@20committee I agree by way of anecdotal observation within the educational system, unlike Rome where it was blamed lead, something else is a foot,
@20committee <thread> John, I wanted to F/up w/a deeper observation & analysis. 1st let me say I fell into the public education field by circumstance not self-appointment which is unlike many other professions ppl may choose the field but not their roles, education it is both appointments.
@20committee 2/ This self regulation inbreeds flaws in the hierarchy & service delivery obstructing the primary objective of preparing & training our youth in the fundamental skills & knowledge providing them the foundational ability to participate in our nation as a functioning citizen.
@20committee 3/ Notice I didn't say future worker, job, profession, college or any other means of living, that responsibility is on the person, I said functioning citizen. Yet public education in its quest to satisfy the varied stakeholders the objective of a functioning citizen is diluted.
@20committee 4/ That dilution then has even more unintended consequences, 1 of them is the dummy down instead of elevating the end product. Effective education possesses rigor, meaning; difficulty, overcoming adversity, challenge owing to differentiation of success all things that are part of
@20committee 5/ developing the fundamentals of a functioning citizen, not an end product who can successfully score on an arbitrary scholastic standardized test within an arbitrary selected range. Yet the criteria for local districts and schools attesting their educational effectiveness is...
@20committee 6/ how well their composite score is on the SAT or ACT. My role in public education is leading high school math intervention and support programs for underclassman. Integrated Mathematics (the combination of algebra & geometry) is difficult for most students, as it should be.
@20committee 7/ High School math should be tough, it demands a daily commitment to practice and do the work, build on the day before and struggle, then overcome. That breeds confidence and the ability to succeed. It also produces good citizens who can critically think and not be screwed.
@20committee 8/ Those fundamentals are no different than those exhibited in high school athletics, performing arts or debate, whatever endeavor yet there is that hierarchy that will intrude on passing students who did not originally qualify. This is born out at the university level.
@20committee 9/ High School athletes do not progress to the next level w/out performing and only the best advance to the next level, same for performing arts etc., yet the public education system graduates many non performing students, who do advance by self appointment.
@20committee 10/ Those who d advance either to 4 yr or 2 yr public colleges half must take remedial math and/or English classes. Therefore this is a failure of the objective by education to prepare students for college, let alone a job, profession or whatever. If education can't get better
@20committee results than 50% of students advancing without having to take basic remedial classes on fundamental skills means that education is not succeeding in developing functional citizens either. This is born out in the vote divide regarding Trump.
@20committee 11/ Trump successfully targeted a voting block that are not college educated & now to a significant degree exhibiting Orwellian “Doublethink" meaning "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” as pictured here, tho 
@20committee 12/ But these butt heads (purposely using Sen Kennedy's verbiage) are recent products of our education system and exhibiting more Orwellian “Stupidity was as necessary as intelligence, and as difficult to attain.”
@20committee 13/ The 1 thing I've realized working w/students who are truly struggling w/HS math is that they feel powerless, they're confused by the language of math, don't see the patterns or processes, much like how I don't hear the music written on a score page that musicians can hear
@20committee 14/ So when I reach a few of them thru hard work it soon achieving a sense of power beginning to understand what they believed they couldn't. Those students then grow to have confidence and start succeeding. I call it riding the bicycle, one never is taught to ride, one learns to
@20committee 15/ In the end I teach character, thru math. No different than how the priests & brothers of my Cath schooling taught me in their curriculum, never a short cut, they really didn't care about my college or career ambitions, that was assumed, they cared if I honestly achieved it
@20committee 16/ Krueger-Dunning syndrome on a large scale does not happen by natural circumstance it happens b/c of the delusion that “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” but have a belief when honestly nothing was achieved.
@20committee 17/ The school I work at is low income, minority-majority, & heavily recruited by the 3 branches + the Marines, ea graduating class might send 15-20 to various military programs out of 80-90 graduates, many more have that aspiration b/c it is a military town & pathway out
@20committee 18/ In the end what I see is that outside of Math and some science, b/c of the confines of Math few teachers are actually honest w/the students, overly positive, pandering to their aspirations like how little coaches are to players that everyone is a champion who participates
@20committee 19/ The honestly I am talking abt is not deflating a dream but being honest whether & how that dream might be achieved. Last yr I worked w/upperclassman who really wanted to get into the AF but had low ASVAB scores I was honest saying he had to work hard, he wanted a magic bullet
@20committee 20/ When I showed him his scores on an intervention program he was not really applying himself, he said I was taking away his dream, yet another student whom I worked w/ just got accepted w/an athletic scholarship, honest hard work.
@20committee 21/ Back to the big picture. When I read @davidaxelrod post this morn abt NYT editor saying that they didn't realize how deeply resentful the nation had towards the elites following 2008's meltdown and rebound, and how that resulted in Trump, it all connected. /end
