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By Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt

Experimentation with Minorities


and Deliberate Dumbing Down
for the Planned Economy
July 29, 2003 commonly known as the performance-based Charity for the Rockefeller Foundation,
School to Work Agenda. It is important to re- Frederick T. Gates, set up the Southern Edu-
Location of Some Important Entries Docu-
member that while animals can be trained, cation Board in 1913 (later known as the Gen-
menting the Deliberate Dumbing Down of
only human beings can be educated. Aristotle eral Education Board.) Excerpts from "The
America and especially the Use of Minorities
said "Educated men are as much superior to Country School of Tomorrow" are most reveal-
to Restructure Education from Academics to
uneducated men as the living are to the dead." ing and include one in particular:
Perfomance-Based Education ... taken from
(384-322 B.C.)
"The Deliberate Dumbing Down of "In our dream, we have limitless
America...A Chronological Paper Trail" — Although many Americans consider the past resources, and the people yield
Charlotte Iserbyt 100 years of reform/restructuring to have re- themselves with perfect docility to our
sulted in moral and academic chaos, those molding hand. The present educational
The following information (partial list of en-
change agents at the United Nations/national/ conventions fade from our minds; and,
tries taken from 700+ page book!) will help the
state/university level, whose goal is to imple- unhampered by tradition, we work our
reader locate those key entries which docu-
ment a global planned economy (world gov- good will upon a grateful and respon-
ment the experimentation on minorities over
ernment) are pleased with their success in sive rural folk."
the past century in order to restructure edu-
turning our once superb system of education —————————————————————
cation from academics to global work force
on its head by making it outcome/perfor- PAGE 14, A DELIBERATE MATH "DUMB DOWN" WAS
training. Such training has been planned ulti-
mance based. In order to restructure, one DISCUSSED IN 1928. Mr. O.A. Nelson, an educa-
mately for all Americans, with exception of
must first destructure (destroy). Kentucky and tor, was informed at a meeting of the Ameri-
10% elite (future world leaders) who will re-
Philadelphia are good examples with the lead can Association for the Advancement of Sci-
ceive a traditional academic education, with a
change agent, Carnegie Corp.'s David ence, that math instruction would be changed
global government brainwash orientation. The
Hornbeck, at the helm. so it couldn't be applied to life situations when
change agents knew they could get away with
students get out of school. This was the New
using the minorities who were not in a posi- It is also important to keep in mind that when
Math which was introduced much later in 1952.
tion to successfully challenge their activities. the present U.S. Department of Education
Nelson related that this discussion took place
speaks of scientific research based education
While reading these entries please keep in at a private meeting at which Dr. Zeigler, a
it is referring to the controversial Pavlovian
mind the endless promises to the minorities, member of the Council on Foreign Relations,
aninmal training mastery learning method, the
the multi billions of tax dollars geared to "help" Dr. John Dewey, and Edward Thorndike, who
label of which has changed frequently, in or-
minorities, the use of Skinnerian mastery learn- experimented with chickens, were present,
der to cover up its disasters... from mastery
ing/OBE/direct instruction on minorities, and and that the aforementioned persons were
learning to outcomes based education to the
the resulting decline in test scores for those paid members of the Communist Party.
present "direct instruction", all of which reside
inner city children upon whom the change —————————————————————
under the umbrella of Effective Schools Re-
agents experimented. It becomes obvious that PAGE 20, THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY, 1932, with fund-
search which was first piloted in Jackson, Mis-
academic success was never intended for the ing from the Carnegie Corporation and the
sissippi schools.
minorities. General Education Board (former Southern
The following entries relate primarily to experi- Education Board), was foundational to out-
The minorities were experimented on (used) come-based education and proposals to re-
mentation on minority children. They repre-
very simply in order to change the traditional move the Carnegie Unit ( number of credits in
sent but a small percent of entries related to
system, the fundamental structure of Ameri- math, science, English, history, etc. required
the larger subject of the deliberate dumbing
can education, from one based on content to graduate), all necessary requirements for
down and creation of moral chaos which has
which stressed academics, competition, excel- the present school to work agenda.
effected all children in the nation's public
lence, and a focus on the importance of the —————————————————————
schools and which is extensively covered in my
individual's pursuit of knowledge for his own PAGE 23, "CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
book. The author plans on writing a separate
sake, thereby allowing him upward mobility, FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES," 1934, funded by the
paper documenting the deliberate creation of
to one based on performance/outcomes... Carnegie Corporation, and carried out by the
moral chaos played by change agents associ-
what is good for the group/state/global American Historical Association. Prof. Harold
ated with the United Nations, the U.S. Dept.
economy (the corporate fascist partnership Laski, a philosopher of British socialism, said
of Education, universities and in our state and
between the corporations and the public of this report:
local governments.
schools to benefit the global economy.
