Utahs Republic

Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Red-Meat-Radio-Republic 12-11-2010

This morning I was on Red Meat Radio with Senator Howard Stephenson and Representative Greg Hughes talking about the news of the week. We discussed:

• Alpine School District’s newest problem where over 4,000 graduation transcripts had to go through a manual review because the State Board of Regents told them no more students would be admitted from ASD to most of the state colleges because their transcripts had been miscalculated
• the teacher email flap at Alpine School District
• progressive education agenda items on John Goodlad’s NNER home page

UTAH TAX DOLLARS APPEAR TO HAVE HELPED FUND A GLOBAL EDUCATION AGENDA SPREADING MARXIST PHILOSOPHIES AND THE GAY AGENDA ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY.

This letter should be of interest to all Utah citizens, but especially those in the Jordan, Wasatch, Nebo, Provo, and Alpine school districts. Your school dollars have been going to the BYU-Public School Partnership (PSP) facilitating arm known as CITES (Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling) which is the teacher training center for John Goodlad’s Agenda. I hope by the time you are done reading you will have a desire to contact your school board and ask why they are sending money to CITES which has been heavily involved promoting and supporting Goodlad’s NNER (National Network for Educational Renewal) and IEI (Institution for Educational Inquiry) organizations.

John Goodlad isn’t shy about his global education agenda. There is good reason Charlotte Iserbyt in Reagan’s department of education called Goodlad the nation’s “premier change agent” for moving us toward socialism. This is a snapshot of what is currently on Goodlad’s NNER home page as of November 20, 2010. It’s never been more clear what Goodlad stands for.

We see here that the NNER is inviting teachers to create activism toward social justice which is nothing less than the Marxist redistribution of wealth. Further down the page you can see a link to a 2010 expert panel discussing how to prepare teachers to move the gay agenda forward and ensure “equity” in the classroom. The first paragraph inside this expert panel report starts with this sentence.

“Our group used the four dimensions of the Agenda for Education in a Democracy as a framework for our suggestions of important topics and issues to be included in a teacher education program.”

In Alpine School District spokesperson Rhonda Bromley’s recent letter to teachers, legislators, and citizens, she wrote:

“Another concern that has been expressed is in regard to the ‘Moral Dimensions of Teaching.’ Several years ago, all five districts along the Wasatch Front entered into a partnership with BYU called the CITES partnership. The districts included are Alpine, Provo, Nebo, Wasatch, and Jordan. Collectively, the partnership adopted what is called the “Moral Dimensions of Teaching,” and with it, four core values. In recent months some have raised concern about those values. Since last fall, the administrators and Board of Education have changed the way those values are worded because of those concerns.”

If nothing else you have to appreciate the honesty Rhonda displays in admitting that since some people have raised concerns over Goodlad’s Agenda, the district sought to help them out by changing the terminology to make it more palatable, not that the actual intent or Agenda from John Goodlad has changed.

Goodlad wrote in the preface of the book Schooling for a Global Age, pg. xiii-xvii:

“Enlightened social engineering is required to face situations that demand global action now. Education is a long-term solution. … Parents and the general public must be reached also … Otherwise, children and youth enrolled in globally oriented programs may find themselves in conflict with values assumed in the home. And then the educational institution frequently comes under scrutiny and must pull back.”

Better read that a couple times and let it sink in. It makes sense that ASD has followed his instructions and pulled back since parents have exposed Goodlad’s progressive education influence in the education system. It is also obvious from Rhonda’s comments that they aren’t changing what they believe, they’re just trying to hide it. It is utter foolishness to think you can partner with a subversive organization like Goodlad’s and choose what you’ll participate in and not get contaminated. When ASD’s superintendent was on the executive committee for Goodlad’s NNER, he saw these things first hand but took no action to remove ASD from being involved with the organization.

How do we know the involvement in this Agenda is real? There are 4 John Goodlad appointed AED Scholars (Agenda for Education in a Democracy) in Utah. Two at ASD (Superintendent Vern Henshaw and curriculum specialist Barry Graff), another is the director of CITES (Steven Baugh), and the last is a professor at BYU’s McKay School of Education (John Rosenberg). It’s important to realize that awards are given as rewards for outcomes in implementing the Agenda and not given for intent (or else many more would have such scholar designations).

