Last Post for a While

Dear readers,

When I started this blog several months ago, I hoped to be able to fit it into my schedule even though I was a full time student. Regrettably, my school has taken more time than expected and this blog has had to realize its lower place on the priority list. It is still my deep desire that people be exposed to The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Iserbyt. The book contains such important information about today's education system. I have been thinking also, that a blog may not be the best way to do what I am trying to do i.e., expose people to this book and give them a glimpse into it. In light of this and the other demands on my time, I have decided to place this blog on hold. I am not going to remove/delete it. There just won't be any more posts. After I have graduated, probably sometime this summer, I will consider restarting it. I hope what I have posted so far will give you a feel for the book as well as peak your interest in learning the truth about this subject. If it has done that, then I have succeeded in what I set out to do.  Thank you for viewing my blog.  Tiras Charlton

John Dewey Enters The Scene

   
     One of the biggest forces early in the education reform movement was John Dewey. Let's look at what he believed about education and where he thought it should go. 

"Psychology by John Dewey, the father of "Progressive Education," was Published (University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1896). This was the first American textbook on the “revised” subject of education. Psychology would become the most widely-read and quoted textbook used in schools of education in this country. Just prior to the publication of his landmark book, Dewey had joined the faculty of the Rockefeller-endowed University of Chicago as head of the combined departments of philosophy, psychology and pedagogy (teaching). In that same year,
1895, the university allocated $1,000 to establish a  laboratory in which Dewey could apply psychological principles and experimental techniques to the study of learning. The laboratory opened in January 1896 as the Dewey School, later to become known as The University of
Chicago Laboratory School.
     "Dewey thought of the school as a place where his theories of education could be put into practice, tested, and scientifically evaluated….
     "…Dewey… sought to apply the doctrines of experience and experiment to everyday life and, hence, to education... seeking via this model institution to pave the way for the “schools of the future.” There he had put into actual practice three of the revolutionary beliefs he had culled from the new psychology: that to put the child in

Children--Trained As Animals

"EDWARD LEE THORNDIKE was born August 31, 1874 in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Thorndike was trained in the new psychology by the first generation of Wilhelm Wundt’s protegés.… He went to graduate school at Harvard and studied under psychologist William James. While at Harvard, Thorndike surprised James by doing research with chickens, testing their behavior, and pioneering what later became known as “animal psychology.” As briefly stated by Thorndike himself, psychology was the “science of the intellect, character, and behavior of animals, including man.
"To further excerpt The Leipzig Connection’s excellent treatment of

No Room for The Soul in Psychology!

"Wilhelm Wundt, founder of experimental psychology and the force behind its dissemination throughout the Western world, was born in 1832 in Neckarau, southern Germany. The following excerpts concerning Wundt’s contribution to modern education are taken from The Leipzig Connection: The Systematic Destruction of American Education by Paolo Lionni and Lance J. Klass (Heron Books: Portland, Ore., 1980):

'To Wundt, a thing made sense and was worth pursuing if it could be measured, quantified, and scientifically demonstrated. Seeing no way to do this with the human soul, he proposed that psychology concern itself solely with experience. As Wundt put it... Karl Marx injected Hegel’s theories with economics and sociology, developing a “philosophy of dialectical materialism.”… (p. 8)

From Wundt’s work it was only a short step to the later redefinition of education. Originally, education meant drawing out of a person’s innate talents and abilities by imparting the knowledge of languages, scientific reasoning, history, literature, rhetoric, etc.—the channels through which those abilities would flourish and serve. To the experimental psychologist, however, education became the process of exposing the student to “meaningful” experiences so as to ensure desired reactions: (Refer to the second definition of education in my previous post to see this quote.)

If one assumes (as did Wundt) that there is nothing there to begin with but a body, a brain, a nervous system, then one must try to educate by inducing sensations in that nervous system. Through these experiences, the individual will learn to respond to any given stimulus, with the “correct” response. The child is not, for example, thought capable of volitional control over his actions, or of deciding whether he will act or not act in a certain way; his actions are thought to be preconditioned and beyond his control, he is a stimulus response mechanism. According to this thinking, he is his reactions. Wundt’s thesis laid the philosophical basis for the principles of conditioning later developed by Pavlov (who studied physiology in Leipzig in 1884, five years after Wundt had inaugurated his laboratory there) and American behavioral psychologists such as Watson and Skinner; for laboratories and electroconvulsive therapy; for schools oriented more toward socialization of the child than toward the development of intellect; and for the emergence of a society more and more blatantly devoted to the gratification of sensory desire at the expense of responsibility and achievement. (pp. 14–15)' "

(Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, 2-3; ch 1)

What Does "Education" Really Mean?

