Educational Standards

We dumbed down our education

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have seen a headline (probably more than one) lamenting the dreadful state of American education. The most recent horror came out recently. In 23 Baltimore public schools, not a single student was proficient in math. Not one. Chicago schools are not much better. Only 20% of students were math proficient in 2021…but all their teachers got sparkling grades. American education nationwide has declined to a point where we are consistently below average in industrial societies in math and just barely above average in science. How did we get into this mess? As Rush put it, we dumbed down our education. 

“It is undeniable that an educational system that invokes such a relaxation of standards is not interested in its students learning, but in social engineering. It’s all part of the paternalistic attitude of liberalism: we must take care of people, especially disadvantaged people, because they can’t take care of themselves. But, by taking care of them, what they really do is hold them down, discourage them from surmounting obstacles, and drag down everyone else in the process. In this way, the government-backed educational system fosters student dependency on its equalization authority, thereby justifying and perpetuating its existence. What responsible parent would tolerate such an encouragement of mediocrity?”[1]

Rush made these comments in context of a high school in Kansas lowering their minimum passing grade point average from a C- to a D-. As Rush pointed out, children rise to the level expected of them. If given the responsibility to maintain their grades, they often will do so. However American education has no interest in responsibility and accountability anymore. As Rush pointed out, a C used to be an embarrassment. It was assumed if you had a C, you were not putting in the work. Now any grade seems to be acceptable (if grades are given at all). Expectations have been lowered.