"Dumbing Down" of America

I agree that the educational system has gotten worse and worse,and that people are becoming stupid to the extent that it hurts my brain to carry on a conversation with the average person.I am 29,I wasted a few years of my life hanging out and playing in bands.At any rate, I work full time and am planning to go back to college this coming spring semester.One of the things that always bothered me with the educational system was that with no effort,I could easily get high marks.Most people would be happy with this and simply attend and excel, however I always ended up bored and frustrated because I wasn't being challenged, so I blew things off.Chalk that up to youth and lack of maturity/wisdom.

I am truly astounded at the idiocy of society as a whole and the younger generation in particular. I read on my breaks at work, and am a voracious reader, and one day happened to be reading some Plato.One of my coworkers who is 19 asked me why I would be reading Plato, to which I replied, to broaden my horizons, its great for honing critical thinking, and I enjoy philosophy. He replied that it was a waste to read that because it was 200 years old and "written in old English and full of thee and thou and thy, and no one speaks that way anymore."
Here we have someone thinking Plato originated in England in the 1800's.I see examples like this all of the time, so much so that I lose faith in humanity.Sometimes I think if people are too stupid to open their eyes when you provide them with facts and truths, then they are not worth your time.


[edit on 5-8-2007 by brotherforchrist]

I can assure you that this is true. I've been in the middle east, four years, Kosovo for five and Congo for one. What you say is exactly right and has been gaining ground since at the minimum since WWI. There is no "conspiracy theory". There is positively a unified Conspiracy....no theory.

The populace is becoming dumber.

It is a fact. Some basic understanding of biology and maths will tell you this. Hell! Even KoRn got it right in their new music video.

A High IQ family has on average 1.5 children.
A Low IQ family has on average 5 children.

So... dumb people out number us now, and the gap will continue to grow exponentially.

Our current human lifestyle has dire genetic repercussions. We no longer live in a 'survival of the fittest' world. Every moron with a dick can impregnate a woman, and statistically will 5 times!

Unless we start monitoring and restricting reproduction (gross human rights violation) mankind will continue to dumb down. Regardless of mass media.

Originally posted by Spec01
The populace is becoming dumber.
Unless we start monitoring and restricting reproduction (gross human rights violation) mankind will continue to dumb down. Regardless of mass media.

A change in the mass media alone wont change the world but it would help a lot. I spent about 1 year watching PBS and it helped tremendously.

Even if it was a PBS show on knitting at least it didn't contain the same old dumbed down story line which is interrupted every X minutes for a series of even dumber commercials.

What we need changed is the educational system. It doesn't need more money, computers, the internet or any of that other crap either. The educational system needs teachers who can pass their own test, a completely revised curriculum and philosophy about what educating is and what our end results should be.

The USA should be #1 on the international charts every time but instead it ends up behind countries I've never even heard of. This is no accident, this is on purpose. They want you to be dumb so they can get away with whatever they like.

The bad guys are teaching Americas youth how to be slaves who aren't even aware of the fact.

[edit on 5-8-2007 by discomfit]

[edit on 5-8-2007 by discomfit]

Originally posted by discomfit

Originally posted by Spec01
The populace is becoming dumber.
Unless we start monitoring and restricting reproduction (gross human rights violation) mankind will continue to dumb down. Regardless of mass media.

A change in the mass media alone wont change the world but it would help a lot. I spent about 1 year watching PBS and it helped tremendously.

All the best teachers in the world and mass media aimed at accurate education won't do # if we are becoming genetically dumber every generation.

The best teachers in the world won't get a chimp to do calculus.

We need to stop breeding ignorance.

I'm an American living in Thailand, and the media/education systems are just as ridiculous here. They've got their Academy Fantasia version of American Idol, they copy-cat the Paris, Britney, and Lindsey "news," and trap their youth in "left-brain prisons" with incessant rote memorization.

