The Dumbing Down of America

If only a few Americans can read, write, think critically and be proficient in math and science.....can America really continue to lead the world?

Here are a few amazing things that High School grads DON'T KNOW.

Only 43 percent of all U.S. high school students knew that the Civil War was fought sometime between 1850 and 1900.

More than a quarter of all U.S. high school students thought that Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean after the year 1750.

Approximately a third of all U.S. high school students did not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Only 60 percent of all U.S. students knew that World War I was fought some time between 1900 and 1950.

Even more shocking were the results of a survey of Oklahoma high school students conducted back in 2009. The following is a list of the questions that were asked and the percentage of students that answered correctly….

• What is the supreme law of the land? 28 percent
• What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? 26 percent
• What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? 27 percent
• How many justices are there on the Supreme Court? 10 percent
• Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 14 percent
• What ocean is on the east coast of the United States? 61 percent
• What are the two major political parties in the United States? 43 percent
• We elect a U.S. senator for how many years? 11 percent
• Who was the first President of the United States? 23 percent
• Who is in charge of the executive branch? 29 percent 

It also doesn’t help that Americans (especially young Americans) are absolutely addicted to entertainment. Americans spend an average of 153 hours watching television each month, and when we aren’t watching television we are watching movies, playing video games, surfing the Internet, etc.

When is the last time that you saw a young person actually reading a book that was not required for school? Yes, it does happen once in a while, but it is so rare that it is kind of startling when you spot it happening.

But it is not just our young people that have been “dumbed down”. Even our presidents have been “dumbed down”. If you doubt this, just check out this amazing graphic which shows how the reading level of State of the Union addresses has steadily declined since the beginning of our nation.

Personally, I have an awareness that I should be able to think much more clearly than I am able to right now. I can feel the effect that our society has had on my own mental abilities, and it frustrates me.

A lot has been written about the decline of our health here in America, but very little gets written about our mental decline. That is a shame, because our ability to think clearly and rationally is so very critical to our future.

Here;  http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2013/2123/print/

When our grandparents went to school, education was a privilege and they dang well made the most of it.  Today, our children have a new god they bow down to....the god of entertainment....and for most, school gets in the way of fun and entertainment.

Remember that history shows us that the last stage of a society before it collapses are COMPLACENCY and APATHY.  Pretty hard to argue that we aren't there already.

Oh yes....but please don't forget now....the stock market is up and so is the housing market, AND people are borrowing money again because they fell better...so happy days are here again!!  Let's commence to PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999!