These people have been heavily involved presenting at Goodlad’s conferences over the past decade (example 1, example 2). Steven Baugh was one of the organizers of the 2009 conference. Even if these individuals don’t personally believe all of Goodlad’s teachings, Goodlad trusts them enough with his Agenda to give them scholar status. There are only a total of 30 individuals in the entire nation with this prestigious designation.

The next thing you need to understand is that Goodlad’s organizations are membership driven. This means that at some level there is a payment to cover the membership. From the 2007 tax return for Goodlad’s Institute of Educational Inquiry (IEI), we read on page 16 that the IEI shares employees with the NNER under a “common agenda.” Page 18 reveals the IEI transferred $341,960 to the NNER after it just received 501(c)3 status (even though it has existed since the mid 1980’s). On page 22 the IEI amends its Articles of Incorporation to show a modification of it’s purpose…

“to advance the public democratic purpose of education through inquiry, demonstration, and training projects that engage a variety of national partners–including universities, school districts, and other groups interested in education–in promoting the public purpose of education and the making of a democratic public.”

An example of inquiry based education is constructivist math such as the failed Investigations math program at Alpine School District which the district cannot support with a single study. Other examples also in use around Utah are Everyday math, and Growing with Mathematics.

CITES is the “facilitating arm for the initiatives” of the PSP, a structure which Goodlad helped set up. From the Utah Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst of the state legislature, I have obtained at least a partial trail of funding to CITES from the partnership school districts. The relevant tables are below. The only other information you need to know is that CITES (which is receiving public tax dollars) will not disclose how they use these funds and have stonewalled Senator Margaret Dayton’s attempts to find them out. It is unknown if the PSP is separately receiving funds from the school districts.

Brigham Young University
Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education & Schooling (CITES)
School District Funding to CITES

2008-2009 Funding School District*

District	Local	Federal	Total
Alpine	$ 29,180	$ 12,050	$ 41,230
Jordan	$ 143,698		$ 143,698
Nebo			$ 71,375
Provo	$ 20,000	$ 507,027	$ 527,027
Wasatch	$ 31,250		$ 31,250
Total	$ 227,998	$ 532,527	$ 831,900

2009-2010 Funding

District	Local	Federal	Total
Alpine	$ 29,180	$ 12,050	$ 41,230
Jordan	$ 73,718		$ 73,718
Nebo			$ 71,375
Provo	$ 10,730	$ 380,957	$ 391,687
Wasatch	$ 8,755		$ 8,755
Total	$ 122,383	$ 393,007	$ 568,455

*Note: Information is self‐reported by school districts. No information was included by Nebo SD on their mix of funds

Prepared by Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst, 05/2010 PL

The NNER and IEI are membership driven organizations, in other words, membership is not free. Someone has paid for the memberships of these school districts and/or the PSP or CITES themselves. It makes sense that these funds being sent from the 5 PSP districts may in fact have gone toward some form of membership money to John Goodlad’s organizations. What this means is that John Goodlad’s radical anti-family, anti-freedom Agenda has been supported by our public education tax dollars. It has given tremendous credibility to Goodlad’s Agenda to have school districts and universities in “conservative family-values Utah” as members and *leaders* in his organization structure.

If you live in one of the 5 partnership School Districts, I would ask that you contact your school board and ask why they are sending money to CITES which is directed by a John Goodlad scholar. Our teachers and professionals went to school to learn to teach. There is no need for these partnership programs. We should drop them while we are in a down economy and pinching pennies for education. Here is one place to cut right now.

Yesterday someone sent me news that the Humanists are now advertising their religion through online videos. As you can see in this example, they take a segment of scripture from the Bible (1 Timothy 2:11-12), ridicule it for being out of touch with today’s society, and then present what is obviously a more favorable viewpoint that men and women are equals.

