Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add

Charles J. Sykes

Macmillan, 1995 - Education - 341 pages

Dumbing Down Our Kids is a searing indictment of America's secondary schools-one that every parent and teacher should read.

Dumbing Down Our Kids offers a full-scale investigation of the new educational fad, sometimes called "Outcome Based Education" -the latest in a long series of "reforms" that has eroded our schools.

-Why our kids rank to, or at the bottom of international tests in math and science
-Why "self-esteem" has supplanted grades and genuine achievements
-How the educational establishment lowers standards and quality in our schools-while continuing to raise their budgets and our school taxes
-The dumbing down of the curriculum so everyone can pass-but no one excel
-How parents, students, and teachers can evaluate schools and restore quality learning

Contents

• IV: 3
• VIII: 5
• XI: 8
• XII: 16
• XIII: 25
• XIV: 28
• XV: 37
• XVII: 39
• XVIII: 41
• XIX: 48
• XXI: 61
• XXIII: 64
• XXV: 81
• XXVI: 83
• XXVII: 90
• XXXI: 92
• XXXIII: 114
• XXXV: 127
• XXXVII: 140
• XXXIX: 143
• XL: 152
• XLII: 155
• XLIII: 157
• XLIV: 167
• XLV: 174
• XLVII: 183
• XLVIII: 195
• LI: 197
• LIII: 210
• LIV: 212
• LV: 215
• LVI: 223
• LVII: 225
• LIX: 227
• LXI: 241
• LXII: 261
• LXIV: 268
• LXV: 271
• LXVI: 275
• LXVII: 280
• LXVIII: 298
• LXIX: 327

About the author

Charles Sykes is the author of three previous books, ProfScam, The Hollow Men, and A Nation of Victims. A journalist who specializes in educational issues, he has written for and is frequently quoted by newspapers including The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He has appeared on The Today Show, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, and NPR's Talk of the Nation to discuss schooling. A senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Sykes lives with his wife and three children in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add
• Author: Charles J. Sykes
• Edition: reprint, revised
• Publisher: Macmillan, 1995
• ISBN: 0312148232, 9780312148232
• Length: 341 pages
• Subjects: Education / Administration / General; Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General; Education / Schools / Levels / Secondary; Education / Schools / Types / Public; Self-Help / General