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Politico Phil's avatar

The comments here have caused me to reflect on the ability to think logically. I was schooled in the logic of English grammar and composition and when I was in college I took courses in both logic and semantics (S.I. Hayakawa). Another venue that teaches logic is mathematics. I initially did not excel at that thanks to the "new math". In home schooling my boys, mathematics (using Saxon math) was always the first subject of the day. By the time they finished high school, they had completed calculus (11th grade) and then the Cal Tech freshman physics textbook "The Mechanical Universe".

I feel sorry for the last couple of generations of school children. Both of these subjects, language and math, have been gutted and the ability of the students to think logically has been destroyed. Nothing good shall come of this.

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daverkb's avatar

Well then! One of our educations has been how badly we were educated ... and as to how early on public education had been pushed down into the sewer. In my forties I came across early American school books on history/civics ... and I realized that most of the material had been cut out and replaced with some lame rendition. I could go on, but you already know the score.

My father offered me a chance at a private education in some Swiss private school. I declined. I think maybe he just should have sent me no questions asked. But on the other hand, would it have ruined me worse or elevated? I don't know. From others who attended such schools, I hear the standards were still very high into the '60s. What they are today. I have not clue.

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