Thursday, April 23, 2009

Dumb and Dumber

Thomas Friedman, in a recent NY Times piece, quoted findings of the McKinsey consulting firm, that "the longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers."  This is not a new finding. A few years ago, John Stossel did a TV program entitled "Stupid in America" and his assessment was the same: "the longer American kids are in school, the dumber they become." (These findings are primarily based on studies that show our 4th graders perform well - near the top - on international tests. By 8th grade, they are in the middle.  By the end of high school, our children rank near the very bottom).

As a home schooler, I don't reiterate this to denigrate the schools. I say it because so many politicians today (including the governor of our state and President Obama) are advocating for longer days and longer school years.  And they're asking for huge amounts of our tax payer dollars to fund these initiatives. America needs to think long and hard about how much we're willing to sacrifice - including the childhoods of our dear children - to ideas and programs that have no proven results.


7 comments:

Katie said...

Hi Michelle, I am finally posting my first comment to your blog. You once were our pastor in Fargo, did some pre-marriage training with my husband and me and somehow I received the link to your blog. It was a couple years ago at least because we don't live in Fargo anymore either! Regardless thank you much for the post on "dumb and dumber". I agree and appreciate your insight and views. Congrats on your new baby boy also!

Jennifer said...

Thanks for posting this. I still have lingering doubts and this kind of thing helps my attitude.

Mark Erickson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark Erickson said...

Okay, you've figured out italics, but you're not a real blogger until you include a link to your source.

[First try didn't work, thus I'm not a real blogger]

Michelle Waters said...

Mark, I've linked a ton on this blog! But now that I have a new baby I don't have time to fiddle much with it!

See you tomorrow - we can't wait!

Why can't I see your blogger profile?

Anonymous said...

Right on. Keep up the good work with the dear grandchildren. How did they do on the assessment tests?
Papa

Papa said...

Right on. Keep up the good work with the dear grandchildren. How did they do on the assessment tests?
Papa