Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

116 person, to obtain the butter. The response is reinforced by the receipt of the butter. In other words, the probability that a future desire for butter will elicit the same response is increased by its initial success.... The stimulus and reinforcement are independent variables upon which the response is dependent. As Skinner phrases it “the stimulus acting prior to the emission of the response, sets the occasion upon which the response is likely to be reinforced.” (1) A stimulus is “any condition, event or change in the environment of an individual which produces a change in behavior.” (2) It may be verbal (oral, written) or physical. A response may be defined as a unit of behavior.... According to Skinner, reinforcement must immedi ately follow a response if it is to be effective. Delayed reinforcement is much less effective in modifying behavior. (pp. 271–273) An official overview of the “Models of Teacher Repertoire Training” program, made avail able to the author while working in the U.S. Department of Education, states under “Brief Description of Intervention” the following: The objective of the intervention is to prepare teachers who can choose from a number of available alternatives the most appropriate strategy to be used with a particular group of students in a particular situation at a particular time. “Most appropriate” refers to the effectiveness of the strategy selected vs. the alternatives in terms of the probability that the students will learn what the teacher has predicted for them. The feasibility of achieving this objective in a clinical, or controlled situation has been long established. This interven tion establishes that feasibility in the real world of the elementary and secondary school settings and offers a reliable, cost effective plan to do so.... The models which have been selected for this system are ones for which there is empirical evidence and/or theoretical grounding which supports the probability that students will learn what is predicted from them. Teachers learn to select the models and match them to the objectives they seek.... The families include: (1) Behavior Modification and Cybernetic Models which have evolved from attempts to develop efficient systems for sequencing learning tasks and shaping behavior by manipulating reinforcement.... Clinical analysis guides are useful to provide feedback about performance and to support on-site coaching. In addition to print material there are more than thirty hours of video tapes to support the training system.... The principal criterion of effectiveness rests upon existing empirical evidence that pre-specified changes in teaching behavior will produce predictable changes in pupil performance. This information suggests that Skinner—and, evidently, Joyce and Weil—believe that man is truly only a response organism with no intrinsic soul or intellect, definitely a product of evolution. During a U.S. Department of Education Joint Dissemination Review Panel meet ing at which Bruce Joyce and Jim Stefansen submitted application for funding, some of the participants made the following statements: JOYCE: “It has been difficult in the past to bring about curriculum change, behavior change. In California we are establishing a network of 100 school districts. New strategies for teaching and exporting programs.” COULSON: “Couldn’t agree more that what you are doing needs to be done. Maybe we are not ready yet to talk about selective use of repertoire. You must gather data supporting selective use of methods.” STEFANSEN: “Primary claim is we do know how to train teachers to make ultimate choices so that when those behaviors take place students are affected. Question is, can you train teachers to accept strategies each of which we know are the better of