In this post, I would like to look at an excerpt from the introduction to chapter one of DDDoA (The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America). This entire book is about education. But, what does the word "education" really mean? We must always keep in mind what words mean. You will remember from a previous post that a tool used by those trying to bring about change, is the redefining of words. The first definition of "education" that Iserbyt shares with us, in the first chapter, is taken from The New Century Dictionary of the English Language (Appleton, Century, Crofts: New York, 1927):

"'Education: The drawing out of a person’s innate talents and abilities by imparting the knowledge of languages, scientific reasoning, history, literature, rhetoric, etc.—the channels through which those abilities would flourish and serve.'

A quantum leap was taken from the above definition to the new, dehumanizing definition used by the experimental psychologists found in An Outline of Educational Psychology (Barnes & Noble: New York, 1934, rev. ed.) by Rudolph Pintner et al. That truly revolutionary definition claims that

'learning is the result of modifiability in the paths of neural conduction. Explanations of even such forms of learning as abstraction and generalization demand of the neurones only growth, excitability, conductivity, and modifiability. The mind is the connection-system of man; and learning is the process of connecting. The situation-response formula is adequate to cover learning of any sort, and the really influential factors in learning are readiness of the neurones, sequence in time, belongingness, and satisfying consequences.'

An in-depth understanding of the deplorable situation found in our nation’s schools today is impossible without an understanding of the redefinition in the above statements. Education in the twenty-first century will, for the majority of youth, be workforce training. Thus, the need for Pavlovian/Skinnerian methodology based on operant conditioning which, in essence, is at the heart of the above dehumanizing definition of education. This “sowing of the seeds” through redefinition will reap the death of traditional, liberal arts education through the advent of mastery learning, outcome-based education, and direct instruction—all of which will be performance-based and behaviorist." (1-2; ch.1)

Snippet from the Introduction

In the Introduction to The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, Sarah Leslie says in part:

"Iserbyt so effectively nails down her case that the debate noticeably shifts to the ethics of implementing such a method on children. The late Christian apologist and theologian, Dr. Francis Schaeffer, when discussing the evils of B.F. Skinner in his little booklet Back to Freedom and Dignity (1972), warned: “Within the Skinnerian system there are no ethical controls; there is no boundary limit to what can be done by the elite in whose hands control resides.” There is intriguing evidence in Iserbyt’s book that the “democratic” society of the near future will be managed via systematized operant conditioning—a startling proposition with ramifications which reach far beyond the scope of simple education reform.
Inevitably, questions and controversy will arise after publication of this book. How many popular computer games, programs, and curricula for children are heavily dependent upon this method—a method which requires immediate rewards? To what extent have home school and Christian school leaders, authors, and curriculum companies endorsed and utilized this method? How many child rearing (training) programs, workbooks and seminars are based upon these Skinnerian methods? After reading this book parents will no longer be duped into accepting behaviorist methods—in whatever guise, or by whatever name they come." (xxvi-xxvii)

Can She Back Those Statements Up?

The Preface of Deliberate Dumbing Down of America is packed with very important information. In previous posts I have tried to catch the highlights. There is one more section that I would like to share before I move on. In the following quote, Iserbyt makes some very strong even shocking comments. These may seem radical. Now, it is up to us to decide whether her opinion is backed by hard evidence or if it is just a radical theory. Read the following quote and in future posts we will look at the evidence that she has given us to support her theory.

“Ronald Havelock’s change agent in-service training prepared me for what I would find in the U.S. Department of Education when I worked there from 1981–1982. The use of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to fund Havelock’s “Change Agent Manual” was only one out of hundreds of expensive U.S. Department of Education grants each year going everywhere, even overseas, to further the cause of internationalist “dumbing down” education (behavior modification) so necessary for the present introduction of global workforce training. I was relieved of my duties after leaking an important technology grant (computer-assisted instruction proposal) to the press.

Much of this book contains quotes from government documents detailing the real purposes of American education:

• to use the schools to change America from a free, individual nation to a socialist,

global “state,” just one of many socialist states which will be subservient to the

United Nations Charter, not the United States Constitution

• to brainwash our children, starting at birth, to reject individualism in favor of

collectivism

• to reject high academic standards in favor of OBE/ISO 1400/9000 egalitarianism

• to reject truth and absolutes in favor of tolerance, situational ethics and consensus

• to reject American values in favor of internationalist values (globalism)

• to reject freedom to choose one’s career in favor of the totalitarian K–12 school-to-work OBE process, aptly named “limited learning for lifelong labor,” coordinated through United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Only when all children in public, private and home schools are robotized—and believe as one—will World Government be acceptable to citizens and able to be implemented without firing a shot. The attractive-sounding “choice” proposals will enable the globalist elite to achieve their goal: the robotization (brainwashing) of all Americans in order to gain their acceptance of lifelong education and workforce training—part of the world management system to achieve a new global feudalism....