To begin, group education happens in circles, not rows and columns. Sitting in rows facing front takes focus off each other and places it on fantasy objectives. Switching to rows of separate desks came about during the industrial age with motives focused not on education theory, but toward creating a populous pre-accustomed to a factory-like setting. Nowadays nothing has changed and it can’t because there are too many students, too few true teachers, and too little funding. So it serendipitously happens that the state enforces banker-hour school days, five days a week, with standardized testing, textbooks, and curriculums designed to compete students against all others for high grades and praise from the boss at the black board; then after school are often required to continue their competitive development in the wonderful sports programs, universally allocated more money than the arts.

I reject factory-seating, standardized tests, textbooks and curriculums because they all constrict the relationship of the teacher to the students and the students to each other. They shape clear competitive objectives with tried methods, testing, and grading procedures that produce results showing how compliant students are with the demands required of them. As far as actual knowledge acquired, most of it is forgotten after the test. We're taught that education is just a long hurdle you’ll hate then jump over to land perfectly in a pair of leather shoes on wall street like a good competitor. Rarely does a student graduate with a genuine love of learning that continues for the rest of their lives. Philosophy, the subject that means love of wisdom, the subject bursting to be explored by blossoming teenagers, is left as an elective at the Academy.

There are no anthropology, sociology, or psychology courses in public high schools. Three of the most enlightening subjects on human nature and finding one’s place in the world, the very state teenagers find themselves in naturally, such fundamental subjects are again post-poned until college in favor of asinine edification like trigonometry and geography. The fact We even have geography class is ridiculous. You know, the world is round and countries aren’t real anyway, but meanwhile commit these place names to memory, major imports and exports, capitals, policies, minor wars, treaties; it’s important, We assure you. Actually the interesting aspects of geography are in geology, sociology, and political science, three subjects that, again, you won’t be learning.

There’s no religion or theology taught in schools, so Our kids are ignorant of the world’s deepest beliefs and rely on their parents to fill them in. In math classes there is no number theory and rarely math history, the two most fascinating branches of mathematics are overlooked in favor of daily drills and rote memorization of functions and equations. No one reads about Aristotle, Boole, Russell, Riemann or Ramanajan, they just practice fifteen thousand ways to apply the Pythagorean theorum.

In physics there’s seldom anything so interesting as astronomy, cosmology, relativity, or quantum mechanics taught. Instead they opt for memorizing Newton's laws then performing obvious experiments on how gravity affects everyday objects, chart it, graph it, form a formula, hypothesis, procedure, results and conclusion. No one actually attempts Dirac, Feynman, Einstein or Hawking.

The same applies for chemistry and biology. Bunson burn some water and disect something disgusting then type two reports a week. Memorize these elements and ions, label some cell structures, and ignore the exciting active explorations for things like the origin of life and species, evolution and adaptation, nature vs. nurture, Carson, Curie, Darwin, Dawkins, Goodall or Gould.

In English We force Shakespeare and Milton; it’s like reading Howl to Shelley. Poetry, if offered, focuses on stresses, syllables, and copying classical forms. You start with the scraps of some Egyptian woman, might hit Whitman before the term ends and if you never see another poem again it’ll be too soon.

From 1852-1918 state education was optional in US. Then after that it was mandatory only for 9-12 year olds, 10-12 weeks a year, and even that was met with extreme opposition. They've slowly lengthened the time and age range until now 4 year olds are in preschool and 26 year old doctors are still being indoctrinated.

Originally posted by freight tomsen
Rarely does a student graduate with a genuine love of learning that continues for the rest of their lives. Philosophy, the subject that means love of wisdom, the subject bursting to be explored by blossoming teenagers, is left as an elective at the Academy.

There are no anthropology, sociology, or psychology courses in public high schools. Three of the most enlightening subjects on human nature and finding one’s place in the world, the very state teenagers find themselves in naturally, such fundamental subjects are again post-poned until college in favor of asinine edification like trigonometry and geography.

I agree with you freight tomsen. At that age is when kids are the most interested in learning about life and finding their place in the world. Instead of helping them, this education system is turning them into zombies. It was this way for me in high school in the 70's. But now it's even worse because kids brains are now being damaged with psychiatric medications in addition to the chemicals in the food supply.

