Utah's Republic

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Red Meat Radio Republic Update 7-3-10

(I am at the beginning of this audio clip, but at the 13:48 mark, the Teacher of the year from the Utah online charter school is interviewed)

For those of you that didn’t listen to Red Meat Radio this morning, here’s the audio from it. I discussed BYU’s McKay School of Education leaving the Goodlad NNER (National Network for Educational Renewal) organization as well as two other important issues.

Back in March when I presented our petition to the State School Board I received a letter from Lynne Greenwood indicating the state office would be opening up the 8th and 11th grade history standards to ensure the concept of a republic received appropriate treatment in the standards. Since then I have emailed individuals at the state office twice and haven’t heard anything back from them…

Next, a week and a half ago at the legislature’s education interim meeting, a teacher spoke about civics education in Utah and the need to study original sources. He then presented members of the committee with a handout on various quality resources that contain original sources. The state superintendent, Larry Shumway, then got up and was asked if the textbooks used in Utah show respect toward the Founders. He first began by questioning the term “Founders” and how differently the “Founders” thought about the same issues or principles. He told the committee, and he was backed up by a former history teacher on the committee, that the textbooks used in Utah show respect to the Founders. The topic of the Constitution didn’t really come up. He said that though the Making of America is a good book, it is biased to a certain “Founders’” viewpoint and should be used only as a secondary resource.

When I asked a history teacher in Alpine School District if the textbooks in ASD showed respect to our Founding Fathers, he replied:

“They absolutely do not. In fact the only teaching they even get on history is a packet with questions and little pamphlet books to find answers. There is no teaching of history and certainly not of our Founding Fathers or even our great nation.”

We’ve got a lot of work to do. )

Daily Herald Story Link

It is truly unfortunate that the author of this article spoke with me, and then BYU, and then didn’t tell me any of their reasons for dropping the program. All I heard was they were dropping the program. I can see where some people making comments may think I feel smug just on the way this article is written. I apologize to those of you that think that is the case. It is also unfortunate that Caleb again brings up the “socialist conspiracy” angle like he did a couple months ago. I tried to correct that as widely as I could via my website and emailing people and writing Caleb and the editor of the Herald to make this clear, but it is apparent they want to continue down that road.

Am I grateful BYU has dropped association with the NNER? Absolutely. When I heard was they were dropping the program my comments were based in my belief that many of the people in the McKay School of Education were just ignorant of Goodlad’s more troubling issues and that once they saw what his motives were, they would then see the wisdom in leaving him. I never got a call after Caleb spoke with BYU to learn it was for a financial reason they were leaving the organization so obviously my comments may have been a little different.

This is quite the educational experience dealing with the press and having them insert words in my mouth. This paragraph in particular rehashes what I debunked when Caleb’s previous story came out.

Caleb wrote: “Norton sees BYU and Alpine School District as part of a national conspiracy working to carefully teach the nation’s children to believe that the United States government is based on the power of people, rather than the power of God. This effort, Norton has said, is guided by ‘the motives of those who are trying to change our language and remove the notion that we are a republic with natural rights bestowed upon us by God.’”

No, that’s not what I’ve ever said about ASD or BYU. I’ve never ever said I believe the U.S. Government runs by the power of God. That’s ludicrous. I’ve written that the constitution is divinely inspired, and I wrote that Goodlad’s motives are to transform us into a democracy as a nation and remove moral standards based on God’s law. As an atheist/humanist/socialist, Goodlad believes there is no moral law from God and it’s up to the community to set morals based on democratic methods. This is moral relativism.

If you want to know what type of organization the NNER is, you only have to look at who their Keynote speaker is this at their conference this October…Bill Ayers.  You also need to google the NNER minutes from June 2006 and see that the NNER was trying to push the homosexual movement into BYU. That does not match our community standard.

Last Saturday on Red Meat Radio, Senator Howard Stephenson interviewed Senator Orrin Hatch. The first 7 minutes are about some things going on in Washington, and then right at the 7 minute mark, Senator Stephenson turns the conversation to the Republican convention and what happened to Bob Bennett. S. Stephenson brings up states rights and the 17th amendment and Senator Hatch and he have an interesting conversation about what really happened to Senator Bennett. I encourage you to give it a listen, at least from the 7 minute mark.

