000			03412cam a2200313 a 4500
001			ocm32779649
003			OCoLC
005			20150429173637.0
008			950620s1995 nyu b 001 0 eng
010			_a 95031522
020			_a0312134746
020			_a9780312134747
040			_aDLC _beng _cDLC _dQP9 _dBTCTA _dLVB _dYDXCP _dBAKER _dOCLCG _dUAB _dOCLCO _dOCLCF _dOCLCQ
043			_an-us---
050	0	0	_aLA222 _b.S95 1995
082	0	0	_a373.73 _220
100	1		_aSykes, Charles J., _d1954- _912725
245	1	0	_aDumbing down our kids : _bwhy America's children feel good about themselves but can't read, write, or add /
250			_a1st ed.
260			_aNew York : _bSt. Martin's Press, _c1995.
300			_ax, 341 pages ; _c24 cm
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505	0		_aDumbing down America's kids. Scenes from the front: "Mere facts" -- Andrea's complaint -- Dumbing down our kids -- Losing the race -- Scenes from the front: An endangered species I -- The American way of denial -- Dumbing down our schools. Scenes from the front: How did Einstein feel? -- Feelings -- The religion of self-esteem -- Scenes from the front: The mission statement -- The attack on excellence -- Scenes from the front: Leaders and followers -- The making of an educationist -- Scenes from the front: "I wanted to be a teacher" -- The new illiteracy -- Why Johnny can't add, subtract, multiply, or divide (but still feels good about himself) -- Dumbing down the texts -- Scenes from the front: The political classroom I -- Dumbing down the tests -- Scenes from the front: The political classroom II -- Moral dumbing down. The "values" wasteland -- Telling on mommy and daddy -- Doctor, doctor -- The attack on learning. The attack on learning -- Scenes from the front: 1928 -- 1958 -- Educational wastelands -- Scenes from the front: Mold -- Reform and counterreform. The blob -- Outcome based education -- Goals 2000 and the counterreformation -- Scenes from the front: An endangered species II -- Schools that work -- Scenes from the front: Barclay -- The coming educational revolution.
520			_aIn this book, Sykes argues that the school wars of the 1990s will be the defining cultural and political debate of our time. While many parents bask in the glow of complacency about their own children's education, Dumbing Down Our Kids documents the collapse of standards in our schools, the flight from learning, and the triumph of mediocre, feel-good education that is more concerned with pumping up self-esteem than it is with passing on knowledge. This dubious triumph includes the latest educational fad, "Outcome Based Education." Although known by different names in some states, OBE is the most recent in a long series of "reforms" that have eroded our schools. Charles Sykes traces these fads from their roots in the early "progressive" theories of John Dewey, through Dick and Jane and Spot, Life Adjustment, New Math, Mastery Learning, and other reforms-gone-wrong. Sykes concludes with a checklist for parents, students, and teachers who want to evaluate their schools, and a series of recommendations to restore quality learning to America.
650		0	_aEducation, Secondary _zUnited States _xEvaluation. _912726
650		0	_aAcademic achievement _zUnited States _xEvaluation. _912727
651		7	_aUnited States. _2fast _94709
942			_2ddc _cNF
999			_c28336 _d28336