This practice has been going on for the last hundred years and has slowly increased over time but no one takes notice. The increase of the use of these chemicals has directly coincided with the increase of illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, breast cancer, lung cancer, dementia, alzheimers, parkinsons disease, etc.

Our government is basically practicing an advanced form of genocide on the American people (by taking all of their money before they actually kill them) and no one is doing anything about it.

MSG is an excitotoxin which is a chemical that overexcites the nerve endings and kills them. But you would never know that when you watch the enchanting fairy-tale commercials about Splenda on TV.

Sodium nitrate is in every packaged meat in the supermarket. It's used to keep the meat looking "fresh" when it's not. It also causes cancer.

Antidepressant medications mask the "symptoms" of depression (caused by the chemicals in the food) and then cause permanent brain damage which results in having to stay on the medications indefinitely. The commercials on TV that show the depressed lonely people suddenly running happy in the sun don't bother to inform you that you just need to consume "real" food.

The food industry has everyone convinced that their pretty packages that say "All Natural" on the label is really healthy but they are far from it. It's a package of chemicals that will cause illness and disease before it finally kills you.

This is a conspiracy way beyond issues like 9/11 and UFO's. Those other issues may be real conspiracies but right now they can't be proven. This poisoning of society is as real as it gets.

All of this information is here:
www.newstarget.com...
The Hundred Year Lie
EWG Cosmetics Database

If you want to be healthy and smart, change your diet (and especially your kids diets) to fresh organic fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods. Stay away from ALL processed foods. You will be amazed at how much healthier you feel and how much clearer you can think. Change your personal care products to all organic ones. Use organic toothpaste that does not contain fluoride. Most of all, educate yourself on how to cure health issues with natural food, herbs and supplements instead of prescription drugs. You will be shocked to learn that pretty much every illness and disease can be cured without pharmaceutical drugs (even cancer and diabetes).

Sorry if this seems to go off on a different topic but the food we consume really is directly related to our ability to learn and be productive in life. And for kids its MORE important because they are affected much more dramatically by the chemicals than adults. ADHD was invented by the medical industry. Kids do NOT need to be on these dangerous medications. Meds will only turn them into zombies and inhibit their ability to learn, and make them dependent on them for life. All kids need is a healthy diet and environment free from chemicals.





[edit on 5-8-2007 by annestacey]

[edit on 5-8-2007 by annestacey]

Originally posted by annestacey

turning them into zombies.

kids brains are now being damaged

heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, breast cancer, lung cancer, dementia, alzheimers, parkinsons disease, etc.

advanced form of genocide on the American people and no one is doing anything about it.

overexcites the nerve endings and kills them.

Sodium nitrate is in every packaged meat in the supermarket. It's used to keep the meat looking "fresh" when it's not. It also causes cancer.

then cause permanent brain damage which results in having to stay on the medications indefinitely.

depressed lonely people

It's a package of chemicals that will cause illness and disease before it finally kills you.

This poisoning of society is as real as it gets.


dangerous medications. Meds will only turn them into zombies and inhibit their ability to learn,

[edit on 5-8-2007 by annestacey]

[edit on 5-8-2007 by annestacey]

While I agree that pharmaceuticals and processed food are not ideal for our health, I dont think that your fearmongering rhetoric is any healthier. To point this out I have quoted your most agressive thoughts. And thoughts DO effect the body as well, as you know.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
While I agree that pharmaceuticals and processed food are not ideal for our health, I dont think that your fearmongering rhetoric is any healthier. To point this out I have quoted your most agressive thoughts. And thoughts DO effect the body as well, as you know.

It's not fearmongering when it's the truth. Sometimes the only way to wake people up is to show them the cold hard truth. Telling people that "what they eat isn't healthy" isn't enough to make them see and understand what's really going on. I used to think that myself until I did the research and found out that the pharmaceutical drugs I was taking for 6 years was completely unnecessary and then proved it right when I got off of them successfully.