Consider Humanism – Robert Ingersoll

At first blush, many people who have not studied the Bible, the customs of the Jews, or sought an understanding of the Godly and differing roles of men and women as parents, may be turned away from scripture and have a positive impression toward humanism. I don’t consider myself an expert on Biblical traditions and customs, but I have studied the Bible enough to know that when Paul wrote letters to the various churches, they were tuned into specific issues they were dealing with. He certainly had more to say on this issue than in one letter to Timothy, which may not even be exactly what he originally recorded since scribes weren’t perfect in their transcribing of the ancient records.

The role of a husband has always been to preside in righteousness over his household. God created woman as an “help-meet” (Gen. 2:18) for man and told the man to cleave to his wife and be of one flesh (Gen. 2:24), clearly implying a special relationship. Woman was created from man’s side to show that she is part of man and co-equal in her unique role. She was not created from a bone from his head or foot showing her above or below man. Paul clearly understood this and wrote much in Ephesians 5 about this. In this set of writings Paul calls upon wives to submit themselves to their husbands and then admonishes the husbands to love their wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He tells men to love their wives even as they love themselves. What woman, properly treated by a righteous man who loves her as he loves himself and serves her as Christ served the church and even died for it, wouldn’t feel submissive to the righteous requests of such a man and seek to honor him in their household?

Peter talks about this as well in 1 Peter 3 where he says women should be in subjection to their husbands and serve them that they may be converted and give honor to the wife as they would a “weaker vessel” or one who deserves protection, in order that they may be “heirs together of the grace of life.”

The humanists would turn us against God’s word in a perversion of equality (dare I say democracy? :)). Men and women do indeed have different roles, but are partners in life and need to serve each other. The role of a husband is to preside in righteousness and work by the sweat of his brow to take care of his family, and the role of a wife is to be an help-meet, mother, nurturer, and true companion that the husband relies on for her wisdom and compassion.

Here is one very interesting take on the humanist religion. Even the humanists acknowledge if the courts were consistent in their application of the “religion test” it would be the end of Horace Mann’s public education plan (and maybe the return to what our Founding Fathers intended for public education). https://www.christiananswers.net/q-sum/sum-g002.html

Maybe we can get the “One call for justice” Utah personal injury attorneys to help us out. :)

Now let me preface this post with *I am not advocating this type of school.* I am posting this to get your thoughts on what this information presents below. I am going through a period of study trying to figure out what an ideal school system might be today. We’ve had some discussions on this in the past and it’s a topic that needs more exploration. So with that said, there are 3 videos below. The first is a short history of compulsory education I came across online. The second and third are actual schools where the students are practically on their own. Very limited structure. Please watch these and leave a thought below. Could you put your child in a school like this?

The first video is 6.5 minutes, the second two are about 10 each and if you watch one you don’t necessarily have to watch the other, unless you’re really fascinated. They are similar schools. If you don’t want to watch or have time right now, you can read this brief essay from one of the schools. https://www.sudval.com/05_essay.html

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uexMYBkfCic[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awOAmTaZ4XI[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgpuSo-GSfw[/youtube]

[Sudbury schools]

In July of this year, a federally funded conference on history was held in Hawaii on the subject of “History and Commemoration: The Legacies of the Pacific War in WWII.” One professor who attended recorded the events and exposed them as a massive effort to re-write history ala Bill Ayers version of imperialism and anti-Americanism. For example, one of the many items he reported was this:

10. Veterans’ memories of their own experiences in the war are suspect and influenced by media and their own self-delusion (Rosenberg, 18, 24). Therefore, it is the role of academics to “correct” their history. As one organizer commented, this will be more easily accomplished once the WWII generation has passed away. Another wrote, “America’s nostalgic war memories are beginning to fray around the edges” (White, 267).

Read more here:

https://www.theblaze.com/stories/professor-exposes-federally-funded-revisionist-history-conference/

Just over a week ago I made a presentation at the Davis County 9/12 group on education issues. One of the parents in attendance shared this story with me about something a high school teacher told the class.

“Your parents lie to you all the time but in this class I will never lie to you.  I will tell you the absolute truth.  If I told you all the lies that your parents have told you I could go on from a year from Thursday.”

Davis County High School Teacher

I asked her what the teacher uses as an example of the lies of a parent.  He said that parents tell their children that if they eat their vegetables it will make them strong.  he points out that only protein builds muscle and strength.   Therefore the parents have lied. Wow.

