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This emphasizes different points from those made in Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me. https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281
Texas is the most populous state to approve textbooks at the state level. That means textbook publishers cater to Texas or their books fail, and schools elsewhere are often stuck with whatever Texas approved.
Texas is a Red state still deeply in denial about slavery and racism. Last I checked, kids in Texas public schools are still taught that the Civil War started for a "variety" of reasons, only one of which was slavery.
Publishers who want a successful textbook must therefore cater to Texas by downplaying the viciousness and significance of slavery. This is a primary reason why teachers have a hard time finding the materials they need.
Someone wrote a book in the 60s about it, so it's basically tradition at this point.
https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170
I would say that Gatto's Underground History got me thinking about modern public education. He is kind of a wingnut, but he has lots of good history, and points about our modern industrial education system. That led me to learn about the history of education, and I realized that when we abandoned the classical liberal arts tradition, we lost a lot. So basically, I thought that by using the Core Knowledge Curriculum, combined with Latin and Singapore Math, we could provide a better education than our local public schools.
Sadly, there's as much variation in the quality of homeschooling as there is in the quality of public schools, apparently, but from what I've seen in our homeschooling community, an involved, caring parent will do just as well as, if not better than the average public school.
As to the reasons for going back to school, a few of her friends decided to go to high school, which means the end of her reading and writing groups. We were prepared to go all the way, but she decided to try high school. I don't have many worries, other than the normal parent-of-teenager worries. She's got a good head on her shoulders.
Unless kids learn the reality of how the America’s were really conquered, we’ll never get past the literal crap that people believe. If you’re interested, there’s a great book called ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me’ that tells the real stories about the American mythology. https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/1620973928
I believe there's an economist who wrote a book about this
https://www.amazon.com/Case-against-Education-System-Waste/dp/0691196451
currents thoughts about anti intellectualism are coming from this book I'm reading right now
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006LSVB1M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
surprsingly prescient for techniques and issues that we're plagued with from right wingers today
>Lack of critical thinking is the problem, and it's been here long before 2020.
Isaac Asimov was railing against "A Cult of Ignorance" in the 1980's and Richard Hofstadter wrote a whole, very dense book about the "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" in 1966! So, the seeds for disinformation to cripple America campaign have long been sown and awaiting germination.
Jordan Peterson is an anti intellectual authoritarian. He values action over thought just like authoritarians and fascists.
https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170
I just want to take a moment to say Dr. Lowen's book Lies My Teacher Told Me is one of the best and easiest to read U.S. history books out there. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1620973928/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_89N7A38X7XYE9G0QEM5R
Yes it is. Most of the K-12 textbook material is set by committee somewhere in Texas, books are then bought and made mandatory teaching by public schools. Learning about the founding fathers is like watching Mel Gibson in The Patriot.
For some good insight on why it is garbage check this book out sometime.. I read it after highschool and it was an eye opener.
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/1620973928
Really it's going to boil down to which translation you prefer. Some will prefer a more literal translation, others will prefer a more idiomatic one. Lionel Giles's 1910 translation is still a classic, and it's the cheapest version on Amazon and is readily available online. Look at the versions below:
> 孫子曰：兵者，國之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察也。故經之以五事，校之以計，而索其情：一曰道，二曰天，三曰地，四曰將，五曰法。
"Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline."
Compare with Ralph Sawyer's 1988 translation of the same passage:
“Sun-tzu said: Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Way (Tao) to survival or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed.
“Therefore, structure it according to [the following] five factors, evaluate it comparatively through estimations, and seek out its true nature. The first is termed the Tao, the second Heaven, the third Earth, the fourth generals, and the fifth the laws [for military organization and discipline].”
I enjoyed this https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281 in middle school but it's a great read, and apparently has been updated. "The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China" is good too.
no, you're referring to the Dunning Kruger effect combined with willful ignorance, both of which are a hallmark of propaganda laden media consumption pushed by the far right and emboldened by the fundamentalist christian theocracy that manipulates mass portions of the populace from early childhood indoctrination.
stupidity is just one layer of an organized assault that has been going on in america for approximately one century. I suggest looking into the book "Anti-Intellectualism In American Life" if you want to learn more.
Anti-Intellectualism in American Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/0394703170/
You might find this really interesting and viewquakey
"The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money"
By one of the most interesting economists alive, Bryan Caplan. Strongly recommend this (and his other works like Open Borders) for exposure to convincing angles you were unlikely to have run into otherwise!
American historian/sociologist/professorJames Loewen showed that US history books used in high schools across America present American history as a story of non-stop progress toward perfection, indoctrinating us that we alone have our hearts in the right place and make the world better. It's pretty horiffic.
