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September 06, 2007

The Dewey Awards: Lauren Caitlin Upton

 

 

A new semi-regular segment at this blog inspired admittedly by Miss Teen USA's pat public school type answer, we offer this Dewey segment (sounds like horticulture but it’s not!).

 

The Dewey Awards celebrate all that is the American public school system: failure. It takes its name from the beloved father of public schools who once said,

 

The mere absorption of facts and truths is so exclusively an individual affair that it tends very naturally to pass into selfishness. There is no obvious social motive for the acquirement of mere learning, there is no clear social gain in success thereat. (The School and Society, 1899) (Courtesy Education.org)

Hence,

 

I believe that the study of science is educational in so far as it brings out the materials and processes which make social life what it is.

And,

 

I believe that we violate the child's nature and render difficult the best ethical results, by introducing the child too abruptly to a number of special studies, of reading, writing, geography, etc., out of relation to this social life.

 

I believe, therefore, that the true center of correlation on the school subjects is not science, nor literature, nor history, nor geography, but the child's own social activities.

 

So if the primary purpose of attending school is not learning “mere facts”, then the learning of such facts can easily take a back seat to whatever the primary purpose for "U.S. Americans" is, which in John Dewey’s view was that,

 

“You can’t make Socialists out of individualists. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming, where everyone is interdependent.” (Courtesy Mensnewsdaily.com)

 

Thus, we arrive today at such pro forma public school-indoctrinated brilliance as demonstrated by South Carolina Miss Teen USA Lauren Caitlin Upton:

 

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

 

Upton naturally is our first Dewey Award winner (though we understand that in the public school system of Deweyism winning is frowned upon):

 

 

 

So now, it all makes sense, I believe. With a 3.5 GPA, South Carolina Miss Teen USA represents the best of public education, so her difficulty should serve as no surprise. 1/5 of adults can't find the land of "U.S. Americans" on a map; just wait till they survey her generation. Put a homeschooler up there and get a thoughtful, intelligent answer. ;)

 

 

Posted by Martin at September 6, 2007 05:47 PM

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Comments

hey Martin!..dang this was unreal was it not...beauty thats all its really about..lets be honest!..Heh great great post my friend!:)

Posted by: Angel at September 7, 2007 01:48 PM

Got a primary source for this quote-

"You can’t make Socialists out of individualists. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming, where everyone is interdependent.”

- or has your education failed to provide you with the ability to critically think about whether someone said something before you quote them? Just because you read something, it doesn't mean it's true.

Posted by: Bill Patrick at October 24, 2009 02:12 AM

"Just because you read something, it doesn't mean it's true." Does that include what you post, Bill, or only the things with which you disagree?

Don't sound so bitter. You found my blog; look it up for yourself. It's clearly a valid and widely accepted quote from Mr. Dewey and I recommend you do your homework before sounding so trite and silly to the rest of us. At least in that way, you can in the very least provide us with some authoritative sources which dispute everyone else. After all, we can't just take you at your word. ;)

Posted by: Martin at October 29, 2009 11:01 PM

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