Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

G–6

students with some career preparation. Change Agent. A term used by many people, including President Clinton, leading educators, and social engineers, to identify individuals, highly trained in the group process and in the Delphi Technique. These people are designated to bring about controversial change in education, in the operation of our local and state governments, and at the federal and international levels. (See Preface regarding Iserbyt training to become a change agent, 1947 regarding establishment of National Training Laboratory, 1973 Ronald Havelock Change Agent Guide, 1993 letter from Lawrence Lezotte, and Appendix XIV) Character Education. Programs which are offered under the following labels of: “values educa tion,” “citizenship education,” “civic education,” and similar titles. The purpose of these courses is to teach students global, core, humanist, no right/no wrong values. The process of identifying the core values involves the entire community, often bypassing the views of elected school boards. The first attempt at devising such a curriculum was made in 1964 when the American Humanist Association began its involvement in “ethical education.” The roots of humanistic moral/character education lie in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Association (UNESCO). As a school board director trying to remove values clarification from the curriculum in 1977, I was informed by a Congregational minister at a public school board meeting that parents did not have a right to determine their children’s values—that it was up to the government schools to do so! Many well-meaning groups have attempted to implement “character education” programs with the intention of instilling biblically supported values. It should be noted that attempting to instill Bible-based virtues without spiritual understanding or instruc tion will always result in less-than-successful results. Also, to base “commonly-held” character qualities on prevailing law does not take into consideration possible changes in the law. Another important consideration with character education is who will teach it. School boards have been consistently hamstrung by civil rights statutes when it comes to hiring teachers whose lifestyles exhibit desirable character qualities and who are good role models for students. (See 1933 Humanist Manifesto I , 1933 Onalee McGraw pamphlet Secular Human ism in the Schools , 1941 Education for Destruction by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania public school teacher Bessie Burchett, 1946 Brock Chisholm speech, 1964 “Ethical Education” published in Free Mind [the journal of the American Humanist Association], 1970 Leonard S. Kenworthy “Background Paper,” Core Values/Virtues , and Appendix V and XIX) Charter School. A public school created by a partnership between the private sector and gov ernment for the purpose of providing additional academic and other choices for students. Charter schools must comply with federal and state laws in order to receive funding. How ever, these schools have no elected board, making them an excellent example of taxation without representation. Charter Schools are supported by conservative Republicans as well as liberal Democrats, including President Clinton. (See 1991 NASDC article, Magnet Schools, and Appendix XII) Choice. Allowing parents to enroll their children in any public school within the district or inter-district, or, depending on the scope of the choice program, providing tax credits that can be applied toward tuition in private schools. All schools receiving federal funding must adopt “voluntary” national standards which force students to conform to government-