They were once known as the "loyal opposition". The purpose they served was to temper the more over-reaching or impractical elements of progressive innovation. An example I recall, since I actually lived it, was the "new math" phenomenon.
Educational "experts" had taken the reins on reform. One of their innovations was what became known as "new math", as labeled by its detractors. What it was is that all students by their 8th grade year were presumed to have achieved proficiency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. At that time they were then universally instructed in a new regimen which was essentially exposure to the elemental concepts of algebra. Often the instructors were unqualified to administer the curriculum which departed from the previous. Up until then it was reinstruction, review and re-entrenchment of all the previously studied math tools. This had been the norm for 50 years because the majority of students' post high school math usage had been the monitoring of their personal finances and other simple forms of accounting. Students who had only vague notions of checkbook balancing were, and I witnessed this personally, expected to benefit from the study of "sets" in lieu of practical instruction. Simple as it sounds it was devastating for many who simply had not retained the proficiency, predicted by the experts, in math basics. They were left to flounder as were most of their instructors who themselves had no background in higher mathematics which at that time included introductory algebra. Parents were aghast that their children were given no discernable life skills in this system. A system they did not understand. A system which had been wrought upon them by those progressive thinkers who felt they were tasked to prepare a generation that would lead the way in science and engineering. There was no consideration of those non-science, non-engineer types. There were union jobs which paid well for those types.
The whole thing left the nation, in a very subtle way, divided. Along urban vs rural, wealth vs poverty, white collar vs blue collar, union vs non-union. But in a real way these progressive intellectuals, failing to understand the true demographics of their constituency, laid one of the basis for our current national division. And this foundation was laid 55 years ago with the best of intentions.
The stupid we wake up to is sometimes is the stupid we seduced the night before.
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