Is Dumbing Down in Schools Purpose Driven?

In my last post, I complained about the use of jargon in education, and speculated that one of the reasons why education in the United States is becoming increasingly poor is the increasing reliance on jargon. As I said, what makes my teaching strong is my rejection of the state-promoted jargon. Read the whole post here. At the time of posting though, I didn't attribute any motive to this.

One of my brothers responded to my post be emailing me and bringing to my attention that the use of jargon and the dumbing down of our students might be not just the work of mindless idiots or misguided government bureaucrats, but rather a plot by elites to dumb us down to control us better. This is not the wild speculations of a raving lunatic- these were the ideas of CS Lewis, as written about in the Abolition of Man, or found online here.

In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

Maybe the point is to make us stupid, so that we are able to be controlled more easily? After all, if evil can convince us that it is right to not read, that it is right to mock those who learn, that is is okay to engage in sex with whomever you want, that it is moral to take from those who work for their property and give to those who do not, then right has become wrong, evil has become good, and our natural inclination for freedom and liberty becomes an unnatural desire to go against the wishes of the state. If we become less smart, if we become less educated, if we master the shapes of empty jargon instead of the real of knowledge, then maybe we can become controlled more easily?

Another reader of mine, Howard Towt, also suggest that this might be a plot by liberal Democrats to dumb us down to control us more easily, pointing to evidence in Colorado of teachers inspiring their students to write letters to conservatives about how they are killing the environment, rather than teaching them how to read and write and think critically. He has a whole book on this theme online- check it out here.

Maybe, but it won't work. You can't stop the signal- it is mans natural desire to throw off his chains, not to put them on, whether they be the real chains of slavery or the mental chains of teacher jargon.