Indeed but, to me at least, this is not Trump/UNESCO-related issue. It’s a Western societies issue.
We have very similar issues going here in France. For me, it all begun back in the 80s so, yeah, it’s not really something new. But things have been going worse since then. And it has been accelerating. Quickly. Badly.
In France, our educative system (it’s called l’éducation nationale, aka a nation-wide highly centralized system deciding what kids are to learn and how they should be educated) and since the mid-80s the level has collapsed beyond belief. Kids aren’t being taught much anymore, and math as well as reading are vanishing skills. Let’s not mention history and civic education (which help in any working democracy). Things have become real worse in recent years. Like, a lot worse.
Obviously, it’s not the kid’s fault. It’s us the adults, teachers, parents and elected representatives voting absurd laws who have failed. But it’s them kids who will pay dear for our mistakes (like with the climate crisis, btw).
They already started paying.
I mean, who has the best chance of getting a qualified job between say a lower or, nowadays, even a middle-class kid barely able to open a book and to understand what’s written in it (and barely able to spell their name correctly) and a kid from a family where knowledge and teaching are still considered valuable investments worthy of sending their kids into private schools in which, unlike public schools, they’re actually being taught how to read (and how to properly use books), and do math, and learn some history, philosophy and so on?
Those wealthier and better-educated kids will get all the rewards, while all the others kids will be fucked up, for their entire life (but hey, they will know how to watch ads on YT and TikTok).
They already are being fucked up btw, they just can’t realize it as we have not given them the basic tools required to understand what’s happening around them.
But the real worse is yet to come. Here in France at least even our private schools are subjected to the dumbing-down of the entire educative system, as they also depend on nation-wide laws and controls… Controls that have been getting harsher and harsher and, unsurprisingly, even those private schools are witnessing a sharp decline. Sure, it’s less sharp than in public schools but still very worrying. So, what will happen? Well, I can’t predict the (very near) future but would I have school-age kids myself and would I have enough money to send them to a private school I would simply pack my things and move abroad in any other country but France, in a country that would not actively be trying to ruin our educative system.
France was rightly regarded as a country of readers up until the late 70s to early 80s. Books (serious books, I mean) were a popular discussion topic, it was in the newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, it was discussed between people (the Internet and social media of back then). It was popular. Nowadays? It’s not rare at all to enter a house where there is not a single book to be found. A house where no one owns a library card either (or read ebooks). Kids are just not encouraged to read books. Even comics are starting to become a happy exception.
Once again, this is a failure that will cost dearly to kids growing up in those families.
Without any reading culture and habits, not only will they be at a disadvantage when competing against ‘reading kids’ but they’re also much more vulnerable to the stupidest ideas floating around… provided those already stupid ideas are simplified enough for them to instantly grasp them without much effort.
What kind of adults and citizen will that create? I’d rather not imagine. That’s a fucking nightmare happening right in front of our eyes and nobody seems to care.
Indeed but, to me at least, this is not Trump/UNESCO-related issue. It’s a Western societies issue.
We have very similar issues going here in France. For me, it all begun back in the 80s so, yeah, it’s not really something new. But things have been going worse since then. And it has been accelerating. Quickly. Badly.
In France, our educative system (it’s called l’éducation nationale, aka a nation-wide highly centralized system deciding what kids are to learn and how they should be educated) and since the mid-80s the level has collapsed beyond belief. Kids aren’t being taught much anymore, and math as well as reading are vanishing skills. Let’s not mention history and civic education (which help in any working democracy). Things have become real worse in recent years. Like, a lot worse.
Obviously, it’s not the kid’s fault. It’s us the adults, teachers, parents and elected representatives voting absurd laws who have failed. But it’s them kids who will pay dear for our mistakes (like with the climate crisis, btw).
They already started paying.
I mean, who has the best chance of getting a qualified job between say a lower or, nowadays, even a middle-class kid barely able to open a book and to understand what’s written in it (and barely able to spell their name correctly) and a kid from a family where knowledge and teaching are still considered valuable investments worthy of sending their kids into private schools in which, unlike public schools, they’re actually being taught how to read (and how to properly use books), and do math, and learn some history, philosophy and so on?
Those wealthier and better-educated kids will get all the rewards, while all the others kids will be fucked up, for their entire life (but hey, they will know how to watch ads on YT and TikTok).
They already are being fucked up btw, they just can’t realize it as we have not given them the basic tools required to understand what’s happening around them.
But the real worse is yet to come. Here in France at least even our private schools are subjected to the dumbing-down of the entire educative system, as they also depend on nation-wide laws and controls… Controls that have been getting harsher and harsher and, unsurprisingly, even those private schools are witnessing a sharp decline. Sure, it’s less sharp than in public schools but still very worrying. So, what will happen? Well, I can’t predict the (very near) future but would I have school-age kids myself and would I have enough money to send them to a private school I would simply pack my things and move abroad in any other country but France, in a country that would not actively be trying to ruin our educative system.
France was rightly regarded as a country of readers up until the late 70s to early 80s. Books (serious books, I mean) were a popular discussion topic, it was in the newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, it was discussed between people (the Internet and social media of back then). It was popular. Nowadays? It’s not rare at all to enter a house where there is not a single book to be found. A house where no one owns a library card either (or read ebooks). Kids are just not encouraged to read books. Even comics are starting to become a happy exception.
Once again, this is a failure that will cost dearly to kids growing up in those families.
Without any reading culture and habits, not only will they be at a disadvantage when competing against ‘reading kids’ but they’re also much more vulnerable to the stupidest ideas floating around… provided those already stupid ideas are simplified enough for them to instantly grasp them without much effort.
What kind of adults and citizen will that create? I’d rather not imagine. That’s a fucking nightmare happening right in front of our eyes and nobody seems to care.