—————————————————————
"At bottom, and stripped of its
This radical change focuses on individualized Page numbers are in bold print.
carefully neutral phrases, the report is
"training", not education, in narrow work force —————————————————————
an educational program for a ‘Socialist
skills ... "limited learning for lifelong labor." ... PAGE 9, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.’s Director of
America'."

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This report said in part: PAGE 82-83, "THE FOUNDATION MACHINE" BY EDITH economic minority needs, particularly
KERMIT ROOSEVELT, December 26, 1968 issue of educational ones."
"Cumulative evidence supports the
The Wanderer. An excerpt from this entry says:
conclusion that in the United States as Iserbyt comment: Thus the change agents
in other countries, the age of laissez Even now the Carnegie Corporation is whose primary goal was to change our system
faire in economy and government is facing protests from parents whose from academics to work force training, using
closing and a new age of collectivism children are exposed to the textbooks mastery learning/OBE/direct instruction, found
[socialism/communism] is emerging. The financed by the foundation under its their justification to do just that. They laid the
implications for education are clear and "Project Read." This project provides reason for this important change in teaching
imperative: (a) the efficient functioning programmed textbooks for schools, method at the feet of the minorities since
of the emerging economy and the full particularly in ‘culturally deprived areas.’ there was no other way to get approval for such
utilization of its potentialities require An estimated five million children a radical change from the population at large!
profound changes in the attitudes and throughout the nation are using the —————————————————————
outlook of the American people, material in the programmed textbooks PAGE 134-134, PROJECT INSTRUCT, ANOTHER
especially the rising generation—a produced by the Behavioral Research MASTERY LEARNING PROGRAM, was approved for
complete and frank recognition that Laboratories, Palo Alto, California. dissemination throughout the nation by the
the old order is passing, that the new These foundation-funded books reveal U.S. Office of Education, May 14, 1975. The fi-
order is emerging. Organized public a fire pattern that amounts to an nal evaluation stated that "The intent and em-
education in the United States, much incitement to the sort of arson and phasis in 1970 was on behavioral indices and
more than ever before, is now compelled, guerilla warfare that took place in concrete ways of showing accountability; and
if it is to fullfill its social obligations, to Watts, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. the data would suggest that the reading of
adjust its curriculum, its methods of the students themselves may not have in-
On one page in the series we find a
instruction, and its administrative creased, but the impact of Project INSTRUCT
torch next to a white porch. The
procedures to the requirements of the in the Lincoln, Nebraska Public Schools seems
caption reads invitingly, "a torch, a
emerging integrated order." to be very extensive and influential."
porch". Further along there is a picture
————————————————————— —————————————————————
of a man smiling while he holds a torch
PAGE 34, UNITED NATIONS CHARTER BECAME EFFEC- PAGE 146-147, THE WASHINGTON POST, AUGUST 1,
aloft. The caption beneath it reads:
TIVE ON OCTOBER 24, 1945. Playing an important 1977, COMPETENCY TESTS SET IN 26 SCHOOLS: NEW
"This man has a t_rch in his hand." The
role in the creation of the United Nations was CURRICULUM SHIFTS TEACHING METHODS IN DIS-
children are required as an exercise to
the United States Chamber of Commerce TRICT". This entry regarding the wholesale ex-
insert the missing letter to fill in the
which would assist in moving the member perimentation on the District of Columbia's
word torch.
states' education systems from classical academic- children is shocking. The Assistant Superinten-
oriented subjects to work force training using The next picture shows the burning dent involved in this experiment, Guines, said
the performance-based Skinner/Pavlovian torch touching the porch, with a caption, in part "The new curriculum is based on the
mastery learning/direct instruction method. "a torch on a porch." Thus, the children work in behavioral psychology of Harvard
————————————————————— are led in stages to the final act that University's B.F.Skinner who developed teach-
PAGE 72, ELEMENTARY AND SECONDAY EDUCATION suggests itself quite naturally...Tragically ing machines and even trained pigeons dur-
ACT (ESEA) OF 1965 WAS PASSED BY CONGRESS, these young chidlren are being ing World War II to pilot and detonate bombs
marking the end of local control and the be- indoctrinated with a pattern of anti-social and torpedoes."