….Just as Barbara Tuchman or another historian would do in writing the history of the other kinds of wars, I have identified chronologically the major battles, players, dates and places. I know that researchers and writers with far more talent than I will feel that I have neglected some key events in this war. I stand guilty on all counts, even before their well-researched charges are submitted. Yes, much of importance has been left out, due to space limitations, but the overview of the battlefields and maneuvers will give the reader an opportunity to glimpse the immensity of this conflict. In order to win a battle one must know who the “real” enemy is. Otherwise, one is shooting in the dark and often hitting those not the least bit responsible for the mayhem. This book, hopefully, identifies the “real” enemy and provides Americans involved in this war—be they plain, ordinary citizens, elected officials, or traditional teachers—with the ammunition to fight to obtain victory.” (Preface; xix-xxi)

Gradualism and Semantic Deception

Once again, the following quote is taken from the preface of Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. This quote explains tools number two and three used by change agents in their reform of education. We will see these three tools over and over again as we systematically go through this book. It is very important to understand these and the huge role they play.

“Regarding the power of “gradualism,” remember the story of the frog and how he didn’t save himself because he didn’t realize what was happening to him? He was thrown into cold water which, in turn, was gradually heated up until finally it reached the boiling point and he was dead. This is how “gradualism” works through a series of “created crises” which utilize Hegel’s dialectical process, leading us to more radical change than we would ever otherwise accept.

In the instance of “semantic deception”—do you remember your kindly principal telling you that the new decision-making program would help your child make better decisions? What good parent wouldn’t want his or her child to learn how to make “good” decisions? Did you know that the decision-making program is the same controversial values clarification program recently rejected by your school board and against which you may have given repeated testimony? As I’ve said before, the wagers of this intellectual social war have employed very effective weapons to implement their changes.” (Preface; xviii)

Hegelian Dialectic

The Hegelian Dialectic is a process formulated by the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and used by Karl Marx in codifying revolutionary Communism as dialectical materialism. This process can be illustrated as: (See book for illustration)


The “Thesis” represents either an established practice or point of view which is pitted against the “Antithesis”—usually a crisis of opposition fabricated or created by change agents—causing the “Thesis” to compromise itself, incorporating some part of the “Antithesis” to produce the “Synthesis”—sometimes called consensus. This is the primary tool in the bag of tricks used by change agents who are trained to direct this process all over the country; much like the in-service training I received. A good example of this concept was voiced by T.H. Bell when he was U.S. Secretary of Education: “[We] need to create a crisis to
get consensus in order to bring about change.” (The reader might be reminded that it was under T.H. Bell’s direction that the U.S. Department of Education implemented the changes “suggested” by A Nation at Risk—the alarm that was sounded in the early 1980s to announce the “crisis” in education.)

Since we have been, as a nation, so relentlessly exposed to this Hegelian dialectical process (which is essential to the smooth operation of the “system”) under the guise of “reaching consensus” in our involvement in parent-teacher organizations, on school boards, in legislatures, and even in goal setting in community service organizations and groups—including our churches—I want to explain clearly how it works in a practical
application. A good example with which most of us can identify involves property taxes for
local schools. Let us consider an example from Michigan—

The internationalist change agents must abolish local control (the “Thesis”) in order to restructure our schools from academics to global workforce training (the “Synthesis”).
Funding of education with the property tax allows local control, but it also enables the change agents and teachers’ unions to create higher and higher school budgets paid for with
higher taxes, thus infuriating homeowners. Eventually, property owners accept the change agents’ radical proposal (the “Anti- thesis”) to reduce their property taxes by transferring
education funding from the local property tax to the state income tax. Thus, the change agents accomplish their ultimate goal; the transfer of funding of education from the local
level to the state level. When this transfer occurs it increases state/federal control and funding, leading to the federal/internationalist goal of implementing global workforce training through the schools (the “Synthesis”).

