K-12: Why So Little for the Mind?

Many critics say our public schools are a train wreck. In Charlotte Iserbyt's memorable phrase, we are all victims of "the deliberate dumbing down of America." Is there any escape? Perhaps, but only if we're candid about what has been done to us throughout the past century.

Here's how bad things are now. Camille Paglia, popular professor and author, declares: "What has happened is these young people now getting to college have no sense of history – of any kind! No sense of history. No world geography. No sense of the violence and the barbarities of history. So, they think that the whole world has always been like this, a kind of nice, comfortable world where you can go to the store and get orange juice and milk, and you can turn on the water and the hot water comes out. ... They know nothing!"

Professor Patrick Deneen at Notre Dame says, "My students are know-nothings. ... Their brains are largely empty. ... They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten nearly everything about itself, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference to its own culture."

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