About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Kentucky Eighth Grade Exam & The Employment Opportunites - Income Gap In America

Thanks to all the good sports who took the quiz on the last posting.  Click on Quiz - Science & Technology to read the responses I posted. 
 
I particularly highlight for your attention the lone comment that question # 12 was a trick question – it was a very observant remark that was not acknowledged by the official scorekeepers of the quiz but nevertheless is true.  I'll bet many in this readership will agree with the point once they realize it.
 
As a follow up to the science & technology quiz please look over the 1912 eighth grade exam from a Bullitt County Kentucky school presented by another long time subscriber.  The obvious results from this exam provide a tremendous example of the deterioration of America's government school system since 1912. 
 
Many of us knew people in older generations whose formal schooling ended @ the eighth grade level – & I for one didn't consider such people that I knew uneducated.  I have a good reference point regarding the education profile of the last 100 years because my father was in the eight grade shortly after 1912 & he did not go beyond eighth grade.  He owned his own business for over 30 years & was proficient in the three "R"s.  As a boy I would hear him talk to friends & family about civics & history – much like the type of things I write about today on RTE. 
 
I don't know if I could have passed the above exam in 1958 when I was an eighth grader & I'm not sure I know any recent college graduates who could pass it today.
 
See a link between this trend in education & the employment opportunities & income gap in America?
 
Posted by ReturnToExcellence.net at 10:10 PM

4 comments:

  1. BDAugust 26, 2013 at 6:57 PM

    How interesting! I got some of the grammar correct...

    ReplyDelete
  2. BDAugust 26, 2013 at 7:02 PM

    PS My father was much like yours, in that he did not have a high school education, but ran a successful business, made sound investments, and had a well rounded life. One thing that gave him great pleasure was to read the creative writing papers that my second graders wrote.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anne Neal - ACTAAugust 26, 2013 at 7:03 PM

    Doug -- Most interesting and I will share it with folks here.

    You are right that people love quizzes.

    You can find our Losing America’s Memory historical literacy quiz at the back of the report (on our website) and you can also see the answers Roper got from college graduates on basic questions of Civics and American history at www.whatwilltheylearn.com.

    (It flashes midway on the screen). The results are not heartening!

    Best, Anne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RTEAugust 26, 2013 at 11:37 PM

      RTE - see next posting dated August 26, 2013 for more detail.

      Delete

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