Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

15

The Turning of the Tides : c. 1928

were of equal rank. I checked later and found that ALL were paid members of the Communist Party of Russia. I was classified as a member of the Party, but I did not know it at the time. The sole work of the group was to destroy our schools! We spent one hour and forty-five minutes discussing the so-called “Modern Math.” At one point I objected because there was too much memory work, and math is reasoning; not memory. Dr. Ziegler turned to me and said, “Nelson, wake up! That is what we want... a math that the pupils cannot apply to life situations when they get out of school!” That math was not introduced until much later, as those present thought it was too radical a change. A milder course by Dr. Breckner was substituted but it was also worthless, as far as understanding math was concerned. The radical change was introduced in 1952. It was the one we are using now. So, if pupils come out of high school now, not knowing any math, don’t blame them. The results are supposed to be worthless.

[Ed. Note: Mr. Nelson was formerly assistant principal at Wilson High School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as Johnson High School in St. Paul. This writer was fortunate enough to verify the above story by calling a teacher colleague of the late Mr. Nelson. Also, members of the “Young Parents Alert” in Lake Elmo, Minnesota provided the writer with an audiocasette of the speech he gave at a Young Parents Alert education conference on April 28, 1979.] Endnotes: 1 The referenced North American Association for Montessori Teachers Association Journal is published by the North American Association for Montessori Teachers Association (Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 1988, 4th quarter). 2 Much of the information in the entry concerning the formation of the Council on Foreign Relations, including Prof. Quigley’s quote, is taken from the recently updated edition of Dr. Dennis Laurence Cuddy’s Secret Records Revealed: The Men, the Money, and the Methods Behind the New World Order (Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.: Oklahoma City, 1999).