Because I was thinking in Italian for most of the day, as opposed to, say, English, German or Latin, I decided to go with what I thought to be a somewhat appropriate title (in the correct language, of course).  The quote, however, is not really mine; it's from Dante Alighieri, il poeta della Divina Commedia, and I believe the translation runs as follows:  "O foolish creatures, what ignorance is this which torments you?"  Since I'm all about learning and teaching and reading and writing (among other things), this quote is applicable to all students, from junior high to college, even grad school, and particularly to those whose fate is in the hands of our fine public (government) school teachers and their unquestionably apolitical and upright union, like the NEA.

 

I have come across in my life's journey a great number of people who want to become teachers, or who were at that time already doing student teaching, or who were already teachers, from anywhere between a few years and twenty years.  Most of these folks are well-meaning and I believe quite sincere with regard to what they want to do or what they are doing (for a living).  They want to help young people.  They love kids.  (Well, I suppose if you love kids, then you may very well want to help them.)  Teaching is undoubtedly a noble pursuit and honorable profession.  But the public (government) education business in this country has produced (and is still producing) an overbearing stench that one could probably smell while located on the far side of the moon.

 

Most of our dullest and dumbest college students find it easy to go into education, and a degree in education is essentially contentless (so much so as to be mind numbing).  Now there are some very smart college students that do go into education, but they are few in number and, once in the grips of the education establishment, either become dumb or dumbfounded, which explains why, if they regain their senses, get out while they still have their halfwits about them.  At any rate, this education juggernaut is the overwhelming cause of the problem and explains why, for example, students can't read, write or do simple mathematics; why they don't know anything much about the history of the world or this country or even how it is governed (or not governed); why they don't seem to know much about literature; why they know little or nothing about science or studying a foreign language, which figures, since, after all, they don't know or understand plain English, which only is our mother tongue and should be the official language of the United States. 

 

This leviathan is located in Washington, DC, and goes by the name of the NEA.  Its tentacles are the professors of education (pedagogy) in colleges and universities across the fruited plane, and they are mainly responsible for the quality of the teachers in our schools.  Further on down are the school administrators, who are extensions of the education establishment and keep it going (on the road to nowhere).  The philosophy of education espoused here is one that simply does not believe that thorough and systematic study of the basic disciplines is as important in the classroom as conditioning students to the practicalities and realities of day-to-day living.

 

It has decided that an emphasis on the peripheral, ephemeral and trendy--and even the trivial--is more vital than to what is basic, rudimentary and crucial.  Thus this establishment is most profoundly anti-intellectual, and it is self-perpetuating because the more anti-intellectuals this system produces the more thoroughly the spirit of anti-intellectualism permeates the educational environment and society and culture at large.  Most parents, however, do not recognize the importance of a thorough grounding in the core subjects because they, too, were products of the education establishment.  The monster is fed by the state legislatures, which require future teachers and administrators to take endless courses in pedagogy, which only serves to perpetuate the spirit of anti-intellectualism.

 

And then of course there's John Dewey and his legacy.  The decline of American education can be traced back to him, for the patron saint of our schools has managed to corrupt teaching and learning.  His unabating attack on traditional education and religion is a most prominent feature of his philosophy of education.  The main obstacle to proper education, Dewey argued, was traditional religion.  He thought, like Nietzsche, that it created a slave morality and, along with Marx, asserted that it is the opium of the people. 

 

Because this subject demands much more exposition, I have decided to let it roll right smake into my next bloggery.  And, because I am tired, I think it prudent to end it right about ... here.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.