Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

59 the 1955 White House Conference on Education’s use of the Delphi technique, 4 served to carve in stone the use of dialectic methods in public policy making through the use of results-based “planning” by consensus, not consent. This also may have marked the beginning of restructur ing America from a constitutional republic to a socialist democracy. Before listing an excerpted version of Goals for Americans, the writer would like to point out that although on their face these goals may sound legitimate, they are, in fact, blatantly socialistic. Only those recommendations which lean towards socialism have been included in this entry. The Sick Sixties : c. 1960 II. EQUALITY. Every man and woman must have equal rights before the law, and an equal opportunity to vote and hold office, to be educated, to get a job and to be promoted when qualified, to buy a home, to participate fully in community affairs. III. THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. ...With firm faith in individual American responsibil ity, the Commission answered these questions with a confident and yet measured “yes.” While stressing private responsibility, the Commission also forthrightly favors government action at all levels whenever necessary to achieve the national goals.... The Commission adopted as its own his [Professor Wallace S. Sayre of Columbia University] principal recommendations, that “the President be given unequivocal authority and responsibility to develop a true senior civil service,” and that the pay of top government employees should be drastically increased. IV. EDUCATION. Annual Public and Private Expenditure for Education by 1970 Must Be Approximately $40 Billion—Double the 1960 Figure.... There must be more and better teachers, enlarged facilities, and changes in curricula and methods. Above all, schooling should fit the varying capacities of individuals; every student should be stimulated to work to his utmost; authentic concern for excellence is imperative. 1. Small and inefficient school districts should be consolidated, reducing the total number from 40,000 to about 10,000. 5 2. Teachers’ salaries at all levels must be improved. 3. Two-year colleges should be within commuting distance of most high school graduates. 4. Adult education should provide a new emphasis on education throughout life.… Among specific steps, the Commission recommended that: GOALS FOR AMERICANS

VI. DISARMAMENT. Disarmament should be our ultimate goal.

VII. LESS DEVELOPED NATIONS. The success of the underdeveloped nations must depend primarily on their own efforts. We should assist by providing education, training, economic and technical assistance, and by increasing the flow of public and private capital.... Doubling their rate of economic growth within five years is a reasonable objective.... The U.S. share of such an effort would require by 1965 an outflow of $5 to $5.5 billion per year of public and private capital, as compared with