Senator Howard Stephenson interviews Senator Orrin Hatch

Yesterday, the Provo Daily Herald ran an article on the school board races in Alpine School District. They mentioned the 33 page document I put together along with my endorsements for the candidates in the races. Although I have printed this elsewhere on this site I want to reproduce it here for easy finding.

Provo Daily Herald Article: Discontent polarizes Alpine district races

Oak Norton’s Endorsements for School Board Races in Alpine School District (click here for the full 33-page story mentioned in the article as well as a bullet list of issues with ASD)

Primary voting is June 22nd. Early voting is happening through the 18th. Check for locations at http://elections.utah.gov.

*Candidates I endorse, mainly due to their positions on math and civics education

A1-Lehi/Saratoga Springs/Eagle Mountain
*Paula Hill (http://paulahill4u.wordpress.com/)
*Casey Voeks (http://www.caseyvoeks.com/)

A2-Highland/Alpine/Cedar Hills/Small segment of Northeast Lehi
*Wendy Hart (http://wendyhart2010.com)
*Zonda Perry (http://www.zonda.org)

A3-American Fork
Incumbent-*Tim Osborn (http://www.electtimosborn.com/)

A5-Southwest Orem
*Scott Bell (http://www.BELLforSchoolBoard.com)
*Brad Thompson

The Abigail Adams Project invited all the candidates to answer a number of questions for voter guides. You may view all of Utah here for those candidates that responded:

http://www.abigailadamsprojectut.com/voterinformation.htm

The Deseret News published my response “‘Social Democracy’ a Dangerous Idea” to BYU English Professor Brian Jackson’s op-ed piece of a week and a half ago. Please check it out here:

http://www.deseretnews.com/mobile/article/700040067/Social-democracy-a-dangerous-idea.html

Here is the text of my response.

*********

In response to Brian Jackson’s op-ed piece (“Political sentiment is far from reason,” June 2), I would like to respond as one of the chief “McCarthyites” he chastises for taking issue with the Alpine School District’s mission statement, “Enculturating the Young into a Social and Political Democracy.”

This is ironic. Jackson, an English professor at BYU, is defending a man (John Goodlad) who redefined the term social democracy and is apparently completely OK with that. Then Jackson ridicules parents who mentioned a definition for “social democracy” from Wikipedia. Perhaps Jackson would like these similar definitions better from Merriam-Webster’s: “(1) a political movement advocating a gradual and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means. (2) a democratic welfare state that incorporates both capitalist and socialist practices.”

What Goodlad openly espouses is that we should vote on not just candidates for office, but as a society we need to vote on knowledge and morals. In his atheistic view there is no God, so we as a people need to determine what truth is and what morals we should subscribe to based on their relative current value to society. This is called moral relativism.

In 1966, Goodlad wrote in the NEA Journal, “The curriculum of the future ‘will be what one might call the humanistic curriculum.’ ” The Humanist Manifesto was written based on the Communist Manifesto, and John Dewey was one of the original signatories. The Manifesto actually declares itself a “religion” that espouses atheism and moral relativism. I wonder if Jackson would be OK if educators were given LDS, Jewish, or Muslim teachings in their professional development training? No? Then why humanism? It’s simply another religion.

In 2001, Goodlad wrote in “Developing Democratic Character in the Young” that “parents do not own their children. They have no ‘natural right’ to control their education fully.”

From “Education for Everyone: Agenda for Education in a Democracy,” Goodlad says, “In the quest for learning, educators must resist the quest for certainty. If there were certainty there would be no scientific advancement. So it is with morals and patriotism.” This is utterly ridiculous. If we have no certainty then how do we measure and confirm “scientific advancement?” If we have no certainty then we have no basis for measurement.

We have a serious case of affinity fraud in Utah where the public so trusts the people in educational positions of power, they don’t take the time and effort to dig into what’s being taught. If you do, and openly declare it, you are castigated by people who support the power and authority of people who have given us gems such as “investigations math,” where for three straight years children were not taught the times tables or long division in Alpine School District (another “gift” from Goodlad the constructivist).

