Public Education in America

By Elizabeth Szlek, LMHC

My uncle sends me stuff on e-mail regularly. Because he is a Navy Chief, ret., you can probably figure out his stance on things. Let’s just put it this way: He’s not a Democrat, and is VERY patriotic. Now, you might say, can’t a Democrat be patriotic?

At bottom, no. Because the Democratic party has been co-opted by the liberal agenda. If you like, you can substitute the word “socialist”, or “fascist”, or even “communist” for the word ‘liberal’ This is only if you are aware of the development of these three branches of what could be called “Progressivism”. Progressivism is opposed to nationalism, which is the basis for patriotism. So, no, you can’t be progressive and patriotic, if you are going to be intellectually consistent. I am sure many would disagree, but I would love to debate it with whomever....

Anyway, the gem Uncle Alex just sent me was a copy of the Eighth Grade Final Exam from Salinas, KS, dated 1985. Most of you know that in 1895, a very large portion of the population would have ended their formal education.

All I can say is, after looking at that exam, what a grand and wonderful education it was! Someone had written above it, “Most teachers with a Master’s degree would fail it!” I’m not too sure how I would have done, either.

Here is a sampling of some of the questions, drawn from the five topics of Grammar, U.S. History, Orthography (do most of us even know what that means?), Arithmetic, and Geography. Check these little tidbits out!

1. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.

2. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per meter? (Yes, meters, not feet!)

3. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

4. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-,pre-,semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, sup-.

5. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

6. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall, Orinoco.



This exam took five hours to complete, and I can say that if anyone could pass it, they would be ready for life in any state as a full adult. So much for the good old days. I will post this on my blog so that anyone of you can take a better look at the standards which used to guide our schools.

Is There Something Wrong With Our Schools?

Some of you may believe that our schools are in good shape right now, and that educational excellence prevails throughout our land. Unfortunately, the opposite is true, and most can agree that our schools are not doing a good job of creating educated adults.

So, imagine my surprise when I followed a link from one of the listserves I get daily to this: The Tea Party Education Manifesto. This document was written by Bruce Deitrick Price, who has a website entitled, improve-education.org. I had never heard of him, but I think most of you will be very pleased to read his eight ideas on how to improve our American education system. Here are his ideas, with my comments in parentheses:

1. Encourage and strengthen charter schools, vouchers, homeschooling and all types of private schools, because diversity and competition is a sure way to have improvement. (Sounds good, and this way not all of our children will be force fed the same liberal ideology and political correctness. There is the possibility that the most gifted will somehow escape the dumbing down effect of our present educational system.)

2. Support fast-track alternative credentialing. If smart, educated people want to leave other fields, all they really need is a couple of months of classroom training. (Amen! I have taught at the university level, and there were no classes on how to teach. If you know something, and you have the gift, you are a teacher. If you don’t have the gift, no amount of training will help.)

3. All teachers must major in the subjects they teach. ( Duh! Mastery of a topic is essential before one can teach it. Case closed. This is not always the case in our schools today.)

4. Make schools safe and secure. (He goes on to state that if someone has a pill in their purse, it is far less dangerous than someone coming to school with a gun).

5. Teachers must not be required to join a union. The power of the National Education Association (NEA) is an obstacle to reform. (The fact is, the NEA is the most powerful union in America, and it has far too much control over the teachers it is supposed to be representing.)

6. Repeal, rescind or scale back Race to the Top. (Like No Child Left Behind, these large-scale top down educational are not necessary, and they really get in the way of a teacher teaching the way he or she wants to.)

7. Cut the Department of Education by half, then do it again. This thing should never have been created [it was a payback from the Democrats to the NEA]. Similarly, cut in half the role of schools of education. These places take two years to impart two months worth of information. ( In other words, it would be better to take new teachers who are talented in their area of expertise, rather than take teachers who have just been learning to “teach”.

8. (This is my absolute favorite!) Try to dismantle all the sophistries and gimmicks introduced by progressive educators in the last 100 years (since Thomas A. Dewey took over the direction of American education, and after the 1895 Eighth Grade test seen above), for example Sight-Words, New Math/Reform Math, Constructivism, Self-Esteem, Multiculturalism, Fuzziness of any kind, Group Learning, etc. Instead, there must be a renewed emphasis on foundational knowledge and basic skills, with mastery of both (Say, for example, in the 1895 Kansas schools).



Mr. Price suggests that even if four of these eight suggestions were to be implemented, we would see vast improvements in our American educational systems. We can only hope!

Elizabeth Szlek is the Director of The Door Counseling Center of Utica, NY. Questions and comments can be directed to her at (315) 768-8900 or at info@thedoorcounseling.com.