(Deliberate Dumbing Down of America xvii-xviii; Preface)

Orchestrated Consensus

Space

Another excerpt from the Preface of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America (pg. xvii):

Orchestrated Consensus

In retrospect, I had just found out that the United States was engaged in war. People write important books about war: books documenting the battles fought, the names of the generals involved, the names of those who fired the first shot. This book is simply a history book about another kind of war:

• one fought using psychological methods;

• a one-hundred-year war;

• a different, more deadly war than any in which our country has ever been involved;

• a war about which the average American hasn’t the foggiest idea.

The reason Americans do not understand this war is because it has been fought in secret—in the schools of our nation, targeting our children who are captive in classrooms. The wagers of this war are using very sophisticated and effective tools:

• Hegelian Dialectic (common ground, consensus and compromise)

• Gradualism (two steps forward; one step backward)

• Semantic deception (redefining terms to get agreement without understanding).

In posts to come, we will look at these three tools in greater depth. Some of the information that she refers to here and later in the book she has explained in the part of the preface that falls between the quote I am giving here and the quote from the previous post. To get a better idea of her history and experience, please read the entire preface! I can not post it all here. To read the Preface and other parts of the book that I suggest throughout this blog (I will never stop pointing you to the book and encouraging you to read it! ), download the book at www.deliberatedumbingdown.com.

A peek at the Preface of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.

In the preface to her book, Charlotte Iserbyt wrote the following:

"For over a twenty-five-year period the research used in this chronology has been collected from many sources: the United States Department of Education; international agencies; state agencies; the media; concerned educators; parents; legislators, and talented researchers with whom I have worked. In the process of gathering this information two beliefs that most Americans hold in common became clear:

1) If a child can read, write and compute at a reasonably proficient level, he will be able to do just about anything he wishes, enabling him to control his destiny to the extent that God allows (remain free);
2) Providing such basic educational proficiencies is not and should not be an expensive proposition.

Since most Americans believe the second premise—that providing basic educational proficiencies is not and should not be an expensive proposition—it becomes obvious that it is only a radical agenda, the purpose of which is to change values and attitudes (brainwash), that is the costly agenda. In other words, brainwashing by our schools and universities is what is bankrupting our nation and our children’s minds."

Please do download and read the Preface in full.

Dear Reader,
I want you to know from the outset that there is a conflict raging in my mind over this blog. Being aware of this conflict will help you put up with things that you might find confusing. There is so much in this book that you should read, know, and understand, but I can't possibly share everything. (I really want to!) If I did, I would be copying the book. As I look through for the most pertinent quotes and information to share with you, I will ever struggle to decide what to post. Hopefully what I share with you will flow and build to give you a good understanding on this subject. If it does not, please comment and I will try and answer any questions. I encourage everyone to download or buy this book and just read it cover to cover. That is the best way for you to grasp this issue in depth. If you can't read the entire book, at least read the first fifty pages.

Tiras Charlton

Something dear!

This blog is about something dear. It tells us of the past and gives us a glimpse of the future. No, not me and my past, but a past that has shaped all of us. This blog is to you. It is done for the sake of your children and my children. A most important part of the future is the education these precious beings, made in the image of God, will receive! But what education will that be? Will our children be taught by the public education system? Will they be taught by us, their parents? It is my desire that the later will be the goal for which every one of you will fight. But, you ask, why should we fight with the purpose to educate our children when there are those out there who have been trained to do it? Are they not better qualified? Is not the curriculum they use far more affective than what I can give my children? This blog is here to answer a question that should be asked even before any of these. Ask this question: “What are they going to teach my child?” No matter who educates children, we must know what they are being taught at this crucial time in life. That is what I am going to strive to present here.
The information that I am going to share is taken directly from the work of one who is far more qualified than myself in the area of education today. I will be quoting out of a book called The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, authored by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt. To read her biography click the following link: The Author . I was exposed to this book and after reading only a small portion, I asked myself: “Why have I not heard this crucial information before?” I was surprised to find that this book was not very widely circulated. It shares information about today's education that is available in few other places. The strength of this book is that is tells you what education today is meant to do--not from the perspective of someone who is opposing it, but from those who manage it. They tell us what they are doing. Read and see.
Who is this book for? Is it for those who have children in the public educational system? Yes! Is it for those who are trying to decide whether or not to send their children there? Yes! Is it written for those who home educate? Yes! This book is for anyone who cares about young people today! Children are the future. They are the next generation of leaders. What shapes them, will shape the future!
After reading the snip-its from this book, judge for yourself what the children are being taught! It is my hope that the little bits that you read will encourage you to think seriously about the education of our children. If you would like to read the entire book but do not want to buy it, it can be downloaded free online from: The Book.

Tiras Charlton