I encourage you to dig a little deeper into Goodlad and awake to the fact that his organizations, the National Network for Educational Renewal in particular, are an affront to all people who believe in moral absolutes and natural rights that come from God. If you search the Web, you’ll find plenty of troubling things like how his NNER is trying to push the homosexual movement into BYU. His organizations are nothing more than “enculturation” centers for educators, lapping up a dangerous and destructive agenda that when fully realized will overthrow constitutional government and public morality. Do I think it is the intent of the people in Alpine School District and the BYU McKay School of Education to do this? No, I’ve never espoused a conspiracy there. I just think they’re willingly ignorant because Goodlad is such a prominent national education figure. He’s dangerous but well-respected.

A BYU English professor (Brian Jackson) wrote an op-ed today in the Deseret News all about the McCarthyite parents in Alpine School District who got upset over nothing at John Goodlad and Alpine’s use of his phrase “Enculturating the Young into a Social and Political Democracy.” Read the article, and then read the excellent comments that follow which expose how little research and understanding this fellow has of John Goodlad (who Charlotte Iserbyt called America’s “premier change-agent” in her expose on the American education system entitled “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America”).

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700037194/Political-sentiment-is-far-from-reason.html

For those of you that saw last Sunday’s Provo Daily Herald front page story, the reporter claimed I made a number of statements which I did not. I understand how a reporter occasionally gets things wrong, especially from oral conversations, but in this case, I gave the Herald a letter in writing and they completely destroyed what I wrote and put words in my mouth I never said. This is my response. Please pass this on to everyone you know to help people understand how wrong the Daily Herald got my story. The original article I sent the Herald can be read here so you can see exactly what I did write.

Oak

The Herald article went wrong by attributing serious charges I leveled against John Goodlad, to BYU and ASD. What parents have been working to do is expose Goodlad’s Agenda which we view as anathema to this community. It can accurately be said that Goodlad is a socialist, humanist, and atheist, and that his influence is filtering into our schools (case in point is the “Enculturating the Young into a Social and Political Democracy” sign in ASD’s District office).

I have posted in full, my original letter to the Herald on my website at www.UtahsRepublic.org should any of you wish to see that it barely mentions Alpine district and BYU except by way of their associations with John Goodlad.

It is Goodlad’s philosophy to remove God and traditional family values from the classroom. His main channel is through his NNER (National Network for Educational Renewal) which has on its website a subversive Agenda calling for the transformation of America into a social and political democracy. This Agenda follows the Humanist Manifesto, seeks to completely remove God from our schools, and seeks to ensure children are given a proper education away from parents who might unduly influence them. Here are a few quotes from Goodlad that illustrate his philosophy.

“Parents do not own their children. They have no ‘natural right’ to control their education fully.” (John Goodlad, Developing Democratic Character in the Young, 2001, pg 164)

“In the quest for learning, educators must resist the quest for certainty. If there were certainty there would be no scientific advancement. So it is with morals and patriotism.”  (John Goodlad, Woods Learning Center, Education for Everyone: Agenda for Education in a Democracy, pg. 6)

“The curriculum of the future ‘will be what one might call the humanistic curriculum.’” (John Goodlad, NEA Journal, Directions of Curriculum Change, March 1966)

Humanism is replacing the worship of God with the worship of man and his “genius.” For those of you that are LDS, just a week ago at general conference there were strong warnings against moral relativism (ie. standards based on changing cultural norms) and the dangers of the humanistic Korihor doctrine.  It can accurately be said that John Goodlad is a modern day Korihor.

One other error in last week’s article was the notion that I believe a republic is based on the “power of God.” What I actually wrote was “we are a republic with natural rights bestowed upon us by God.” I do believe the Framers of the Constitution were inspired, but our Republic is based on principles of representation where elected officials exercise sovereign power on our behalf to protect our natural rights. If we don’t like the job they do, we vote them out. This differs from a democracy which Goodlad desires to transform us into through his Agenda where everything is subject to a vote of the people…issues, knowledge, and morals.

Now that this is fully public, I ask those at BYU and ASD who have accepted Goodlad into the educational fold to reject him. Does this community really want or need a humanist, atheist, and socialist dictating what the ‘Agenda’ or ‘Moral Dimensions’ are for our schools and thus our children? Honestly, what benefit does Goodlad or his NNER bring to BYU or ASD? I’d say it’s time to drop such dangerous philosophies and connections. I can’t imagine the benefits of this relationship outweigh the costs.

