Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

308 reform as such reform relates to charter schools/choice and “techademics”:

Take language arts, math, science, and vocational teachers off for a three-day weekend together. Take their books and make them find common materials they teach. Break down barriers of ignorance and form a team…. …Teams went into industries to see what business needs…. …Decentralization and site-based management are the keys. These schools stretch time on task—standards firm but time flexible. Need a longer day, week, and year for extra help…. …Basic principle: an ungraded academic core with a career emphasis. The NAEP is used in measuring achievement…. …Each student has the same English teacher for four years…. Can’t carry out Deming’s principles in present structure—must change to accommodate TQM.… Break out of state cultures—cross state lines!] M IKHAIL G ORBACHEV , FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE S OVIET U NION , WAS QUOTED IN AN AR ticle in the January 23, 1993 issue of The Cape Cod (Massachusetts) Times as recommending that President Bill Clinton make America the creator of a new world order based on consensus—thereby plac ing the United States under the authority of the United Nations. Gorbachev was later named the “convening chair” and host of a world forum on the “first global civilization” held in San Francisco from September 27–October 1 in 1995. The article quoted Gorbachev as follows: The future needs... international institutions acting on behalf of all. A higher institution that operates on a consensus. Such a choice would narrow the independence many believe the United States now enjoys.... President Clinton will be a success if he uses American influence to accomplish the transformation of international responsibility and increase significantly the role of the United Nations.... He will be a great President—if he can make America the creator of a new world order based on consensus. I N THE U NITED S TATES C OALITION FOR E DUCATION FOR A LL ’ S (USCEFA) PUBLICATION EFA Today January-March, 1993 issue, Russell Bong of the National Training Laboratory’s Institute for Applied Behavioral Science (NTL) wrote an article entitled “Overcoming Resistance and Facili tating Change: The NTL Institute’s Approach.” 30 An extraordinarily blatant, and some might consider frightening, explanation of the purpose of the National Training Laboratory can be found in the following excerpted material: Founded in 1947, the NTL Institute was affiliated with the National Education As sociation during its first 20 years of operation. The Institute became independent in 1967 and today serves as a nonprofit professional membership organization of applied behavioral science experts.... Dedicated to developing and applying scientific methods to behavior mod ification, the Institute facilitates productive change at the individual, social, organizational, and macro-system levels.... To elaborate, attitudes are primarily shaped by values and beliefs, which, in turn, are shaped by both perceptions and misperceptions. NTL’s approach seeks to fundamentally change personal attitudes, which it does by reshaping underlying beliefs and by eliminating