This is why parents have to be involved in their schools. This is a teacher that should be fired. This is a teacher that illustrates the power of indoctrination and it reminds me of how Fidel Castro told children to close their eyes and pray to God for candy and when they opened their eyes there was no candy. Then he had them pray to him for candy and when they opened their eyes it was there for them. This is totally immoral.

Yesterday I was in a panic over an email I received from someone who was quite upset at a flier that was circulating concerning Steve Baugh. I won’t post that email here but suffice it to say, it made the flier sound horrible and specifically fingered me as the person providing quotes that attacked Steve Baugh in a very negative way. I immediately sent out an email to my list asking if people made their own fliers to make sure they had the story straight and not put words in anyone’s mouth, mine or candidates.

It turns out my panic was unjustified. When I later obtained a copy of the flier, I saw that it was fact based and merely pointed out troubling associations for Mr. Baugh to answer to. When did it become taboo to ask candidates uncomfortable questions? When they run as a Democrat but don’t tell people or want people to bring that up? When they tout church callings in their campaign materials in an effort to garner religious votes?

Mr. Baugh told the Deseret News yesterday that the flier was “Half truths. Quotes out of context. Lack of references,” he said. “Accusing me of being a socialist, that’s nonsense. It’s ridiculous.” Here is the actual flier that was being distributed from Linda Jardine.

Dear Steve Baugh Supporter:

I am giving you this letter because you have a Steve Baugh sign in your yard.  I have a Sandstrom sign in mine, but I’m not affiliated with him or his campaign.  While Steve Baugh seems like a nice man, nowhere in his literature, web site, or signs does it even mention that he is a Democrat, which I consider deceptive.  His brochure says he is a “Mainstream Candidate”.  But Mr. Baugh has a socialist agenda and I don’t consider that “mainstream”.  His brochure says he is a “Man you can Trust!”.  But he is not a man I can trust because the values he espouses are very different from the values I hold dear.  Character is what guides a man in the choices he makes in his life and will, in this case if he is elected, guide him in making the laws of our state.

Mr. Baugh is the director of the CITES program (Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling) at BYU.  His bio on BYU’s website says: “ I am interested in the moral dimensions of teaching as identified by Dr. John Goodlad.” Canadian Dr. John Goodlad espouses the ideas of John Dewey, the founder of humanism, and is in favor of transforming America from a republic to a socialist state. Also, Dr. Goodlad’s NNER (National Network for Educational Renewal) “is aware of, concerned about, has a commitment to and is an advocate of LGBTQQIIAA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Intergender, Asexual, Ally) concerns.”  The confirmed terrorist-turned-educator, Mr. William Ayers, was a keynote speaker at NNER’s conference this year.  You may think Mr. Baugh doesn’t have much to do with these people, but NNER’s online publication was written by CITES.  The people with whom Mr. Baugh has allied himself are not those whom I trust to teach children, let alone make laws in our state!

Mr. Baugh is a former superintendent of Alpine School District.  He was there when the Investigations math program began, which still continues.  This program is questionable at best because it does not teach basic math skills like multiplication tables, and leaves children unprepared to function in life.  It is one of the reasons that many parents have taken their children out of Alpine School District and placed them in charter schools or home schooled them.  There is also a great deal of controversy regarding Alpine School District’s mission statement: “Enculturating the Young into a Social and Political Democracy”, which is a direct quote from Dr. Goodlad.   Mr. Oak Norton has explained a lot more than I have room for here in his website at www.utahsrepublic.org/actions-items/why-i-believe-candidate-steve-baugh-should-not-be-elected.  He quotes some of Dr. Goodlad’s “moral dimensions of teaching” as:

• “Most youth still hold the same values of their parents… if we do not alter this pattern, if we don’t resocialize, our system will decay.”

• “Parents do not own their children.  They have no ‘natural right’ to control their education fully.”

• “the curriculum of the future will be what one might call the humanistic curriculum.”

• “Enlightened social engineering is required to face situations that demand global action now.”

• “…the state we should strive for is better described in Deweyan terms as a social democracy.”

