Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

196 of Occupational Education Instruction, New York State Education Department.... Education exists within the larger context of society as a whole. As society changes, education must also change, if it is to fulfill its mission of preparing people to thrive [emphasis in original].... We have begun evolving into a technological society. Our educational system must also change to provide the highly trained personnel that technology requires. Five years ago, recognizing that basic changes were occurring, the New York State Education Department reviewed its system of vocational and practical arts education, to ensure that through the remaining years of this century we would be preparing our students for the society which would be, not for the society which was. In this review process, which we called “Futuring,” we have relied upon both business and industry to determine what skills and knowledge will be needed in the next 15 years, and upon educators in the field and social scientists to recommend how these should be taught. C OMPUTERS IN E DUCATION : R EALIZING THE P OTENTIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY THE U.S. D E partment of Education in June, 1983. Under the subtitle “Expert and Novice Thinking” the authors speculate: Recent studies in science education have revealed that students approach learning with many prior conceptions based on their life experiences, which can be obstacles to learning. These conceptions are very resistant to change. We need to understand why students’ conceptions persevere so strongly and how best they can be modified. “T HERE H AS B EEN A C ONSPIRACY OF S ILENCE ABOUT T EACHING : B.F. S KINNER A RGUES that Pedagogy Is Key to School Reforms” by Susan Walton was published by Education Week in its August 31, 1983 issue. Excerpts from this extremely enlightening article follow: Improving methods of teaching would do more to help public education than would length ening the school day or any of the other reforms proposed by the National Commission on Excellence in Education and other groups that have recently issued reports on education. So argues B.F. Skinner, the Harvard University psychologist whose pioneering theories about and studies on the “conditioning” of behavior have had a substantial impact on education. Still a source of controversy 40-odd years after Mr. Skinner began his research, those theories have been instrumental in the development of mastery learning and the “teaching machines” of the 1960s. The behavioral scientist’s work has also been an integral part of the debate over individualized instruction.... Central to Mr. Skinner’s thinking on education are the notions that children should be allowed to learn at their own pace and that teachers should rely on “reinforcers” or rewards, to strengthen patterns of behavior that they want to encourage. Mr. Skinner argues that computers, as they are most commonly used, are essentially sophis ticated versions of the “teaching machines” of the 1960s…. Pointing to recent articles and reports on how to improve education, Mr. Skinner argues that one central fallacy is that it is more important for teachers to know their subject matter than to know how to teach it. Mr. Skinner also advises that educators stop making all students advance at essentially the same rate.... No teacher can teach a class of 30 or 40 students and allow each to progress at an optimal speed. Tracking is too feeble a remedy. We must turn to INSTRUMENTS [emphasis in original] for a large part of the school curriculum. The psychologist also urges educators to “program” subject matter. “The heart of the teaching machine, call it what you will, is