Weapons of math destruction book pdf

1971 1st printing Teachers of destructionWhile enveloped in research I came across this intriguing title The book is an old forgotten eyewitness account of the socialist revolution unfolding in America There is actually very little about education and teachers in this book despite the title Widener s perspective is a great example of leftover 1960s conservatism published in 1971 and a classic textbook example of the grouchy old everything is falling apart complaints You know kids have no respect any and progress is to blame Or kids can t read any and civil rights are to blame The old divisive political arguments in this old book sadly still persist today in 2013 on the extreme right in a contradictory oxymoron they somehow blame progress for everything bad Most of the book is a political rant that rambles on with little focus and poor organization Widener does manage to reveal some truths though John Dewey was a Marxist who has influenced teachers which has affected millions of American students There may be some truth in the criticism of Dewey in that millions of American school children have been forced to waste hours and hours of the school week on imprecise social studies instead of devoting their precious youth time to attention and energy to precise learning of reading writing arithmetic history and geography p 190 Bravo Even old Alice saw this one yet this is what her book really should have been about instead of a just a few passages Sadly the writer confuses politics with education but perhaps many of the education theorists on the left commit the same gross error Just a page later Widener goes off the rails by trying to argue how progressives are attacking our great corporations like the ones that service us with ethical pharmaceutical drugs What a glorification To finish off this terribly written book history buffs will enjoy the two page epilogue by J Edgar Hoover English