I take it, that the schools in question are Ontario schools?  If that is the case, it would be interesting the students who dropped just 5 % which would be reasonable considering it is their first year away from home, what schools they came from. Is it urban or rural or a mix of both?  Just wondering, since at the local high school there is a move that is stressing writing skills, numeracy that is being aimed at grade 10 to grade 8, because very few would be capable of passing their public exams in grade 11 and 12. Weak writing and numeracy skills, plus poor note taking, and studying habits. My youngest has a leg up, and yet there is students who do not have learning problems that are in the same vote. I am hoping to see local programing in addressing the writing skills in a course that would address the grammar, spelling and other writing skills, and students can received credit for it. Too me it makes sense, instead of trying to address it in the classrooms. It is a little too late by high school. And of course it never did improved the writing skills at the elementary level.

I still cannot understand why they threw away grammar lessons, spelling lessons, composition writing that I had when I was in school. It needs to be taught, and not skimmed over.

Yes, likely Ontario schools - since there can’t be too many out-of-province schools that send 10 students to Western. I never saw any analysis of the type of schools, as the university did not release the individual schools’ average grade drops.

Malkn,

It would be interesting to know the date of that letter.  Since Professor Collins is using the term ‘OAC’, it would have to be some time ago.  That was the term for the old Grade 13 credits, which we haven’t had since 2000 (or was it 2001?).  If it is older, then it would be interesting to see how much further the marks have fallen.

The letter was dated Feb. 6, 1998.

Nancy said: “I still cannot understand why they threw away grammar lessons, spelling lessons, composition writing that I had when I was in school. It needs to be taught, and not skimmed over.”

They’d keep on doing all those things, Nancy, if their purpose was the same as what you and I want. But it isn’t. See below please.

And Malkin & Doretta (this by way of picking up from our dangling discussion): I went round and round struggling to express more clearly my thoughts so as to be able to give further input…and then recently, suddenly, I found to my surprise that what I had wanted to say, had already been extensively and perfectly investigated and written about, far better than I ever could, by someone else—two people actually.

The first was Harry Browne, who I had not heard of before:
http://www.harrybrowne.org/articles/FreeTheSchools.htm

And then, upon investigating further, I found someone who perfectly expressed my life experience as regards the educational system, not only in my own youth, but now with my own children. This was the first article I read by John Taylor Gatto, a former teacher:

http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Educate/public_school_nightmare.htm

Going to his web site, he has much more, including this amazing book, “The Underground History of American Education”, posted online and for purchase:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue.htm

I have not read it all yet but so far his thoughts perfectly crystallize what I was struggling to communicate, in my several postings about socialism, social justice, etc. Of course he does it far better than I have or could, which is why I will write little more.
It would be redundant, and I have no time to waste arguing with any simpletons who dismiss as ‘conspiracy theory’ anything other than nibbling around the edges of the status quo. If that approach would fix education, it would have been fixed years ago—an idea stated in these writings.

So I just wanted to pass on these links for anyone interested who has not come across them. For all I know, it’s all been posted here before(?) But for those who haven’t seen Gatto’s work, on his site there is far more explanation about who he is and what he believes. It would do it a disservice to attempt to paraphrase it.

The public system is a farce, as we have lived it. They are intentionally trying to make the children stupid. Everything about my experience with my children’s schooling supports the accusations these two writers make. There are endless examples which fit. For instance: today they were showing films, again, in my daughter’s grade 5 classroom here in Toronto—instead of teaching. This to children who cannot even spell basic words. Last week, it was “Shrek”, but this week they allowed the children to bring in DVDs and the class voted which film to watch. It was a close race between “Coraline” and “RV”, but RV won. So watching-it-they-are, and nothing a mere parent says will make these fanatics listen.

I feel somewhat like Charlton Heston in that scene in ‘Planet of the Apes’ when he first realizes he’s trapped in a reversed world from which there is no escape: “it’s…a MADHOUSE!”

I have concluded home schooling is the only answer.

Thank You-Great post-

They have zero accountability-it`s a place for administrators and teachers to get pay cheques.

Yes-they cannot spell and they barely read.
The teachers have no idea how to teach that which also leads to low math-numeracy-because of all the word problems.They use words like critical thinking and metacognition to baffle us so we don`t understand why they can`t read and spell.

Going to [Gatto’s] web site, he has much more, including this amazing book, “The Underground History of American Education”, posted online and for purchase:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue.htm

I highly recommend buying the hardcopy book. It is very dense and needs deep and thoughtful reading, with frequent flipping to the notes and referring back to earlier sections. While it is not an academic book with extensive cites, it does provide plenty of references for the general themes and background information.

When I first came across Gatto in the ‘90’s, I thought his ideas were a bit over the top. However, after reading several of his books, and working in different school environments, it was obvious that he was commenting on underlying realities, not simply superficial practices. After reading Underground History—which I also thought a bit over the top—I decided to check out his sources and pursue the matter. What I found was that Gatto understated his case. What emerges from the source material (in multiple countries) is that public education is really a tool for social control, pure and simple. That is why governments of varying political persuasions embrace and support it. While the citizenry may hold beliefs about public schooling as a route to equity, to individual intellectual growth, to opportunity for the poor or whatever, this is not (and never has been) what it is about.

