Derry Brownfield -- It Ain't Gonna Change Overnight

IT AIN’T GONNA CHANGE OVERNIGHT

By Derry Brownfield
August 1, 2009

NewsWithViews.com

I grew up in the home of my grandparents who were 70 years older than me. My grandfather never attended high school because he was the oldest of 12 kids and was forced to do a “MAN’S WORK” with only an eighth grade education, yet he had a better vocabulary than most of today’s college graduates; he could spell without the use of a dictionary and solve complicated math problems with a pencil and paper.

I graduated from high school exactly 60 years ago this past May. Our class members were referred to as the 49’ers. We didn’t have ball point pens, electric typewriters, calculators or spell-check. We did have chalk and blackboards, Big Chief tablets and pencils with erasers, yet we learned to survive in this world of hard knocks. Today, more than 49 million elementary and secondary students are educated in 97,000 public schools and the Department of Education reports that 18% of all schools are overcrowded. When our class of 1949 started first grade, there was no “Department of Education” and all 60 of us were crammed into one classroom with only one teacher. We didn’t know we were over crowded and we didn’t know that our teacher wasn’t qualified to teach, because she had not studied Educational Psychology.

A few of our classmates didn’t graduate with us in 1949, they were “slow learners” and were held over to take the same grade the following year. Only when they had mastered the subjects were they allowed to move up to the next level. Eventually they did learn and so “EARNED” their high school diploma. Today, students are advanced to the next level regardless of their test scores. This is referred to as “NO-FAIL GRADING” and is being used in many of our public schools so a failing student’s self esteem won’t suffer. It actually teaches the students that they are too fragile to fail. They then walk across the stage and receive the same degree as the student that studied, learned and “EARNED” the diploma. A high percentage of today’s students come away from their Alma Mater unprepared to hold a job or earn a livelihood. One third of the high school graduates that enroll in college must take remedial course work before entering college level classes. These same people who were never taught how to figure compound interest in math classes, are now trying to pay off the mortgage on a $250,000 house, a $20,000 car, and three credit cards maxed out at $10,000 each. To make matters worse these same people become members of Congress and the Senate. They take positions in government offices and hold high positions as unelected bureaucrats. They make and enforce the laws that the rest of us must abide by.

Our education system is in shambles. YES! There are many highly intelligent young people graduating today just as there always have been, but the percentage of those capable of becoming leaders, statesmen, entrepreneurs, capable of making a nation great are becoming fewer and fewer, while the “slow learners” are becoming the majority of our population. This very expensive, government financed, politically correct educational system has been successful in dumbing down our graduates, who now believe that they must learn to live in the “system.” They are willing to follow directions. They have been taught how to think, what to say, what not to say, how to be followers and not leaders. According to the EDUCATION REFORM FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER, they have been taught that “good citizenship depends on cooperating with the government in fulfilling the role in their global community.” They have the “skills necessary to survive in a global, information society and have a broad understanding of the world and the ability to handle change.” As a result they have allowed political correctness to rule, not only their lives but the lives of their fellow Americans.

If America is to make a change for the better, we must change our commitment to the education of our youth. Spending more money on an already over financed system is not the answer. We must go back to the traditional curriculum – English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and study our nation’s history and our Constitutional Republican form of government.

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Our youth must be taught that with freedom comes responsibility. If we could change our educational system tomorrow it would take eight to twelve years to generate the first class of liberty-minded thinkers. It required over 50 years of government intervention in our school system to dumb down our population – and it “AIN’T GONNA CHANGE OVERNIGHT.”

Derry Brownfield was born in 1932 and grew up during the depression. He is a farmer and a broadcaster. Derry attended the College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees. He taught Vocational Agriculture several years before going to work as a Marketing Specialist with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Derry served as Director of the Kansas City Livestock Market Foundation at the Kansas City Stockyard prior to establishing himself in farm broadcasting.

Derry started farming when he was 16 years old and received the Future Farmers of America State Farmer degree in 1949. Since that time the Brownfield Farm has grown to over 1000 acres maintaining a herd of 200 registered Charolias cows.

In 1972, Derry and his partner established the Brownfield Network which now serves 250 radio stations throughout the Midwest with news and market information. In 1994, Derry started his own syndicated radio talk show and he is one of the most popular radio talk show hosts in America. The Derry Brownfield Show can be heard on approximately 80 radio stations in 23 states. With his entertaining sense of humor and witty commentary he has captured audiences for over 30 years. His ability to present an informative talk show while being light and colorful is why he has a large loyal listening audience.

Derry Brownfield is a practical farmer, a practical business man and a very entertaining speaker. He travels extensively throughout the country speaking about his common-sense point of view.