• “Educators must resist the quest for certainty.  If there were certainty there would be no scientific advancement.  So it is with morals and patriotism.”

These socialist views are subversive to our government and way of life.  I don’t believe we want to have a man representing us in the legislature, and making our laws, who espouses the view that children should be indoctrinated against the teachings of their parents or that has a problem with patriotism.  It isn’t hard to see why these ideas aren’t in Mr. Baugh’s literature, website or signs.

I urge you to study both candidates and become informed; this is a critical election.  Then I hope you will join me in voting for Representative Stephen Sandstrom on November 2^nd.

Thank you,

Linda Jardine

Mr. Baugh, the references to the Goodlad quotes are on this page of this site.

The link to the reference you make concerning your bio page is here.

On the LGBTQQIIAA quote, I’m not finding Linda’s exact quote in a quick Google search but this document I found shows the NNER is fully in support of the above statement here.

I would also be interested in what you claim are half-truths. As for being out of context, please prove it. I’ve read Goodlad and he is bad news. He’s a humanist and does not meet our Utah community values. The only thing I might change about this flier is where Linda says, “Mr. Baugh has a socialist agenda,” I would have said, “Mr. Baugh follows an individual with a socialist agenda.” Only a slight modification and certainly doesn’t diminish the question raised. Linda also shares something I didn’t know, that CITES (for which Mr. Baugh is the director) actually PUBLISHED the NNER Today update for 2009-2010. (Scroll to the very bottom to find CITES printing this document)

I would also be interested in knowing why you support the Citizens Ethics Initiative which will destroy our system of checks and balances and create an elitist oligarchy in Utah. I would also like to know why your organization CITES has stonewalled Senator Margaret Dayton’s attempt at finding out where public tax dollars CITES has received have gone to. There is nothing wrong in the world of politics with asking these questions and learning the truth about a candidate’s positions BEFORE they get in office. Associations are fair game as well. If America had known Barack Obama’s association with radical Marxists before the election, we wouldn’t have a president who has put Marxist revolutionaries into his cabinet and other important posts throughout our government and now direct our agenda. Why should a potential state representative get a pass just because he’s a nice guy?

What would you think if a principal said this?

“We send it [the multiplication tables] home to placate the parents. They get the times tables, and we teach what we want, and they don’t know any better.”

One did, showing the utter contempt administrators have for parents. This reminds me of the Alpine School District administrator who a few years ago told several different parents on separate occasions “you’re the only one that’s ever complained about the math program.”

Read the full story here and help Tim Osborn get re-elected to the ASD board.

https://timosbornforasd.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-principal-is-hiding-from-parents.html

It’s never been more important for you to get involved with our local school board elections. Please support the candidates we’ve outlined at the Save Alpine School District website.

