Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

231 N ATIONAL A CADEMY OF E DUCATION AT THE H ARVARD G RADUATE S CHOOL OF E DUCATION (Cam bridge, Massachussetts), sent out an informational letter in 1986 entitled “ACLS [American Council of Learned Societies]-USSR Ministry of Education Commission on Education” describing joint U.S.-Soviet education activities. An excerpt which details an extraordinary agenda for cooperation with “The Evil Empire” follows: Scholars from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Ministry of Education of the Soviet Union met in the United States in 1986 and agreed to establish a Commission on Education that will be responsible for joint scholarly relations in pedagogy and related fields between the United States and the Soviet Union. Some major joint U.S.- Soviet project themes are: Methods of Teaching and Learning School Science and Math Subjects Using Computers; Theory of Teaching and Learning; Psychological and Pedagogical Problems of Teaching in the Development of Pre-School and School-Age Children; and Problems of Teaching Children with Special Needs. The "Effective" Eighties : c. 1986 T HE F EBRUARY 1986 ISSUE OF T HE E FFECTIVE S CHOOL R EPORT CARRIED THE FIRST OF A twelve-part series entitled “Implementing Effective Schools: Commitment—The First Step.” An accurate description of the Pavlovian/Skinnerian methods required by Effective Schools Research is found in this article. Excerpts follow: Effective schools research is conclusive beyond any doubt that all children can learn. Prac tice now reveals that any school can be led, through a systematic process of training for behavioral change, to effectiveness. Neither research nor practice suggests that the process of becoming effective is easy.... The task of leading a school from ineffectiveness to effectiveness is monumental; how ever, it can be done. And the research proves that it can be done without wholesale changes of personnel. Ron Edmonds said that we must assume that the teacher and staff are at least as educable as the children they teach.... Change in an effective school must be dramatic if the school is to become effective. The mind-set of many if not most employees within the building must change. Effective school behaviors must be demonstrated by all. These behaviors are observable, measurable, and transferable; therefore, they can be learned. In-depth and highly structured training will precede improved outcomes. The trauma experienced by a school that sets a course of effectiveness will be sub stantial, and will require the implementation of a rigid, highly structured, and sequenced program with all research-based elements in place. T HE N ATIONAL F ORUM FOR E DUCATIONAL A WARENESS HELD A SPECIAL CEREMONY AND reception in the Russell Senate Caucus Building, Washington, D.C. on February 21, 1986 to honor Norman Dodd, research director for the Reece Committee during 1953–1954. Barbara Cueter, Charlotte Iserbyt and Elisabeth Russinoff planned the awards ceremony at which Senator Jesse Helms made the presentation of the “Americanism Award” to Mr. Dodd. Mrs. Rosalind Kress Haley, a close and long-time friend of Norman Dodd’s, was responsible for the reception following the awards ceremony. Admirers of Norman Dodd from across the country arranged for the ceremony to be videotaped. Some excerpts of Senator Helms’ videotaped comments follow: