Unique American Intellectual Site Enters Fifth Year
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By: Bruce Deitrick
Submitted
2010-01-20 15:42:41 |
At the end of 2009, Improve Education.org celebrated its fourth birthday and reached 100,000 words of original content, recently adding such major new pieces as “41: Educators, O. J. Simpson, and Guilt” and “45: The Crusade Against Knowledge.”
Bruce Price, the site’s founder, continues his aggressive critique of American public education. Price’s work is part of a changing narrative, as academics like to say. More and more, it’s common to distrust our elite educators. “Their approval rating,” Price estimates, “is now comparable to that of trial lawyers, journalists, leaders of the House, and used car salesmen. And for good reason.”
The Education Establishment pretends to be a technocratic elite, interested only in the education of children. In fact, Price points out, “The top educators are often ideologues, primarily focused on creating a more collectivist country. In pursuit of this brave new world, they repeatedly introduce ideas that turn out to be educationally destructive. The essence of my critique is that the incessant dumbing down is not an accidental side effect; it’s the goal.”
Price was recently interviewed on Creativity Portal.com about his education crusade. Asked what teachers can do to get involved in school reform on a local, state, and national level, Price replied: “I believe the Education Establishment has created three sets of victims: students, parents, AND teachers. The first step is for teachers to realize just how profoundly they have been tricked into joining a perverse attack on the true interests of kids, parents, society, and teachers themselves. It’s sick. Teachers are deliberately trained and encouraged to do a mediocre job.”
For example, just consider one aspect: how reading is taught. The Education Establishment, for 80 years, has forced teachers to use the method called Whole Word or Sight Words. “Which does not work,” Price argues. Some of his most arresting articles deconstruct this method, which has been touted by most of the leading professors in the Education Establishment. (See “42: Reading Resources.”)
Price sums up his crusade, “My main concern is to help people understand what befell the public schools. They were dumbed down on purpose. The good news is that they can be smartened up the same way.”
Price has 200 articles on the web, including 45 book reviews on Amazon and 35 videos on YouTube. The centerpiece of his crusade continues to be Improve Education.org. A new article there “43: American Basic Curriculum” tries to give parents a way to check up on the progress made by their children.
Price explains, “I think this article represents an important new direction. We want to build up the forces OUTSIDE the public schools that can compensate for what is being done badly INSIDE the schools. I call the over all concept Parallel Education. I believe it’s the future of education. Parents should pre school their children during the summer, and school proof them all year!”
Improve Education.org has intelligent articles on robots, sophistry, teaching, Latin, poetry, science, and much more. Price urges: Education can be made much more intelligent and successful than it now is. Join my crusade.
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Price is an author, artist, poet, and education activist. Visit http://Improve-Education.org, a leading voice for education reform. Price’s fifth book is “THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened to American Education.” His art site is http://ArtNorfolk.com
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