By Susie Schnell, Meredith Schnell, and Oak Norton

“And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments.” -Mosiah 23:14

“Public education has served as a check on the power of parents, and this is another powerful reason for maintaining it.” – John Goodlad, Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pg. 165 “[schools] should liberate students from the ways of thinking imposed by religions and other traditions of thought.” -John Goodlad, “Education and Community,” in Democracy, Education, and the Schools, Roger Stone, pg. 92.	“There is a spirit working among the Saints to educate their own offspring. If our children will be all we will have for a foundation of glory in eternity, how needful that they be properly trained… There are wolves among us in sheep’s clothing ready to lead astray our little ones… Wolves do not devour old sheep when there are any young ones. I have herded sheep long enough to know that. Look after your children.” – Elder John W. Taylor, (Collected Discourses 2:138.) “There are three dangers that threaten the church from within, and the authorities need to awaken to the fact that the people should be warned unceasingly against them. As I see them, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity.” -President Joseph F. Smith (Gospel Doctrine p. 312-313.)
“Most youth still hold the same values of their parents… if we do not alter this pattern, if we don’t resocialize, our system will decay.” – John Goodlad, Schooling for the Future, Issue #9, 1971	“Many activities link the values of one generation to the next, but perhaps the most central of these activities is parents teaching children in the home. This is especially true when we consider the teaching of values, moral and ethical standards, and faith.” -Elder L. Tom Perry, April 2010 LDS General Conference
“Parents do not own their children. They have no ‘natural right’ to control their education fully.” – John Goodlad / Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pg. 164	“[We should] reassert the primary right and responsibility of parents for the total education of their children, including social values, religious convictions, and political concepts. Schools should be reminded that their primary field of competence is academic, not social adjustment, or world citizenship, or sex education. Parents should stand firm on this and not be intimidated by ‘professional educators.’ After all, it’s their children and their money.” -Ezra Taft Benson (An Enemy Hath Done This, p. 231)
“Education is a task for both parents and state. The state, parents, and children all have interests that must be protected.” – John Goodlad, Developing Democratic Character in the Young, 2001, pg. 164	“While other institutions, such as church and school, can assist parents to ‘train up a child in the way he [or she] should go’ (Proverbs 22:6), ultimately this responsibility rests with parents. According to the great plan of happiness, it is parents who are entrusted with the care and development of our Heavenly Father’s children. ” -Elder L. Tom Perry, April 2010 LDS General Conference
“The curriculum of the future will be what one might call the humanistic curriculum.” – John Goodlad / Directions of Curriculum Change, The NEA Journal, March 1966 “Education is thus a most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday-schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?” -Charles Potter, co-signer with John Dewey of the Humanist Manifesto, “Humanism: a New Religion”, pg. 128(Humanism is the denial of God and elevation of man. It is the “Korihor” doctrine if you are LDS.)	“Humanism is a threat to the work of the Lord. One of the greatest threats to the work of the Lord today comes from false educational ideas. There is a growing tendency of teachers within and without the church to make academic interpretations of gospel teachings – to read, as a prophet leader has said, ‘by the lamp of their own conceit.’ Unfortunately, much in the sciences, the arts, politics and the entertainment field, as has been well said by an eminent scholar, ‘all dominated by this humanistic approach which ignores God and his word as revealed through the prophets.’ This kind of worldly system apparently hopes to draw men away from God by making man the ‘measure of all things’ as some worldly philosophers have said.” -Harold B. Lee, Conference Report 10/68 p. 59. “There is promise, given under inspiration from the Almighty, set forth in these beautiful words: “God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost.” (D&C 121:26.) The humanists who criticize us, the so-called intellectuals who demean us, speak only from ignorance of this manifestation… They have not heard it because they have not sought after it and prepared themselves to be worthy of it. … Do not be trapped by the sophistry of the world which for the most part is negative and which seldom, if ever, bears good fruit. … Rather, “look to God and live.” (Alma 37:47.)” -Gordon B. Hinckley,  10/83 GC, Be Not Deceived “We are very particular to forbid anyone from preaching Catholicism, or Protestantism, or Mormonism, or Judaism, in a public school classroom, but for some reason we are very patient with those who teach the negative expression of religion. In the separation of church and state we ought to demand more protection from the agnostic, from the atheist, from the communist, from the skeptic, from the humanist and the pragmatist, than we have yet been given… I submit that the atheist has no more right to teach the fundamentals of his sect in the public school than does the theist. Any system in the schools or in society that protects the destruction of faith and forbids, in turn, the defense of it must ultimately destroy the moral fiber of the people.” -Elder Boyd K. Packer, What Every Freshman Should Know, September 1973 Ensign
“Enlightened social engineering is required to face situations that demand global action now.” – John Goodlad / Schooling for a Global Age, pg. xiii	“If they embark on this course the difference between the old and the new education will be an important one. Where the old initiated, the new merely ‘conditions’. The old dealt with its pupils as grown birds deal with young birds when they teach them to fly; the new deals with them more as the poultry-keeper deals with young birds- making them thus or thus for purposes of which the birds know nothing. In a word, the old was a kind of propagation-men transmitting manhood to men; the new is merely propaganda.” -C.S. Lewis, Abolition of Man, Pg. 22
