Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

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The "Effective" Eighties : c. 1989

1989

I N AN ARTICLE IN THE J ANUARY 25, 1989 ISSUE OF E DUCATION W EEK C HESTER E. F INN , J R ., former head of the U.S. Department of Education’s research branch, told business leaders in Wash ington that he favored the development of a “national curriculum.”

R USHWORTH K IDDER , PRESIDENT OF THE I NSTITUTE FOR G LOBAL E THICS WITH OFFICES IN Camden, Maine , and London, England, wrote Reinventing the Future: Global Goals for the 21st Century , published by The Christian Science Publishing Society (MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1989) which covered the dialogue between 35 notables from 12 nations gathered at “Wingspread” in Racine, Wisconsin in April of 1989. The Christian Science Monitor , the Johnson Foundation and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County sponsored the event. In his book Kidder stated that the conference included “everything that sounded like a reasonable goal for the year 2000,” among which were the following: “Educate children in the context of one world; Develop educational curricula that reflect the realitites of global interdependence; Promote community service; Inculcate a healthy skepticism for authority; Reduce the share of GNP (Gross National Product) devoted to military spending; and Strengthen the role of the United Nations and other multilateral forums.” In a July 5, 1994 letter from Mr. Kidder to Mr. David Zanotti, president of the Northeast Ohio Roundtable, Kidder described the work of his Institute for Global Ethics as follows: The Institute for Global Ethics is an independent, non-profit educational organization specifically dedicated to promoting the discussion of ethics in a global context. Taking a jour nalistic rather than an academic approach, we see our task as responding to the ever-growing need for identifying and describing standards of ethical values throughout the world. We don’t dictate what those values should be. Instead, we try to help discover what they actu ally are—and to promote their discussion and application in ways that are non-threatening, inclusive, and conflict-resolving. The Institute has a national board of directors, an international advisory council, a network of nationwide and global connections, and a membership base of some 2,500 indi viduals in the United States and around the world. Some of our activities [from which the writer has selected only a few] include: • Global Values Survey . We are currently carrying out a multi-country survey of values and ethics to help us understand the core values that unite various cultures as well as the different ways each culture defines an ethical decision. The pilot survey, car ried out among samples of business leaders in Japan, India, and the United States, was completed in June. We’re now laying plans to launch a full-scale survey of individuals in business, politics, medicine, journalism, and other sectors of society in 12 nations. [The Institute was awarded a $450,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan to accomplish this survey, ed.] • Education . The Institute works actively with several school districts and educational organizations in the United States on character education, seeking ways to help schools and communities find the core, shared values among their constituencies that can form a basis for discussions of ethical issues in the schools. We’ve produced an award-winning half-hour video, Personal Ethics and the Future of the World , de signed for use in schools and with audiences of all ages. And we’ve also published