”An in-depth analysis of Sweden’s once world-leading yet now-troubled educational system and suggestions regarding how the country might recover its former standing is enough to fill a book with arguments for and against competing policy solutions. Yet Dumbing Down by Magnus Henrekson and Johan Wennström attempts to tackle an even bigger task by using Sweden’s experience as an example of how not to seek educational excellence in Western countries generally. The authors make important points about the pedagogical phenomenon overtaking Swedish and other Western educational systems to which they correctly refer as “post-truth”: “education based on a postmodern social constructivist view of truth and knowledge...as opposed to being mostly objective and reliable” (p. 6). They warn that the loss of important knowledge gained over centuries of history, science, trial-and-error will leave cultures devoid of proper bases on which to continue building and improving—and defending their places in the world.”
Book review: Dumbing Down: The Crisis of Quality and Equity in a Once-Great Shool System – and How to Reverse the Trend
Magnus Henrekson's and Johan Wennström's book Dumbing Down: The Crisis of Quality and Equity in a Once-Great Shool System – and How to Reverse the Trend, is reviewed in The Independent Review.