This was great. I'm from South Ayrshire and was not surprised to hear the stats on literacy. I now live in North Ayrshire and my kids went to school here. The biggest problems we've had with raising them is in their schooling. I loved Kate's comment on the Curriculum for Excellence - it's neither a curriculum nor excellent. Made me laugh out loud, but only because it's true!
I know it's BONKERS!!! Parents who are aware end up filing the (educational) gaps at home - and the poor kids left behind. It's a really terrible state of affairs. AND laughable indeed!!
Am I wrong in thinking that up until recently the Scottish/British working class got a decent education? That was always my impression. Whereas in the US it's been a shit show for my whole life -- or I should say in New York City, where I went to public elementary school in the '80's and my mom taught public high school in the 2000's.
I think it was pretty decent in the 80s in Scotland, but not if you were neurodiverse, as I now know I was. That's certainly improved nowadays, at least inasmuch as it's recognised where in the 80s it wasn't. Many of my friends did really well despite getting up to the same hijinks that I did.
Yes up until the early 2000s Scottish education was the rival of the world. One has to wonder why they f-ed it up. Philadelphia public education been in the pan since the 1970s as well. I don't think people realise that these things don't just 'recover'. I said that to the HT at my son's old school, 'good people will leave'- I said. Ultimately those of means will only tolerate dysfunction for so long before they jump ship for self preservation.
Thank you, Jenny, and thank you, Kate! This was very informative. I think the "international drive" for all this craziness in children's sex-ed is coming, at least in part, from all those wealthy movers and shakers (e.g., Bill Gates) who have been wanting to reduce the human population on Earth for a long, long time. A decrease in human population will result if, for instance, you succeed in trans-ing a lot of children (which leads to sterilization); if you succeed in creating more divisions between men and women (the 4-B movement in Korea, for example); and if you succeed in increasing the popularity of anal sex as well as masturbation.
Yes all very relevant points. It's quite clear that the eugenics program never went away. Here to we are debating a new 'compelled suicide' bill with all the hallmarks of 'choice' and 'kindness' and 'human rights' with a side dose of Malthusianism.
This discussion chimes very nicely (if that’s the right word) with Abigail Shrier’s recent examination of pro-Palestine indoctrination in schools in the USA on The Free Press. I noted there that there is a reason that we do not let emotionally and psychologically immature people (adolescents) vote; there’s a similar reason we don’t let them have sex either and these trends are undermining it.
Regarding school librarians, I was an academic librarian in a past life and, although no longer a member of the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP), the UK library body, they still send me their monthly magazine. I can confirm that they are completely captured by wokeness; it’s all about DEI, trans and left-wing politics generally and has been for years.
It does feel like all the organs of society have been captured by this insane ideology. It made me think of the classic British war film *Went the Day Well?* where British soldiers defending the country against Nazi invasion turn out to be German commandoes in disguise, aided by the local squire (the elite!). As in the film, only a brave, sustained response from the lower classes will be able to save everything we value.
It does feel that way, and that's probably an accurate impression. I can't think of a single institution that hasn't been captured. Maybe with this US election and the deep unpopularity of the Starmer regime that might start to crumble? But it will take ages to undo what it took decades to do.
I think it will take a long time to repair things, assuming we can stop the downward spiral in time, particularly with the whole upper tranche of society affected. With civil society having decayed, it's going to be hard to rebuild from the ground up. If societies evolve organically over generations, is it even possible to jump-start the process of healing?
I read the Benedict Option by Rod Dreher at the start of lockdown - about how the Benedictine Monks saved Christianity by holing up in a monastery for some hundreds of years till the 'troubles' passed. Hope it's not as bad as that - but I think your point of the brave and sustained response from 'lower' classes is accurate. We must build islands where we can.
I hadn't heard of that book, it sounds interesting.
I'm an Orthodox Jew, so I'm aware of my community as an island of sanity, but I care about Western civilisation as a whole and worry about how that could survive if only islands of sanity remain.
The more I educate myself about education, the stronger my resolve grows that if I am ever responsible for a child, that child will never set foot inside a public school.
Nothing is certain indeed. That said there are a *few* schools that I have come across that have managed to keep their eye on the ball, but they are definitely few and far between. Parents should just always been engaged no matter what. Good schools will welcome that. In the book 'Stolen Youth' by Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz they go through the many levels of indoctrination in schools (they focus on the American ones). Bethany has opted to homeschool and Karol sends her kids to school. In the end Karol speaks about how as a parent she has had to teach her children discernment like the Christians used to have to deprogram their kids during communism.
Sounds like a good book. Teaching children discernment is important, but it's hard to expect a little kid or even sometimes an older kid to be able to do all of the discernment that is often necessary with the way many schools are these days.
When we were around twelve years old my cousin and I discovered the "Playboy" stash my uncle kept hidden under his bed. It really takes a PhD to dream up the absurdity that kids need to be taught masturbation.