Sincerely,

Oak Norton

This is the original letter I sent to the Daily Herald which was greatly distored in the 4/11/10 front page article entitled “Parents accuse BYU, Alpine District of socialist conspiracy”. To read my rebuttal, go here.

Is Truth Dead?

Does truth really matter anymore? The professors of our day say it’s just democratic. It’s what the majority says, right? Morality is all relative, right? Truth is just different things to different people, right? If more people say God doesn’t exist than those that say he does, then he doesn’t exist right? Welcome to democratic knowledge, a basic tenet of humanism.

If the BYU motto is right, and the glory of God is intelligence, or in other words light and truth, and truth is knowledge of things as they were, as they are, and as they will be, then it must be logical to assume that knowledge is not democratic and never has been. Shades of gray only apply to human limitations, but for God, truth exists and our quest as honest seekers of the truth, is to find those absolutes.

In the recent Alpine School District debate over the terms democracy and republic and what form of government our nation has been founded upon, a number of people are asking questions of why it matters what term is used. Is truth dead?

The U.S. Constitution guarantees every state a republican form of government. The word democracy does not appear in the Constitution at all. The simple truth is, we are a constitutional republic which elects representatives to do the business of the people. The purpose of the website I set up at www.UtahsRepublic.org was to help restore this basic truth to the K-12 state history standards, where the term “republic” didn’t appear even one time.

However, beyond this, there is something far more important which has come to light inside the motives of those who are trying to change our language and remove the notion that we are a republic with natural rights bestowed upon us by God.

To begin, it’s clear the word democracy has changed over time. The online Merriam-Webster’s dictionary actually has 2 contradictory meanings for the word, one as in the true meaning of democracy (mob rule) and the other quite close to what the term republic means. What isn’t so clear is why the meaning of the term democracy has changed and what the driving force is behind that change.

John Dewey was one of the original signatories on the first Humanist Manifesto, a document which describes itself as a religion meant to transcend and replace deity-based religions. Their work was based on the Communist Manifesto written by Marx and Engels which they held as an effective means of transforming society into one based on moral relativism, atheism, and democratic knowledge, only accepting that which the 5 senses can detect.

For the last hundred years, we have accepted gradual doses of the secular religion of humanism in direct violation of the Constitution of the State of Utah. Our state constitution says the legislature shall provide for the establishment of an education system which “shall be free from sectarian control.” This means the self-proclaimed religion of humanism cannot be taught through our school system.

John Goodlad, a follower and recipient of the John Dewey award, and keynote speaker at a John Dewey conference, came to BYU in 1983 to establish the Public School Partnership with 5 surrounding districts. Goodlad has done this numerous times with universities and school districts around the nation. BYU’s education department drew heavily on his book entitled “The Moral Dimensions of Teaching.” One of Goodlad’s “moral dimensions” is entitled “enculturating the young into a social and political democracy,” which is the text and controversy surrounding Alpine School District’s large plaque inside their teacher development center.

What does Goodlad mean by this? Is this an innocent phrase meant to instill a sense of patriotism and participation in the democratic process? Or is this revealing of Goodlad’s ultimate motives?

John Dewey said that education is a responsibility that society must execute using techniques “previously ignored as trivial, futile, or even condemned as positively evil.” (School & Society, pg 112)

What did he have in mind? Perhaps we can see some of this evil when we examine what his follower John Goodlad has said. Here are several quotes illustrating Goodlad’s belief system.

“Again, we are looking for a balance—for an institution, really—that will consider the interests of parents, state, and children. Parents do not own their children. They have no ‘natural right’ to control their education fully.”-Goodlad

“Education is a task for both parents and state. The state, parents, and children all have interests that must be protected.” -Goodlad

“Education, public schooling, is necessary to maintain citizenry capable of maintaining a democracy. The knowledge of how to run a democracy is not possessed by all parents equally.” -Goodlad

“In the quest for learning, educators must resist the quest for certainty…So it is with morals and patriotism.” -Goodlad

“…belief in some that there exists ‘objective knowledge’ and a ‘correct’ view of the world.  This is incorrect.  All knowledge is partial and subjective.” -Goodlad

Which of you believe the state has a right to your children and has interests that must be protected in the education of your child? Which of you believes it is up to the schools to educate your children because parents don’t understand how to run a democracy? Which of you believe morals and knowledge are subjective?

