context of the particular math concept we were teaching. I know that I'm a dinosaur, but I mourn the loss of real teaching and learning. Education continually tries to find new ways to help children learn, but they expect this to happen within the school building. Until we fix family issues, little will improve. Officially stepping off of my soapbox.

[senior citizen]

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[jblum315]

I think it's necessary in the same sense that learning the multiplication table is necessary even tho calculators are everywhere. It is just one of those skills that everyone should have.

[senior citizen]

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[Heartnsoul]

yes agree with those who say we are dumbing down. Most importantly, I'd like to see HISTORY taught so children learn how many men and women died for this country so we could live free. Unfortunately, do you believe they are more concerned with clubs such as the gay-straight club. There was a meeting held at Tavares courthouse Monday night at 5 pm to protest all the sex they are trying to bring into the schools. Next it will be the condom club and already in NY you would be sick to know what they are teaching our children. Tell your kids to get involved in the schools and watch what they are trying to teach your grandchildren. It's frightening.

[manaboutown]

US SAT scores peaked in 1965. They have pretty much gone downhill ever since. A few years ago the powers that be recalibrated the test to bring the scores higher (for the sake of appearance?).

Test scores in many advanced countries far exceed ours yet our students "feel" they are ahead of those foreign students, a tragically false self confidence imprinted on their young minds by the self esteem movement. In these other countries the students realistically understand where they actually lie in terms of ability and accomplishment because they are not fed Lake Wobegon style pablum.