To understand what’s going horribly wrong with education in the last 100 years I think the book ‘The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America’ is an essential read. It describes the progressive educational theorists of the day in the early 1900s & how they were funded by Rockefeller & Carnegie to overhaul & essentially destroy the substance & quality of education.
Funny that you bring up that Scientology exercise where you’re trained to not react. I went to an “alternative” experimental public high school in the early 1970s where a renegade Scientologist teacher trained us in many of these techniques. I don’t remember the names of those exercises except for one, the “touch assist” which was a sort of laying on of hands or faith healing that I became very good at.
I enjoyed those exercises and the one you’re talking about helped me a lot all through my life to control my reactions and to be able to walk through dangerous places and situations without showing fear. It didn’t train me not to feel fear, it trained me to be able to hide it, including mastery of my heart rhythm. It was similar to what is now called “mindfulness”. The technique allowed discovering what your triggers are, what does make you react and allowed you to reflect on that, on why this or that thing triggers you as opposed to things that may trigger others.
I suppose like anything else it depends what the 'trainer' is doing. Certainly it didn't sound like a positive experience for Andrew Gold's guest. I am glad you got benefit from it. I would suggest employing a similar technique in nursery/ primary school when primal instincts related to physical safety etc are seeding, confusing a child's normal psychological development brings much harm. We had a situation with a trans nursery teacher here in Glasgow and the children were told the man in front of them was female. When clearly he was male. Confusing them in a time when developmentally (with magical thinking being part of healthy development) they were trying to make sense of what was real/unreal. Also in the context of breaking the boundary so that children get comfortable speaking to just about anyone about 'their sexuality' puts them in harms way.
The American & international powers at be decided in the early part of the 20th century to change education to what it is now - it’s by design. They made an absolutely deliberate decision to focus less on academics and to make education more about indoctrination & social control so they could generate people who would go along with the policies & direction they wanted to take the country/world in over the long term.
If I had been asked, at the age of six, if I thought my voice was being heard, I would have assumed we were discussing audiology (without, of course, being aware of that term).
This was great. I'm from South Ayrshire and was not surprised to hear the stats on literacy. I now live in North Ayrshire and my kids went to school here. The biggest problems we've had with raising them is in their schooling. I loved Kate's comment on the Curriculum for Excellence - it's neither a curriculum nor excellent. Made me laugh out loud, but only because it's true!
I know it's BONKERS!!! Parents who are aware end up filing the (educational) gaps at home - and the poor kids left behind. It's a really terrible state of affairs. AND laughable indeed!!
Am I wrong in thinking that up until recently the Scottish/British working class got a decent education? That was always my impression. Whereas in the US it's been a shit show for my whole life -- or I should say in New York City, where I went to public elementary school in the '80's and my mom taught public high school in the 2000's.
I think it was pretty decent in the 80s in Scotland, but not if you were neurodiverse, as I now know I was. That's certainly improved nowadays, at least inasmuch as it's recognised where in the 80s it wasn't. Many of my friends did really well despite getting up to the same hijinks that I did.
Yes up until the early 2000s Scottish education was the rival of the world. One has to wonder why they f-ed it up. Philadelphia public education been in the pan since the 1970s as well. I don't think people realise that these things don't just 'recover'. I said that to the HT at my son's old school, 'good people will leave'- I said. Ultimately those of means will only tolerate dysfunction for so long before they jump ship for self preservation.
Thank you, Jenny, and thank you, Kate! This was very informative. I think the "international drive" for all this craziness in children's sex-ed is coming, at least in part, from all those wealthy movers and shakers (e.g., Bill Gates) who have been wanting to reduce the human population on Earth for a long, long time. A decrease in human population will result if, for instance, you succeed in trans-ing a lot of children (which leads to sterilization); if you succeed in creating more divisions between men and women (the 4-B movement in Korea, for example); and if you succeed in increasing the popularity of anal sex as well as masturbation.
Yes all very relevant points. It's quite clear that the eugenics program never went away. Here to we are debating a new 'compelled suicide' bill with all the hallmarks of 'choice' and 'kindness' and 'human rights' with a side dose of Malthusianism.
This discussion chimes very nicely (if that’s the right word) with Abigail Shrier’s recent examination of pro-Palestine indoctrination in schools in the USA on The Free Press. I noted there that there is a reason that we do not let emotionally and psychologically immature people (adolescents) vote; there’s a similar reason we don’t let them have sex either and these trends are undermining it.
Regarding school librarians, I was an academic librarian in a past life and, although no longer a member of the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP), the UK library body, they still send me their monthly magazine. I can confirm that they are completely captured by wokeness; it’s all about DEI, trans and left-wing politics generally and has been for years.
It does feel like all the organs of society have been captured by this insane ideology. It made me think of the classic British war film *Went the Day Well?* where British soldiers defending the country against Nazi invasion turn out to be German commandoes in disguise, aided by the local squire (the elite!). As in the film, only a brave, sustained response from the lower classes will be able to save everything we value.
