RoJo: Education Was Better in 1830s, But Dems have "Dumbed-Down Our Population" to Get Votes

[Scuba]

http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/rojo-education-was-better-1830s-dems-have-dumbed-down-our-popula

On February 22, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson spoke at an event called, "David Horowitz's West Coast Retreat." During his speech, Johnson said that the reason people vote Democratic is because liberals "control our schools" and have intentionally "dumbed down our population" as part of a strategy to control the populace:

I don't know how many of you saw Dr. Benjamin Carson, but one of the points he made in his phenomenal speech was how, back in the 1800s, the tests they gave sixth graders upon graduation, most college graduates couldn't pass that test anymore. We've purposely dumbed down our population. As a result of that, our population is very susceptible to demagoguery and that's what you're seeing. So what we're facing now in this country is we're facing a president that is basically a demagogue. That's... that's the problem.

Johnson is referring to an exam that was allegedly given to 6th graders in the 1830's, according to the conservative Dr. Benjamin Carson. Dr. Carson cited the exam in his recent book to demonstrate how much dumber Americans are now than they were in the 1830s. I looked up Carson's book and found the "test questions" he is referencing. (See the image below.)

Apparently, Carson (a speaker at this year's CPAC) found these questions not in an old library, but from a chain email on the internet, that Snopes debunked quite some time ago. The questions actually are from a real graduation test given in Saline County Kansas, in 1895, not the 1830s. The majority of kids weren't even enrolled in school at that time and of those who were, only 25% passed the test.

Here's the Snopes debunking: http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

[Xipe Totec]

1. Sounds like the guy who killed his parents and begged for mercy because he was orphaned

There has been no greater enemy of public education than the GOP.

[exboyfil]

2. I wonder if you talked about

Columbus enslaving, raping, and killing the Taino would have been considered a correct answer for U.S. History #2. Or how Columbus, in spite of most knowledgeable knowing the radius of the earth and the distance to China, still proceeding with his questionable voyage.

[Ed Suspicious]

3. Takes one to know one, Senator Demagogue.

[hue]

4. This is really too unreal!!!