The sad state of our education system
It started when Jay Leno was doing the Tonight Show. He would go out on a street corner and ask passersby questions about American History, and sometimes ask them to identify pictures of politicians, and other notables.
This type of questioning continues today focusing on young college age men and women who for the most part appear to be normal young Americans. While some editing might come into play their ignorance of American history and current events is profoundly shocking.
This past Independence Day I viewed a segment on cable news where young people were asked questions like “What nation did the U.S. win its independence from? Answers included Uruguay, France, Africa and yes England. When asked in what year did the U.S. declare its independence? Answers included 1492, 1976, 1942 with the young lady who named England as the nation we declared our independence from correctly naming 1776 as the year. When asked how old the U.S. is, answers ranged from 9,000 to 50 years old with the girl who answered the other questions correctly giving our age correctly as 248 years. At least she was paying attention in history class.
On another occasion people were asked to identify from pictures several notable politicians. Vice President Kamala Harris, who might soon be running for president, was not recognized by anyone. California Gov. Gavin Newsome of California, who seems unable to hide his lust for the presidency, also went unrecognized. President Biden was recognized by several people as was former President Trump.
Since I live on a street that many Silver Creek students use as a way home from school, I have sometimes thought that I should stop a few to test their knowledge of American history and current affairs but I suspect that I would be reported to the Sheriff’s Department and described as a “crazy old man” harassing students so I will pass on that.
All of this saddens someone like myself who back in second grade was the only student in his class who knew that George VI of Great Britain had just died, who in 6th grade was the winner of several current affairs contests and was also a college history major. What are our schools teaching our young people about the life and times of the nation that they are citizens of?
Frankly in an era of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, it appears that they are not teaching them much at all. It appears though that they are being taught that there is nothing special about our nation. DEI, an outgrowth of the Marxist doctrine of Critical Race Theory, is based on several key assumptions. The first of these is that the U.S. is systemically racist. Next White Americans harbor unconscious racism and finally that equal rights, the meritocracy and even our laws enforce a regime of white supremacy. The solution to this state of affairs is to destroy the old system and create a new one.
I’m not sure what that regime might look like but I suggest we might think in terms of the Peoples’ Republic of China or North Korea.
Next, I read with great interest the OBSERVER story about the possible purchase of lock pouches for student cell phones by Dunkirk High School. The student use of cell phones is a major problem in many school systems and even though most have policies against their use in school they are both hard to enforce or are just not enforced.
The Dunkirk high school principal feels that the problem can be solved once and for all by purchasing the Yondr cell phone pouch. The Yondr is a pouch with a magnetic lock in which the cell phone would be stored at someplace during the school day. It is not surprising that there are valid concerns about lost learning time through cell phone use or the number of physical altercations attributable to social media comments but if I were a Dunkirk district taxpayer I would be concerned with spending $37,000 for 1,000 Yondrs even if a grant would cover much of the cost.
This is just another case of the inmates running the asylum. I may be naive, but a simpler way would be to totally ban cell phones from the school with automatic suspensions for any and all violations of the ban. Previous generations of students survived without any means of outside contact while in school and did not suffer. Cell phones play no role in the education process and should not be in school during the school day. This may annoy some students and even some parents, but it should be impressed on all that taxpayers are paying a hefty price for schools that should produce productive citizens who will be an asset and not a burden to society. Student achievement levels continue to fall, and I suspect that cell phone usage in school contributes to that.
Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com