I'm wondering if all the people who have suffered at the hands of past governments over the centuries were accused of fear-mongering?

You should go over to the 9/11 forum and tell them that their conspiracy theories are "fear-mongering".

You can make the choice to consume the poison and you can force your kids to consume the poison but everyone has a right to know the truth and then make their own health decisions.

Originally posted by annestacey
It's not fearmongering when it's the truth.

I know there is some truth to what you are saying, but you dont find the way you PUT it too harsh at all? Ive been consuming junk since my childhood, but I am very healthy, havent been to the doctor or sick since more than a decade.

According to you I must now be a sick dumbed down zombie, but I am not.

This doesnt mean I advocate the junk medicine and junk food. But I wouldnt walk around labeling people who shop at supermarkets "sick zombies".

Or, to put it in other words:

I understand the zombies you are talking about, but their zombification is not 99% the food they consume, but also other factors such as media-programming. Id say food/substances make up 25%. And looking at your posts it looks like you believe its a whole lot more than 25%.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by annestacey
It's not fearmongering when it's the truth.

I know there is some truth to what you are saying, but you dont find the way you PUT it too harsh at all? Ive been consuming junk since my childhood, but I am very healthy, havent been to the doctor or sick since more than a decade.

According to you I must now be a sick dumbed down zombie, but I am not.

This doesnt mean I advocate the junk medicine and junk food. But I wouldnt walk around labeling people who shop at supermarkets "sick zombies".

What you are describing is exactly the person I am trying to emphasize these points toward. These chemicals are in small amounts so that people don't realize the mixture of chemicals they are absorbing. Think about it. You ingest small amounts of chemicals in the foods you eat, the water and beverages you drink, the soaps and shampoos you use, the lotions, the perfumes, the toothpaste, the deodorants, the sunblocks, the household cleaning products. They are everywhere.

You already know not to mix household cleaning chemicals because they can produce a lethal gas that can cause great harm and kill you. Well what about the lethal combinations of chemicals in all of the above products I mentioned? Practically every person has a certain amount of chemicals present in their bodies that are not healthy. The government KNOWS that people will not have immediate reactions to these small amounts of chemicals here and there. But over the course of 50 plus years... you will develop illnesses that will kill you and force you to be on prescription medications that will kill you even sooner. They know that YOU don't know this. That's how they get away with it.

You can find the factual information at this website:
www.hundredyearlie.com...
There is even a test you can take on the website that helps you to determine how toxic you are based on your use of different products and your environment.

And there is NO doctor that is going to tell you this information. Their business is based on you being sick... not well. Doctors are paid to put you on medications, not prevent you from being on medications. This is all true. If you are on medications prescribed by your doctor, you need to investigate this yourself. I would not be so persistent if it were not a serious situation that we absolutely have to understand and deal with.

Personally, I was on antidepressant medication for over 6 years and thought it was a lifelong medication. I did my research and found out it was the chemicals in the food and personal care products that cause depression (among other illnesses) so I cleaned up my diet, switched to all organic products and was able to completely get off of the meds successfully. My depression only returns when I consume foods that contain chemicals and I can control that with an herbal remedy that does not contain chemicals.

People "think" they are perfectly healthy but they are not. Your body is immune to the effects of the chemicals because you've been on them for a long time. If you get off of the chemicals, your body will cleanse itself and become truly healthy, then you will REALLY feel it when you consume something with chemicals. And then you will understand and know that you can never go back. This is why vegans are so adamant about their lifestyle. They have experienced true health and they will never go back to the chemical way of life. It literally makes them sick to eat what non-vegans and non-vegetarians eat. I now get sick when I eat hamburger and I used to eat hamburger all the time.

Micheal Moore has only hit the tip of the iceberg with his documentary, "Sicko". Pay attention to it and educate yourself and your family. This is not fear-mongering. It's very real. You have to experience it to understand it. If you've allowed your body to become accustomed to the chemicals, you won't feel what it's doing to you.




