The Dumbing Down Of American Youth

The indisputable decline of our once great country, America, began in the early 1960's under the administration of that colossal buffoon Lyndon Baines Johnson and his liberal followers on the far left. Johnson's Great Society was responsible for many of the ills that plague America today but, arguably, the most important of his misstep's were the policies that resulted in the dumbing down of America young people. From 1963 to 1980 the national mean SAT scores for white pre-college students dropped almost half a standard deviation on the verbal portion of the test and about a third on the math side of the test. This represented a 25 point drop in the math SAT scores and a whopping 45 point drop in the verbal scores. By the way, like it or not, the SAT test is one of the more reliable indications of cognitive ability ever designed by the sociologists that study the intellectual capacity of America's teenagers. Thus, this remarkable fall in SAT scores represented a significant decrease in the mean IQ of young people in America during the 60's and 70's. The social engineers in the Johnson administration, and most of the educators of the day, attributed this decline in the national cognitive ability of our youth to the fact that, as time went on in the 60's and 70's, more and more students from disadvantaged homes were taking the test. Thus, because cognitive ability is largely dependent on environmental factors, they wrongly argued, the mean SAT scores were bound to fall as educational opportunities were expanded to include an ever increasing number of children who were raised in poverty or near poverty in environments that were not conducive to the development of normal intellectual ability. Alas, most liberals, including their political leaders, and, most importantly, the liberal press and TV personalities on the left, still believe this erroneous explanation for the nation's intellectual decline today, 50 plus years after Lyndon Johnson picked up his beagle dogs by the ears because, he assured us, they liked it! However, most of the sociologists and psychologists who spend their lives studying the effects of all the factors that influence the intellectual development of the human brain, do not agree with Johnson's assertion that dogs like to be picked up by their ears, or this commonly held explanation for the falling SAT scores during the 60's and 70's. Rather, the vast majority of social scientists have concluded that the primary thrust of education, which prior to the Johnson administration had been concentrated on the education of the nation's brightest students, shifted 180 degrees in the early 1960's, when, In an effort to expand educational opportunities to all American children, irrespective of race or the socioeconomic status, educators supported by liberal politicians, initiated educational reforms that favored students with average and below average cognitive ability at the expense of those with very high intelligence. This shift, the experts tell us, was responsible for the declining SAT scores from 1960 to 1980. In short, the socialists effort to educate America's underclass had the effect of dumbing down the rest of the population. The effect of these shifts in educational policies, and most importantly where the educational dollars were spent, by the social engineers in the Johnson administration was to make it easier for students with average or below average intelligence to succeed in grade school and high school. The ultimate goal was to have as many of these under achievers as possible go to college whether they were college material or not. These unwise shifts in educational policies, of course, made it easier for gifted students to succeed in high school without really even trying. Only those who had their, and their parents, heart set on going to the elite ivy league schools and Stanford made a maximal effort to do as well as they possible could in high school. Unfortunately, the numbers of these over-achievers were too small to make a significant difference in the falling SAT scores of average students who took the test. In summary, scholars studying this phenomenon, the dumbing down of American students, have concluded that the decreasing demand for excellence in our schools in general and the shift in emphasis in educational goals from the gifted student to the mundane is largely responsible for the observed fall in intellectual capacity of today's student population as compared to the students of past generations. It is commonly said that the SAT was democatized in the 1960's and 1970's. If so, the results have been nothing short of disastrous for American life and it's culture as shown by the alarming increase in the rate of incarceration, the rate of single parent families, the outrageous increase in illegitimacy, and the staggering unemployment rate, to name only a few of the nation's most egregious social problems. If you are interested in pursuing this subject further, I suggest you invest $20.00 in Herrnstein and Murray's masterpiece- The Bell Curve. I assure you , it will be the best $20.00 you have ever invested in your education! Yes Mable, it is never too late to learn something useful! This book was a New York Times best seller for years despite the controversial nature of its content. For those of you who refuse to accept the fact that there has been a conscious effort by educators to dumb down the education our students are receiving from institutions of public learning, consider this. Since the 1960's the vocabulary in text books has been deliberately simplified in an effort to pander to IQ challenged students. This dumbing down of textbooks came under the guise of "readability" formulas devised by the school boards who buy the textbooks our elementary and high school students read. Thomas Sowell gave a good example of this effort to dumb down American textbooks. In this glaring example of stupidity on the part of one school board charged with the education of children in their district, the words spectacle and admired were deleted from a text book because they were deemed to be to difficult for high school students. As Sowell points out, "in the old days, words like species, dialogue, health, and benighted were intended for 8-year olds." Now days, they are not even expected to know what a spectacle is or what it means to admire someone or something. Yes, education has fallen a long way in this country and the national IQ has tumbled right along with it! Unfortunately, the end of this intellectual train wreck is nowhere in sight.