“…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 / Education for Everyone: Agenda for Education in a Democracy, Woods Learning Center, pg. 6 “…a student attains ‘higher order thinking’ when he no longer believes in right or wrong. A large part of what we call good teaching is a teacher´s ability to obtain affective objectives by challenging the student’s fixed beliefs. …a large part of what we call teaching is that the teacher should be able to use education to reorganize a child’s thoughts, attitudes, and feelings.” -Benjamin Bloom, psychologist and educational theorist, “Major Categories in the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,” pg. 185	“Unfortunately, other educators deny the existence of God or deem God irrelevant to the human condition. Persons who accept this view deny the existence of moral absolutes. They maintain that right and wrong are relative concepts, and morality is merely a matter of personal choice or expediency.” -Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, October 1992, pg. 60 “God uses scripture to unmask erroneous thinking, false traditions, and sin with its devastating effects. He is a tender parent who would spare us needless suffering and grief and at the same time help us realize our divine potential. The scriptures, for example, discredit an ancient philosophy that has come back into vogue in our day—the philosophy of Korihor that there are no absolute moral standards, that “every man prosper[s] according to his genius, and that every man conquer[s] according to his strength; and whatsoever a man [does is] no crime” and “that when a man [is] dead, that [is] the end thereof” (Alma 30:17–18)” -Elder D. Todd Christofferson, April 2010 LDS General Conference
“I walked out of jail and into my first teaching position—and from that day until this I’ve thought of myself as a teacher, but I’ve also understood teaching as a project intimately connected with social justice.” -Bill Ayers at the World Education Forum in Caracas, Venezuela in front of Pres. Hugo Chavez“It is my expectation that Teacher Education for Democracy and Social Justice will become a rich resource for continuing this multi-layered conversation-from democratic belief to democratic action-that is the hallmark of educational renewal.” -John Goodlad’s forward to “Teacher Education for Democracy and Social Justice,” Nicholas Michelli and David Lee Keiser	“In a complete reversal from a century ago, many today would dispute with Alma about the seriousness of immorality. Others would argue that it’s all relative or that God’s love is permissive. If there is a God, they say, He excuses all sins and misdeeds because of His love for us—there is no need for repentance. Or at most, a simple confession will do. They have imagined a Jesus who wants people to work for social justice but who makes no demands upon their personal life and behavior.” -Elder D. Todd Christofferson, April 2010 LDS General Conference “I wonder how much we offend Satan if the proclamation of our faith is limited only to the great humanitarian work this church does throughout the world, marvelous as these activities are. When we preach the gospel of social justice, no doubt the devil is not troubled.” -President James E. Faust, Liahona, November 1995, pg. 3
“…the state we should strive for is better described in Deweyan terms as a social democracy.” – John Goodlad, Developing Democratic Character in the Young, 2001, pg. 153	“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. In fact, some of the worst things have happened to our children while attending colleges led by administrators who wink at subversion and amorality.” -Ezra Taft Benson (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 307.)
“I do not see how any honest educational reformer in western countries can deny that the greatest practical obstacle in the way of introducing into schools that connection with social life which he regards as desirable is the great part played by personal competition and desire for private profit in our economic life. This fact almost makes it necessary that in important respects school activities should be protected from social contacts and connections, instead of being organized to create them. The Russian educational situation is enough to convert one to the idea that only in a society based upon the cooperative principle can the ideals of educational reformers be adequately carried into operation.” – John Dewey, Impressions of Soviet Russia and the Revolutionary World, pg. 86 “I believe that the school is primarily a social institution. Education being a social process, the school is simply that form of community life in which all those agencies are concentrated that will be most effective in bringing the child to share in the inherited resources of the race, and to use his own powers for social ends. I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.” -John Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, January 1897	“When you speak of peace, the Communists mean the cessation of all opposition to Communism, the acceptance of a Communist world. Then, and only then, can there be peace. This alone is what peace means in Communist language. Once this is understood the utter falsity and hypocrisy of Communist references to peace becomes at once obvious. I have mentioned these things simply to emphasize one dominant force which has as its ultimate achievement and victory-the destruction of capitalism, the destruction of the free agency of man which God has given him, and that destruction may be brought about-as advocated by Marx himself-in a brutal way. What is the other force? It is just the opposite. Jesus said to the man who came and asked him which is the greatest law, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ When Marx was asked one time what was his object, he answered, ‘To dethrone God.’ -David O. McKay, Two Contending Forces, BYU Speech, May 18, 1960
“Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It’s up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well – by creating the international child of the future.” -Dr. Chester M. Pierce, Harvard Professor of Education and Psychiatry, in an address to the Childhood International Education Seminar in 1973	“From the 5th grade through the 4th year of college, our young people are being indoctrinated with a Marxist philosophy and I am fearful of the harvest. The younger generation is further to the left than most adults realize. The old concepts of our Founding Fathers are scoffed and jeered at by young moderns whose goals appear to be the destruction of integrity and virtue, and the glorification of pleasure, thrills, and self-indulgence.” -Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg. 321
“Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished …” -Bertrand Russell, quoting Gottlieb Fichte the head of psychology that influenced Hegel and others.	“Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him…I caused that he should be cast down;” -Moses 4:3“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;” -Doctrine & Covenants 58:27 “We must protect this American base from the brainwashing, increasingly administered to our youth in many educational institutions across the land, by some misinformed instructors and some wolves in sheep’s clothing. Their false indoctrination, often perpetrated behind the front of so-called academic freedom, is leaving behind many faithless students, socialist-oriented, who are easy subjects for state tyranny.” -Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1962

