Basic education-dumb, dumber?

Dear Mouse, Grade school graduates can't spell. High school graduates can't read. And college graduates can't write. Sounds familiar? But you are wrong if you think this pertains to the Philippine educational system graduates. Michelle Mclnervey wrote this in an article that was published in the Business Journal of Kansas City, USA about the fears of the educators that the US schools are dumbing down the curriculum. According to the writer: The educational horror stories are out there, but is there more to the phenomenon of dumbing down than just the whispers? Many fear U.S. schools are lowering the standards and scope of curriculum and the scales by which grades are determined. The author also mentioned the observation of an interim associate dean of a law school: "It's hard to know if it's really happening," said Ellen Suni, interim associate dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, "but students today don't have the skills they did when I started teaching 25 years ago. Some do, but overall, I don't feel colleges have prepared them as well as they used to in both basic skills and work ethic." The last statement seemed to be shocking. If they do not have the basic skills and work ethic, so what kind of education did they get from the schools and universities. He listed down the common mistakes compiled from the students’ exams to illustrate the extreme results of this dumbing; • Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. • Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin, which he built with his own hands. • Under the Constitution the people enjoyed the right to keep bare arms. • Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. Or take Anders Henriksson's "Non Campus Mentis: World History According to College Students," a book compiling the funny, frightening and almost unbelievable responses the author/educator has gotten through the years on papers and exams. Some of those include: • During the Dark Ages, it was mostly dark. • Hitler's instrumentality of terror was the Gespacho. • And the mother of Jesus was Mary, who was different from other women because of her immaculate contraption. If you think it is extremely funny, wait 'till you read this news. Student walkout over budget cuts turns ugly A student walkout Wednesday in Pinole over school budget cuts turned ugly after police said many youngsters jumped on cars and looted a convenience store. About 200 students walked out from Pinole High School, and proceeded to vent their anger over budget cuts by stomping on top of nearby vehicles, police said. Police videotaped the students as evidence for possible criminal charges. The CA t