Another common thread is that governments of all political stripes do not desire a highly educated, critical-thinking population, so they actively manipulate schooling to prevent such an eventuality.  The influence of private corporations, foundations and the eugenics movement in the history of public education is extraordinary and little-known.

Get Gatto’s book and follow up on some of the sources, as I did. It will be a revelation.

“Another common thread is that governments of all political stripes do not desire a highly educated, critical-thinking population, so they actively manipulate schooling to prevent such an eventuality.  The influence of private corporations, foundations and the eugenics movement in the history of public education is extraordinary and little-known.”

Can’t have the populace thinking of ideas that might harm the status-quo and profits.

Hmmmmmm. While no one is more cynical about the value of modern public schooling than I, I have NEVER believed that its low quality is deliberate. This is getting into conspiracy theory country.

On the other hand, I have a deep respect for TDSBNW’s intellect. I will definitely get Gatto’s book.

Don’t take my word for it, check out the documents from the U.S. government that Gatto cites, and also the works of Cubberly, Bernays, Thorndike, Edward Ross and the scions of the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations. 

There was tremendous concern about “overeducation” and overproducing educated workers who would not be satisfied with the low-wage jobs in the new industrial economy. A long U.S. govt. document goes into this at some length. The draconian implementation of certain “reforms” (like those in Gary, Indiana) were aimed at developing a class of compliant worker bees. U.S. leftist commentator Gerald Bracey (recently deceased) openly admitted that the U.S. economy depends even now on producing a large, uneducated underclass.

No conspiracy is involved, though, because most of the people who work in the system—as well as most of the public—have no awareness of its origins, history and purpose. Many are truly dedicated to excellence but their efforts are doomed to failure due to the nature of the beast, so to speak.

The eugenics movement was central to much of this development in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century.  Tracking and testing and segregation were all expected to discourage the breeding of the “unfit.”  What none of the eugenicists foresaw was the advent of birth control and its effect of reducing the birthrate significantly among the “elite” while not affecting that of the so-called “lower classes.”

The objectives of government vary, but nearly all (I can’t think of any exceptions) are primarily concerned with maintaining their own power. Public education systems allow them to heavily influence the values and behaviour of the young (one reason why some countries do not permit homeschooling).

Just because the public education system was designed, originally in Europe, as a means of social control does not mean that we in 21st century Canada must recapitulate that model.  But we cannot redesign it without awareness of its origins and hidden agendas. Know Thine Enemy is a key precept in warfare, corporate marketing and should be in education reform. 

The low quality may not be “deliberate” in the usual sense—that is, the desired result of those currently in charge—but it is a direct consequence of the nature of the organization, which has a life of its own.

Gatto’s position—and I tend to agree with him, although it has taken many years to come to this conclusion—is that the current system cannot be “reformed.” It must be redesigned. Rick Hess has a lot to say on this topic (check out his books, which I believe I’ve adverted to before).

Bravo TDSBNW—and thank you. I’ve felt like a lone voice in the blog wilderness, save for Nancy and Jo Anne’s interesting comments; and now, suddenly, comes support! I am reading Gatto as time permits, and will add Rick Hess to my list—thanks for the tip. Is there anyone else to look for ?

Malkin, if you read Gatto’s material you see immediately that it is written by a sane, intelligent person, not a nut. He supports his contentions and clearly has put in a huge amount of careful work. I found his work because I decided the only place to begin was to google ‘origins of public school education system’—to try to understand how this madhouse began. Lo and behold, I hit the treasure trove: this man Gatto had spent endless years investigating and forensically dissecting exactly this problem!

You don’t know me personally so you’ll have to take my word for it: I’m the last person who would believe in wild ‘conspiracy theories’—when taken to mean the usual nutbar stuff (such as the Mossad taking down the twin towers and things of that ilk.)

Exactly as TDSBNW said, I would also maintain that the low quality of the teaching is “deliberate” in this sense: that the goals they push the children towards (such as herd conformity, “social justice”, guilt/shame over pursuing their own individuality, extreme environmentalism, etc etc) inevitably induce in the students not critical thought and sparkling intelligence, but dull confused/reflexive narrowness of thought. Examples are everywhere.

There are still individual exceptions, but this is despite the schooling/indoctrination, not because of it.

I found some interesting historical articles on education in Canada. There is one article that offers an insider’s peek on public education in Vancouver.  Titled, “A Fondness for Charts and Children: Scientific Progressivism in
Vancouver Schools 1920-50

http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/1810/1912

One wonders if low quality was the aim in the first place after reading the above article.

The next link is Canadian History of Education Association, which has other articles on the history of education.
http://www.ache-chea.ca/eng/index.php

Canada does not have its “Gatto”, but the provinces have a rich history of public education sitting in the archives, waiting for a person(s) to uncover the same connections that Gatto has in the American public education system. I will be looking for more Canadian links, but I believed most information regarding our educrats of the past is still sitting in the archives of our provinces and Ottawa. I would not be surprised to see carbon copies in each province, of the origins of education systems that TDSBNW has expressed:
“Another common thread is that governments of all political stripes do not desire a highly educated, critical-thinking population, so they actively manipulate schooling to prevent such an eventuality.  The influence of private corporations, foundations and the eugenics movement in the history of public education is extraordinary and little-known.”