Left doesn’t mean what you think it means, read Lies My Teacher Told Me, it’s a really good book.
The fact that conservahole continues after years of repeated disinformation, supports the premise that Reddit is aggressively centrist.
They kind of create the problem though no? The sub is almost a field base where they can always retreat to after trying to wreck everyone else’s discussions.
Also, questioning the upvote system? That’s the whole site, say unpopular stuff in a community and you’re going to get downvotes. How is that surprising? if Ella your world views get downvotes you’re noticing a pattern, you’re just making the wrong conclusions when you claim everyone else is wrong.
you can read a book called
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281
because it has been far longer than 60-70 years
as Smedley Butler said:
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
It's not a new phenomenon; I mean, Richard Hofstadter wrote "Anti-intellectualism in American Life" almost 60 years now. But yes, the foundations might be starting to crumble.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281
Not specifically about religion, but more about how school curriculum has been driven by a minority of special interest groups, many of whom are religious.
Wow! That looks like a fun site to explore. I'm going to check that out. Thanks!
Also, I got one for you: Lies My Teacher Told Me
It's a great book that goes over the terrible way American history is taught in grade schools by analyzing various textbooks from different school districts and what they leave out and get wrong.
>We're a deeply anti-intellectual society.
And we basically have been from day one: https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170
Written in 1964 and just as relevant today as then. If not even more.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743296281/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_EVRCDZ5M31VAWGR0X2Z7 is an incredibly accessible read. It engages the reader with historical facts while bitching about how text books approach complex and important conversations about history. It's not 100% itself but it's a great primer, and quite eye opening.
There is a butt ton of stuff they didn't tell us. Like even after reading this book I still find out new atrocities that just aren't talked about. It's what drove me nuts about MAGA cause seriously....wtf were we ever great.
I recommend everyone read Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-intellectualism in American Life. In this work Hofstadter considers the historic tension between access to education and excellence in education, Hofstadter argued that both anti-intellectualism and utilitarianism were consequences, in part, of the democratization of knowledge. Moreover, he saw these themes as historically embedded in America's national fabric, resulting from its colonial European and evangelical Protestant heritage. He contended that evangelical American Protestantism's anti-intellectual tradition valued the spirit over intellectual rigor.
Hofstadter described anti-intellectualism as “resentment of the life of the mind, and those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition to constantly minimize the value of that life.”
Also, he described the term as a view that "intellectuals...are pretentious, conceited... and snobbish; and very likely immoral, dangerous, and subversive ... The plain sense of the common man is an altogether adequate substitute for, if not actually much superior to, formal knowledge and expertise."
This work won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for general non-fiction and is more pertinent today.
Overturning established ideas is desirable, it's flashy and gains you fame. The tricky part is you need evidence.
If you're talking about institutional policies, that isn't really what people in the hard sciences are trained to look at.
As for an informed public - you can show them things, but you can't make them read/watch/listen/absorb it. It was always this way. It was an old trend in the 60's when Hofstadter wrote about it.
Here is another excellent book I forgot I had.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1620973928/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_PE4VBBH0D1A1VSX62R65
Got a whole book of them: <em>Lies My Teacher Told Me</em> by James W. Loewen.
In the United States (as a number of you already know), our junior high and high schools don’t teach history; they teach patriotism. It’s all about America’s “manifest destiny” to eventually stretch across the continent and become a superpower. With a few hurdles, like the Civil War, but otherwise it’s all progress and greatness.
Then we get to university and learn our REAL history. And are horrified. So much so, half of us still refuse to believe it. And get elected to school boards, ban any textbooks which teach actual history, and perpetuate the problem.
So we can pretty much talk about everything… but it tends to freak out the Know-Nothing crowd. Especially when it’s about racism—which according to our patriotism textbooks, we solved already!
Yep. John Taylor Gatto talks about this, and much more. Start with The seven-lesson schoolteacher to get started.
I've also read, "Lies My Teacher Told Me."
>Americans have lost touch with their history, and in Lies My Teacher Told Me Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying eighteen leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past.
I recommend it for the chest-thumping MAGA in your life.
Oh Noez he gave Putin a compliment. That’s so much worse than letting Putin declare war, commit war crimes and human rights violations. Amirite guise?
How many wars did Russia declare under trumps watch?
How many war crimes?
How many human rights violations?
To me, that’s keeping an evil mofo in check. But y’all on a different time, and that’s cool. You can complain about a compliment, I’m complaining about the war crimes and human rights violations occurring plunder the presidents watch. I can post links too;
https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Sun-Tzu/dp/1599869772
What, you trying to have your cake and eat it too? Cry about being involved in war in the Middle East, and cry about leaving the Middle East. Wtf do you want?