If you’ve never read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, you’re missing out on one of the gems of literature. The book is a series of letters from the perspective of a master devil (named Screwtape) to his nephew (Wormwood) who is a beginning tempter “in the field” trying to win souls for the devil. Screwtape encourages Wormwood and guides him through various episodes in tempting humans to fall into sin. Occasionally he scolds Wormwood for allowing his subjects to become involved in something that may lead them toward the enemy (ie. God).

Sometime after Lewis wrote the book, he wrote an essay entitled “Screwtape Proposes a Toast.” I have a quote from this essay elsewhere on the site but I felt the need to share this clip with you. The essay itself is a satire on the American education system and in this clip, Lewis skewers our system of dumbing down our children in the name of “democracy.”

To read the entire and VERY worthwhile essay, you can find it anywhere online but here’s one link this clip came from (including the site’s bolding).

Now, this useful phenomenon is in itself by no means new. Under the name of Envy it has been known to humans for thousands of years. But hitherto they always regarded it as the most odious, and also the most comical, of vices. Those who were aware of feeling it felt it with shame; those who were not gave it no quarter in others. The delightful novelty of the present situation is that you can sanction it — make it respectable and even laudable — by the incantatory use of the word democratic.

Under the influence of this incantation those who are in any or every way inferior can labour more wholeheartedly and successfully than ever before to pull down everyone else to their own level. But that is not all. Under the same influence, those who come, or could come, nearer to a full humanity, actually draw back from fear of being undemocratic. I am credibly informed that young humans now sometimes suppress an incipient taste for classical music or good literature because it might prevent their Being Like Folks; that people who would really wish to be — and are offered the Grace which would enable them to be — honest, chaste, or temperate refuse it. To accept might make them Different, might offend against the Way of Life, take them out of Togetherness, impair their Integration with the Group. They might (horror of horrors!) become individuals.

All is summed up in the prayer which a young female human is said to have uttered recently: “O God, make me a normal twentieth century girl!” Thanks to our labours, this will mean increasingly: “Make me a minx, a moron, and a parasite.”

Meanwhile, as a delightful by-product, the few (fewer every day) who will not be made Normal or Regular and Like Folks and Integrated increasingly become in reality the prigs and cranks which the rabble would in any case have believed them to be. For suspicion often creates what it expects. (“Since, whatever I do, the neighbors are going to think me a witch, or a Communist agent, I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, and become one in reality.”) As a result we now have an intelligentsia which, though very small, is very useful to the cause of Hell.

But that is a mere by-product. What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence – moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how “democracy” (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods? You remember how one of the Greek Dictators (they called them “tyrants” then) sent an envoy to another Dictator to ask his advice about the principles of government. The second Dictator led the envoy into a field of grain, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no preeminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser or better or more famous or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level: all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals.Thus Tyrants could practise, in a sense, “democracy.” But now “democracy” can do the same work without any tyranny other than her own. No one need now go through the field with a cane. The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones. The big ones are beginning to bite off their own in their desire to Be Like Stalks.