[edit on 5-8-2007 by annestacey]

As a 13 year old child, education is really important to me. It has been since I noticed the vast difference in the education I had with my American peers who were at the time residing in England.
After moving to the US, my IQ actually dropped a few points. (My parents won't tell me how many, for good reason)
Everything I learned in 7th grade, I already learned a year earlier. And this isn't because I took the same year twice. (year 7 is, I think, the age equivalent to 6th grade) There's only one or two people I met in my new school are actually smart enough to even consider something out of the norm. Hell, nobody knew how I could be reading Shakespeare. You know, I find that amusing in that the year before, we were studying one of his plays. Heh, a middle schooler taking a philosophy course online because school isn't offering anything challenging or new. (In fact, that's also why I started learning Russian..)

For 2 weeks, I visited my auntie in California. She lives in a forest, with solar panels, and she buys organic foods and I definitely felt the difference when I got back.
I've tried as much as I can to convince my parents to send me to a private school, but they dismissed my knowledge as something caused by fear-mongering people on the internet. It truly does suck to be alone. :3

Where can we start in the process of stopping this raping of the world's children? Keep spreading the information until every 'right'-minded person eats healthier foods and doesn't use public education?

Originally posted by LiquidTheBrit0
Keep spreading the information until every 'right'-minded person eats healthier foods and doesn't use public education?

If your 13, you will learn that there are hardly any right minded people out there. Being at school your sort of protected from what lies ahead.

How would you make people stop using public schools, most people are poor, and the food they get is what there parents can afford, which in most places is not much.

Just be greatful you get an education, because many parts of the world, there is limited education still.

So for most of us that agree that the "Dumbing Down" of America and other countries around the world is in fact happening I've started to come to the conclusion as to why:

1. Materialism: As with most things it can always lead back to money. The dumbing down by the media and the government helps promote a dependency of a materialistic culture. It helps people make uninformed decisions and dictates what is important to them.

2. To Create Blind Nationalist: The dumbing down helps create a sense of false patriotism upon the public!!! It is easier for the government to further their agendas good and bad when people are less informed and easily manipulated by the media.

Vinadetta- you make two good points. America used to be a society of highly educated population, and when this was happening, religion meant more to them back then, and values did too.

A good example of this is do people actually think beforee they buy the violent games or goto see really graphic movies at the box office. Your society years ago, may of questioned more what they choose to do with there time.

[edit on 8/6/2007 by andy1033]

Here is a web site that reinforces the 'dumbing of America' -- This has been going on for a long time.

www.world-mysteries.com...

Originally posted by andy1033

Originally posted by LiquidTheBrit0
Keep spreading the information until every 'right'-minded person eats healthier foods and doesn't use public education?

If your 13, you will learn that there are hardly any right minded people out there. Being at school your sort of protected from what lies ahead.

How would you make people stop using public schools, most people are poor, and the food they get is what there parents can afford, which in most places is not much.

Just be greatful you get an education, because many parts of the world, there is limited education still.

Sorry, I forget when not to use sarcasm sometimes. And that sarcasm is very hard to sense over an internet connection.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad I get an education at all (And supportive parents whom I am very happy to have), but I do want to be able to get the best I can out of what I have. (I have internet access, for one, and that already enables me to open up many new doors.)

However, we've pretty much already established that there's a problem here., but as I asked, how do we fix it?

Originally posted by Vinadetta

1. Materialism: As with most things it can always lead back to money. The dumbing down by the media and the government helps promote a dependency of a materialistic culture. It helps people make uninformed decisions and dictates what is important to them.

2. To Create Blind Nationalist: The dumbing down helps create a sense of false patriotism upon the public!!! It is easier for the government to further their agendas good and bad when people are less informed and easily manipulated by the media.

It is both and then some. Like someone mentioned. It is a way to teach people how to enslave themselves, become sheep. And we're all very good students, achieving straight A's (or 10's) in this subject.

Enslavement must come from all fronts. Back then, slavery was through force. Today, enslavement is through blind acceptance, conformity, and ignorance. All fronts mean economic, social, spiritual, physical, mental. It is too late...