Goodlad then proceeded to get BYU to become a founding member of the National Network for the Renewal of Education (NNER). From their website we find these quotes.

“The NNER pursues the Agenda for Education in a Democracy [the Agenda] and its implementation in member settings, with other educators and partnerships…”

“Why Do We Focus on Democracy? Many different forms of government have tried to meet this challenge: fascism, socialism, communism, and democracy, to name a few. Democracy, while certainly not without its flaws, seems to offer the best hope of enabling us to live together in relative peace and prosperity. This is because democracy has a great virtue that the others generally lack: real democracy strives to ensure that everyone in a society contributes to the decision-making processes that affect their lives.”

In other words, the NNER has an ultimate Agenda. Part of that Agenda is to promote democracy as our form of government and to make societal decisions democratic (ie. moral relativism).

Do you as a parent want this for your child? Do you want Goodlad’s and Dewey’s Agenda “enculturating [your child] into a social and political democracy”?

Ezra Taft Benson said, “I feel to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying the family unit is our educational institutions. There is more than one reason why the Church is advising our youth to attend colleges close to their homes where institutes of religion are available. It gives the parents the opportunity to stay close to their children, and if they become alerted and informed, these parents can help expose the deceptions of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, John Keynes and others. There are much worse things today that can happen to a child than not getting a full education.”

So is enculturating our young into a social and political democracy harmless? Hardly. When a group of people set on a deliberate course of action to subvert the moral fabric of a society in the goal to eliminate the worship of deity and replace it with the worship of man, we come to the crossroads of our culture, and must make that final decision as to who the God of this land really is.

The question we must now address is, with this knowledge coming into in the public space, will those who accepted the good parts of Dewey’s and Goodlad’s teachings which no doubt attracted them in the first place, now recognize and reject the poison (Agenda) that came with it. If there is not a purging of the poison from the well, the 99.9% crystal clear water, will still continue to harm and kill those that partake of what deceptively appears to be a cool and refreshing well of truth.

Oak Norton

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Post note. In retrospect, I never should have said the water is 99.9% clear. It’s not. It’s much less than that.

Sensational headlines sell papers I guess and thus the “Parents accuse BYU, Alpine district of socialist conspiracy” article in the Provo Daily Herald got the headline completely wrong. The point is not a conspiracy at the schools, it’s that there is poison in the well in the form of “educational consultants” like John Goodlad, a humanist atheist who believes in moral relativism. His philosophies are permeating our school system from the top down.
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/education/article_7bccc151-cb34-5dd2-ae52-fab607b81b17.html

I have just posted my original article to the Daily Herald on this site which was the foundation Caleb Warnock went to for my comments. If you read it, you’ll see quite a different picture from the one portrayed in the newspaper article.
http://www.utahsrepublic.org/media-coverage/original-article-sent-to-the-daily-herald/

If you’re new to this list and petition and don’t know who John Goodlad is, you can find a number of shocking quotes here and get caught up on why Alpine School District has identified itself as a poster child for education reform.
http://www.utahsrepublic.org/democracy-media-fiasco/

If you’re not LDS, just skip this, but for those of you that are LDS, if you missed Elder Christofferson’s talk last week, he actually spoke about some of these very issues at General Conference related to moral relativism and social justice.
http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1207-12,00.html

Here’s a few additional quotes from LDS leaders related to education:
http://www.utahsrepublic.org/get-educated/education-quotes/

And some fantastic articles/talks on Freedom from LDS leaders and others here. One of my favorites is by Charlton Heston:

http://www.oaknorton.com/articlestalks.cfm

Last, if you want to hear Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture to President Eisenhower and later President of the LDS church, talk about his visit with Kruschev, you can download this little clip or hit the podcast play button at the top of this post.

Ezra Taft Benson on giving Kruschev a Tour

To all those visiting the site and agitated that a bunch of nut job (can’t deny it, it comes with a name like Oak) parents are getting nit-picky over the term democracy, I have written a new page of this site to explain the whole story which cannot be explained in a couple of sound bytes in a news story. It’s much more involved. If you want the whole picture, please check it out here. It’s not just the term democracy, but the individual behind it who says the state has a right to your children and that morality is democratic (determined by a vote).

http://www.utahsrepublic.org/democracy-media-fiasco/