Organic Gardening- What is it? Why do it?

In its most basic form, organic gardening is the growth of the various forms of vegetation without the use of the chemical based fertilizers you buy at the local nursery or hardware store. Most gardeners add various mixtures of chemical fertilizers to the soil to feed the plants they are attempting to grow. Organic gardeners, on the other hand, add natural forms of organic material such as earthworm castings, manure, alfalfa pellets and humus from a compost pile to the soil to encourage the growth of beneficial microorganisms which, in turn, feed the plants and vegetables they wish to grow. In this respect, organic fertilizers such as bone meal and fish meal are similar to many of the chemical fertilizers in that they flood the soil with plant nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium; they differ, of course, from the chemical based fertilizers because they are produced from organic materials that are perfectly safe to use in a garden. In short, chemical fertilizers feed the plant directly with highly concentrated bursts of fertilizer (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) produced by a chemical process while organic fertilizers feed the organisms in the soils natural ecosystem which, in turn, produce the sustained low levels of nutrients, including trace elements, necessary for healthy plant growth. Next week I will discuss the advantages of chemical fertilizers.

Should the U.S. pull out of Chicago?

The answer to this question have implications for all Americans as we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century. Without any doubt Chicago is a microcosm that represents almost everything that is wrong in the land of Lincoln. Just think of this, 221 Americans were killed in Iraq during the last 6 months while 292 Americans were murdered in Chicago during the same period. Can't blame Republicans for this; there aren't any in Chicago! The Chicago school system is one of the worst in the country. Can't blame republicans for the cities fall into abject illiteracy; there haven't been any republicans on the school boards in Chicago for decades. The Illinois state pension fund is $78 billion in debt, worst in the country; can't blame republicans for this since, as I've said, there aren't any in Chicago. The Cook County sales tax is 10.25%, the highest in the country; can't blame republicans, the last one left this liberal hell-hole years ago. George Ryan is no longer governor, he's in the big house along with Illinois' last governor Rob Blagojevich. Chicago's Representative Jesse Jackson, along with his crooked wife Sandi, are headed for the same big house. In fact, I think they checked in yesterday. One of Chicago's best known sleaze balls, our president Barack Hussein Obama, should be in the big house and probably will end up there sooner or later, if junk food, liquor and cigarettes don't get him first. Dick Durban, Pat Quinn Mike Madigan, Lisa Madigan Illinois' State Attorney General, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel are all crooked white liberal demorats supported by Chicago's corrupt public employ unions who control the low IQ blacks and poor white trash who are the majority voting bloc in Chicago. So, common sense would suggest that we cut our losses and bail out of Chicago. Unfortunately, the problem is more complicated than it might seem at first glance. In the first place, and most importantly, there is not just one Chicago! Today, the US is full of Chicago's; Detroit, Washington DC., Oakland California, Richmond California, Stockton California, Los Angeles, Richmond Virginia, to name only a few of the most obvious liberal enclaves that have imploded, or are about to implode. All of these third world county like enclaves are run by corrupt liberal demorats who have been in charge of their local and state governments for many decades. In states like CaliMexico the entire state government is run by corrupt liberal politicians and the self-serving public employee unions who support them. It has been years since Republicans have had enough political power to make the slightest difference in the state's policies. Unlike Rush Limbaugh, I do not believe this sad state of affairs can be turned around at the ballot box. Similarly, Mark Levin's belief that enough people will wake up and support a state convention that will amend the constitution and bring the federal government and Supreme Court back in line with what the framers of the constitution intended, is simply silly! When all is said and done, you can't expect people who are on the receiving end of government largess, to vote against, what they perceive to be, their best interests and the freebees they receive from their local, state and federal governments. This will not happen, not in a million years it won't! Limbaugh and Levin have been sniffing to much fairy dust. No, as I pointed out in my novel Escape from Chaos, there is only one answer to the mess the liberals have made of the once great cities of America, a second American revolution. The sooner we get on with it the better!

