According to The Wall Street Journal today, the education departments of 15 states lowered their proficiency standards for reading or math between 2005 and 2007. Eight raised their standards.

Quoting WSJ:

The federal law requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014, but leaves to each state the job of measuring achievement.

The article goes on and discusses this, that, and the other, thereby missing the point: The average American student has never gained the skills in math and reading that his father and grandfather had and even they were deficient compared to the students of years gone by who went to little red school houses and sat together in one class.

One does not have to look any further for confirmation of that fact than to visit antique book stores and find old reading and grammar texts used in the Nineteenth Century.

Yet the cost for educating students in the basics was a lot cheaper. The more government has gotten involved, the higher the cost has become and the less effective education has become.

In addition, the liberal arts undergirding the Constitution, logic, and morality lessons have all but disappeared. The reason is that ultimately when government is involved in education; only what the government wants taught will be taught. And government always wants to rule; therefore, only what sets the stage for the people to be ruled will find a place in the curricula. The liberal arts, the core education necessary to develop the truly free intellect that is a mark of the fully autonomous and independent individual, has necessarily, under government's control of education, been almost entirely marginalized, if not consigned to the dust bin of history.

Meanwhile, the publishing houses that give us increasingly lurid novels are busy also turning out dictionaries and texts for the schools. An interesting study can be done by again going to antique bookstores and picking up a series of old school dictionaries and see how the definitions of words have been altered. Inflation is a very good example.

It was once taught, correctly that inflation was the issuing of paper money unredeemable in specie ― gold or silver. The definition evolved over a few decades from the over-issuance of paper money, to the rise of prices and wages, which is not inflation; rather, it is the manifestation of inflation.

A student unfamiliar with this basic knowledge will have been set up to tolerate the machinations of such entities as the Federal Reserve, and the various money policies of the government. Someone educated in the liberal arts, and consequently prepared to critically examine for themselves the true state of affairs, would not be similarly mislead.

While the WSJ article tells a story that needs reporting, it misses the mark of saying that government involvement in education will, at the least, produce the same results as the Social Security program, Medicare, and host of other failed government remedies.

The solution: education that is as close to the parents as possible without government interference or mandates. No one has more concern about a child’s education than the parent. There will also be problems in such a system, but they should not be used as an excuse to dumb-down the entire population on the issues of freedom.

Those who will not read, have no advantage over those who cannot read.

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RP said:

... A problem from Ray's New Higher Arithmetic (1880): "A father left $20000 to be divided among his 4 sons, aged 6 years, 8 years, 10 years, and 12 years respectively, so that each share, placed at 4.5% compound interest, should amount to the same when its possessor became of age (21 yr.): what were the shares?" A paragraph from McGuffey's Eclectic Fourth Reader (1837): "We then relax our vigor, and resolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a distance, but rely upon our own constancy, and venture to approach what we resolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and repose in the shades of security. Here the heart softens, and vigilance subsides. We are then willing to inquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the garden of pleasure. We approach them with scruple and hesitation. We enter them, but enter timorous and trembling, and always hope to pass through them without losing the road of virtue, which we, for awhile, keep in our sight, and to which we purpose to return" Mind you, these are excerpts from 19th century GRAMMAR SCHOOL material. We've certainly come a long way. Too bad it was in the WRONG direction.

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October 30, 2009
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DDW said:

	As many have stated through the years It is much easier to rule and oppress ignorant people than knowledgable people. Please to forgive my pointing out the obvious.
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October 30, 2009
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Larry Brown said:

	... My dictionary, from my senior year in high school, defines inflation: Disproportionate and relatively sharp and sudden increase in the quantity of money or credit, or both, relative to the amount of exchange business. Inflation always produces a rise in the price level.
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October 30, 2009 | url
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Larry Brown said:

	... Also, my dictionary defined money: 1. Metal, as gold, silver, or copper, coined, or stamped, and issued as a medium of exchange. ... 6. Any written or stamped promise or certificate, as a bank note current as a means of payment.
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October 30, 2009 | url
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Jim Bowman Jr. said:

Religious education lacking The liberal arts curriculum certainly has disappeared. Here in Florida, one of the oldest institutions, Stetson University is a perfect example as this "Baptist church affiliated institution" is changing into an "independent university" with core values of "knowledge, equality, community service, spirituality, diversity, social justice, ethics and environmentalism." Talk about brain washing! Apparantly, without a firm spiritual foundation, young minds will devour any mush served. And, tuitions continue to rise!

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November 01, 2009
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