The subject of America's Great Dumbing Down comes up often in Facebook discussions. Being one of the weary survivors who still remembers the Before-Time, I am frequently prompted to share my recollections of “How It Came To Thisâ€.
The Great Dumbing Down began in earnest when Ronald Reagan became Governor of California in 1967. During the preceding decade, marked perhaps in the Public Mind by the rubric of Sputnik in 1957, most observers had begun to realize that some amount of post-secondary education had become as essential to a person's economic functioning and well-informed citizenship as a high school education had been in previous decades.
Prompted by that realization, California put itself on the cutting edge of educational progress with its “Freshman Year Free†program, funding the first year of college for every qualified high school graduate. That was one of the first things Ronald Reagan killed when he became governor, and the regressive trend in access to higher education has continued ever since.
Jon Awbrey
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