Standard composting-Part 11

After constructing a cage, the material to be composted is merely thrown into the wire cage as it becomes available. Rather than turning the material every week or so to aerate it, the wire sidewall of a circular gage is lifted off the original pile and moved to a flat area adjacent to it. A shovel is used to transfer the decomposing material into the now empty circular wire container. This maneuver minimizes the labor required to aerate the composting material in the pile; however, irrespective of the methodology employed, a compost pile must be turned at least once a week for aerobic decomposition to occur and to prevent it from becoming anaerobic and sour. Anaerobic piles smell like vinegar and take on a matted slimy appearance that attracts flies. A sure way to achieve an anaerobic compost pile is to add a solid layer of green lawn clippings to the pile. As many of us have learned the hard way, the lawn clippings will quickly turn into a dark green slimy smelly mess. What can be put into a compost pile? Gardeners fill their compost bins with a combination of organic wastes commonly referred to as browns and greens. These materials may be added in layers or mixed together, ideally, at the rate of about three parts brown to one part green; however, for practical purposes, the exact proportions of each ingredient is not too important. So, don't worry too much about the ratios of browns to greens when adding organic material to your compost pile; if fact, I never give the issue a second thought. Green materials are rich in nitrogen and include green lawn clippings, fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells and, most importantly, animal manures. I expect that egg shells, although carbon based, are considered to be green because they usually are mixed with green kitchen scrapes. Browns are rich in carbon and include dried lawn clippings, tree leaves, dead plants and weeds, sawdust, straw, cardboard, shredded paper and paper towels. What should not be placed in a compost pile. Human or pet feces should not be added to a compost pile because they may contain harmful pathogens and parasites. Cat feces can be particularly harmful because cats often are infected with the toxoplasmosis parasite that can cause blindness. Kitchen waste that contain oil, fat, bread, pasta, cooked food or nuts should not be added to a compost pile first, because they are slow to decompose and second, because they will attract pests and vermin to a compost pile if it is not covered. It probably is best not to add weeds that have gone to seed to a compost pile because the temperatures in the pile may not get hot enough to kill the seeds. Finally, do not attempt to compost plastic or synthetic fibers since they will not decompose, even under the most optimal conditions. Constructing a simple efficient compost pile. First, obtain a segment of wire mesh, like chicken wire or Yard Gard Vinyl covered welded wire, approximately 10 feet long and 4 feet wide. Overlap the cut ends of the wire to form a circular structure approximately three feet in diameter. If your are forming a cage from chicken wire use staples or roofing nails to fasten the cut ends of the wire to two pieces of four foot long 1'' x 4'' so that the ends of the wire cage you are building are easy to manipulate. Drill two 1/4'' in diameter holes in the 1'' X 4''s about one foot from each end and join them together with two threaded quarter inch bolts that are three inches in length. Alternately, hold the ends together with a short bungee cord. You have now formed a light weight easy to maneuver wire cage that will hold about 30 cubic feet of compost, perfect for a backyard compost pile! Now, select a space to place the wire composting cage. The area must be flat and large enough to accommodate at least two gages side by side (even if you will be using only one composting cage there must be sufficient room so that it can be moved to the side when you refill it every week or so. A compost pile may be placed on any surface; however, if it is to be placed on a surface like cement or asphalt, be sure to add a handful or two of fertile soil to the mix so that the pile has enough bacteria to begin the decomposition process. It doesn't take much, as one tea spoon of fertile soil adds 100 million bacteria and 400 to 800 feet of fungal threads to the material to be composted (Oregon State University). Begin the composting process by adding a 6 inch layer of brown waste consisting of tree leaves, dry grass or threaded newspaper to the bottom of the pile, follow this with a two inch layer of green waste, kitchen scrapes or animal manure. Continue to add alternate layers of brown and green waste until the cage is full, adding water to each layer as you build the compost pile. The material should as wet as a wrung-out sponge. Alternately, add a mixture of browns and greens as they become available. As long as there is a sufficient amount of nitrogen (green waste) in the mix it should begin to decompose within a few days. You can follow the process by monitoring the temperature in the pile with an inexpensive compost thermometer purchased at your local garden store. How to use compost. I cannot think of a situation where compost will not improve the condition of garden soil. For all practical purposes, there is no limit to the amount you can add to the soil in your garden, the more the better. Compost is particularly valuable as a soil conditioner for soils with either a high content of clay or sand. In sandy soils compost aids water retention and it adds organic material to infertile adobe and clay soils. One word of caution though, if the composting process is not complete before it is added to garden soil, it may rob nitrogen from the soil as the material being composted continues to break down. How to determine if the composting process is complete? This can be a particularly vexing problem, especially if new material is continually being added to the pile as it becomes available; in that situation the composting process will never be complete. However, here are a few guidelines to follow. Finished, or almost completed compost, will have a dark brown color, a crumbly texture and an earthy smell. Few, if any, particles such as small pieces of leaves and grass, will be visible in the compost. Finished compost will be reduced to 1/3rd of its original volume. Finally, the internal temperature of the pile will approach the ambient outdoor temperature when the decomposition process is complete. The temperature of the pile, as mentioned above, can be determined with an inexpensive compost thermometer. Finally, I do not believe it is necessary, or advisable, to add lime, activators or accelerators of any kind to a compost pile. These additives are not necessary and are potentially harmful to the composting process. How long will it take to compost my green and brown waste? The composting process can take as little as one to two months or as long as two years depending on the material to be composted and the care given to maintaining the pile. As mentioned above, for efficient composting, the ratio of browns and greens in the pile should be about three to one; the volume of the pile should be at least 27 cubic feet; the pile should be kept moist, but not wet; and, most importantly, the material in the pile should be turned no less than once a week. Finally, in cold climates the compost pile should be covered with something like a tarp or old rug to prevent, as much as possible, heat from escaping from the pile.