It does feel that way, and that's probably an accurate impression. I can't think of a single institution that hasn't been captured. Maybe with this US election and the deep unpopularity of the Starmer regime that might start to crumble? But it will take ages to undo what it took decades to do.
I think it will take a long time to repair things, assuming we can stop the downward spiral in time, particularly with the whole upper tranche of society affected. With civil society having decayed, it's going to be hard to rebuild from the ground up. If societies evolve organically over generations, is it even possible to jump-start the process of healing?
I read the Benedict Option by Rod Dreher at the start of lockdown - about how the Benedictine Monks saved Christianity by holing up in a monastery for some hundreds of years till the 'troubles' passed. Hope it's not as bad as that - but I think your point of the brave and sustained response from 'lower' classes is accurate. We must build islands where we can.
I hadn't heard of that book, it sounds interesting.
I'm an Orthodox Jew, so I'm aware of my community as an island of sanity, but I care about Western civilisation as a whole and worry about how that could survive if only islands of sanity remain.
Yes I hear you. But I also suppose if we build wee Islands and the islands grow they are no longer Islands but continents.
Starmer just signed a deal with Blackrock. Blackrock. He's peddling in the opposite direction and quickly. Will people wake up?
Thanks, both of you, for a really interesting conversation.
Thanks Cary!
The more I educate myself about education, the stronger my resolve grows that if I am ever responsible for a child, that child will never set foot inside a public school.
Be careful of private and parochial schools too. Some of them are just as bad or worse. Homeschooling is safest.
Nothing is certain indeed. That said there are a *few* schools that I have come across that have managed to keep their eye on the ball, but they are definitely few and far between. Parents should just always been engaged no matter what. Good schools will welcome that. In the book 'Stolen Youth' by Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz they go through the many levels of indoctrination in schools (they focus on the American ones). Bethany has opted to homeschool and Karol sends her kids to school. In the end Karol speaks about how as a parent she has had to teach her children discernment like the Christians used to have to deprogram their kids during communism.
Sounds like a good book. Teaching children discernment is important, but it's hard to expect a little kid or even sometimes an older kid to be able to do all of the discernment that is often necessary with the way many schools are these days.
Homeschooling would be the only option I would consider. I would just have to find a way to do it.
When we were around twelve years old my cousin and I discovered the "Playboy" stash my uncle kept hidden under his bed. It really takes a PhD to dream up the absurdity that kids need to be taught masturbation.
Absurd, yes. And also deeply gross.
Yes crazy and gross.
Great conversation, ladies. ❤😎
Thanks Adam!
To understand what’s going horribly wrong with education in the last 100 years I think the book ‘The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America’ is an essential read. It describes the progressive educational theorists of the day in the early 1900s & how they were funded by Rockefeller & Carnegie to overhaul & essentially destroy the substance & quality of education.
*what’s gone horribly wrong
Narcissism, yes. By another term, virtue signalling.
Funny that you bring up that Scientology exercise where you’re trained to not react. I went to an “alternative” experimental public high school in the early 1970s where a renegade Scientologist teacher trained us in many of these techniques. I don’t remember the names of those exercises except for one, the “touch assist” which was a sort of laying on of hands or faith healing that I became very good at.
I enjoyed those exercises and the one you’re talking about helped me a lot all through my life to control my reactions and to be able to walk through dangerous places and situations without showing fear. It didn’t train me not to feel fear, it trained me to be able to hide it, including mastery of my heart rhythm. It was similar to what is now called “mindfulness”. The technique allowed discovering what your triggers are, what does make you react and allowed you to reflect on that, on why this or that thing triggers you as opposed to things that may trigger others.
I suppose like anything else it depends what the 'trainer' is doing. Certainly it didn't sound like a positive experience for Andrew Gold's guest. I am glad you got benefit from it. I would suggest employing a similar technique in nursery/ primary school when primal instincts related to physical safety etc are seeding, confusing a child's normal psychological development brings much harm. We had a situation with a trans nursery teacher here in Glasgow and the children were told the man in front of them was female. When clearly he was male. Confusing them in a time when developmentally (with magical thinking being part of healthy development) they were trying to make sense of what was real/unreal. Also in the context of breaking the boundary so that children get comfortable speaking to just about anyone about 'their sexuality' puts them in harms way.
Definitely, Kate.
That is so interesting!! I'd love to hear more about that.
The American & international powers at be decided in the early part of the 20th century to change education to what it is now - it’s by design. They made an absolutely deliberate decision to focus less on academics and to make education more about indoctrination & social control so they could generate people who would go along with the policies & direction they wanted to take the country/world in over the long term.
If I had been asked, at the age of six, if I thought my voice was being heard, I would have assumed we were discussing audiology (without, of course, being aware of that term).