Standard Backyard Composting- composting without earthworms. Part 1

This chapter heading is somewhat of a misnomer, since the average compost pile, like it or not, contains earthworms; thus, those who are composting their organic waste in a standard compost pile are actually relying on composting earthworms as well as thermophilic bacteria, which thrive at very high temperatures, to turn their organic waste into a combination of humus (compost) and earthworm castings. For the most part, the thermophilic bacteria reside in pile's hot interior while the earthworms do their thing at the bottom and sides of the compost pile, where it is much cooler. There certainly is nothing wrong with this hybrid composting technique. In fact, as will be discussed in some detail in part 11, I pre-compost most of the oak leaves and horse manure fed to my earthworms at the Mount Diablo Worm Farm before applying it to their bedding in the windrows. Having said this, I would argue that, for a home owner who simply wants to compost his kitchen waste, news papers and maybe a few grass clippings, composting primarily with earthworms is a more effective way to achieve this goal. This is so, because it takes a lot less time, as well as physical labor, to compost if you let the earthworms do most of the work for you. Earthworms also create a much more valuable nutrient rich organic fertilizer than the humus like soil conditioner produced in a standard compost pile, even if it happens to have a few earthworms in it. The importance of size. Compost bins come in many sizes and shapes including the rotating plastic drums that are sold at garden supply stores. These rotating devices are attractive because you simply rotate them to aerate the organic material within their tumblers. However, to work efficiently a compost bin, or pile, must be large enough to contain at least one cubic yard ( a pile 3' X 3' X 3' in size) of organic material. Most of the rotating drum composters are much too small to achieve this goal. Size is important because smaller compost piles are incapable of supporting enough thermophilic bacteria to achieve efficient, rapid, decomposition. Having said this, organic material will rot in smaller compost piles, it will just take a lot longer for it to happen. It also is worth noting that a compost pile must maintain a minimal temperature of 131°F, for three consecutive days, to kill weed seeds and plant pathogens that inadvertently may have been placed in the pile. Although larger piles which generate a lot of internal heat, are more efficient than smaller piles, there are practical considerations which serve to limit the size of a compost pile. In this respect, compost piles larger than 5' X 5' X 5' must be turned more frequently to prevent them from becoming anaerobic because air will not naturally penetrate more than 18'' to 24"s into a compost pile. It also is more difficult to turn the material in the pile if it is excessively large. Since aerobic decomposition requires oxygen, compost containers should have holes or slats in their sides to encourage the flow of air throughout the pile. Plastic barrel containers make good composters if large holes drilled in their sides, at least one for every square foot of surface area. Since it is difficult to turn the material in a solid walled container (to aerate it) many gardeners use a flexible walled containers formed from a wire mesh, like chicken wire, to contain the material they wish to compost. I use 10 foot sections of four foot wide vinyl coated welded wire made by Yard Gard™ to make my composting cages. This wire has a 2'' X 3'' mesh which is easier to handle than chicken wire. Square wire cages may have posts in their sides but it is simpler to use a circular self standing wire container than it is one with posts. Next week, in part 11, I will discuss what can be placed in a compost pile; how to maintain the pile; how to tell when the compost is finished; and, how to use the compost. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact me at docmerrill@aol.com.