ginning of the nationalization and internation- ideas that will completely and violently —————————————————————
alization of education in the United States. Use alienate them from the mainstream of PAGE 155-156, EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP, NOVEM-
of goal setting, and systems management, PBS American middle-class values." BER 1979, "MASTERY LEARNING: THE CURRENT
and MBO for accountability purposes would ————————————————————— STATE OF THE CRAFT", BY PROF. JAMES BLOCK in
be totally funded by and directed from the APPENDIX VII, A-32-34, Excerpts from article in which he says:
federal level. ESEA targeted low income/mi- Phi Delta Kappan entitled "Performance-
"Entire school districts throughout
nority students for experimentation with Skin- Based Teacher Education", by Stanley Elam.
North America (Chicago, Denver, D.C.,
nerian "basic skills' programs; i.e., Follow 1971, especially para. 2, 3 and 4.
New Orleans, Vancouver) are actively
Through (mastery learning/direct instruction),
Elam says in part: testing the value of Mastery Learning
Right-to-Read, Exemplary Center for Reading
for their particular educational
Instruction, etc. The Behavior Science Teacher "The American Association of Colleges situation."
Education Program was also funded which ini- for Teacher Education is pleased to offer —————————————————————
tiated the change of teacher from instructor to the teacher education community PAGE 171, ALL OUR CHILDREN LEARNING, PROF.
of content to facilitator/behavior modifier the Committee's first state-of-the-art BENJAMIN BLOOM, 1981.
(performance-based education). Professor paper on performance-based programs."
Bloom defines good teaching as "challenging "In an attempt to maximize curriculum
the students' fixed beliefs." He also says: effectiveness...curriculum centers
————————————————————— "Probaby the roots of Performance- throughout the world have begun to
PAGE 78-80, "LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION, A CHI- based Teacher Education lie in general incorporate learning for mastery
CAGO INNER CITY SCHOOLS POSITION PAPER", JUNE, societal conditions and the institu- instructional strategies into the
1968, deals with one of first mastery learning tional responses to them characteristic redesign of curriculum."
experiments. See especially quote on page 79 of the Sixties. For example, the realization
starting with "The following is an excerpt from Iserbyt comment: This is proof that mastery
that little or no progress was being learning is international (UNESCO)) training sys-
an article published in Education Week, March made in narrowing wide inequality
6, 1985 entitled'Half of Chicago Students Drop tem. In this book Bloom also stated "The pur-
gaps led to increasing governmental pose of education is to change the thoughts,
Out, Study Finds: Problem Called Enormous attention to racial, ethnic, and socio-
Human Tragedy’." feelings, and actions of students."

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————————————————————— ————————————————————— —————————————————————
PAGE 183, "REGULATED COMPETITION IN THE UNITED PAGE 215, GRANT APPLICATION, 1984, FROM FAR APPENDIX XXV, A150-156, "THE TRUTH ABOUT
STATES", 1981, speech delivered by Harvard WEST LABORATORY FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH to HOW WE ALL HAVE BEEN HAD", Charlotte Iserbyt.
Professor and Council on Foreign Relations the U.S. Department of Education for "Excel- See especially Washington Post, August 17,
member Anthony Oettinger before a North- lence in Instructional Delivery Systems: Re- 1987 article on A-155 which quotes Thomas
ern Telecom Worldwide Corp. meeting. Prof. search and Dissemination of Exemplary Out- Sticht, close associate of William Spady, both
Oettinger said, in part: come-Based Programs", was approved by Sec- of whom were involved in D.C. mastery learn-
retary T.H. Bell. William Spady and Brian Rowan ing disaster, as saying:
"The present ‘traditional’ concept of
(above) carried out this project the intent of
literacy has to do with the ability to "Many companies have moved opera-
which was "to put outcome-based education
read and write. But the real question tions to places with cheap, relatively
in place, not only in Utah but in all schools of
that confronts us today is: How do we poorly educated labor. What may be
the nation."
help citizens function well in their crucial, they say, is the dependability of
—————————————————————
society? How can they acquire the a labor force and how well it can be
PAGE 227, Education Week, August 28, 1985,
skills necessary to solve their prob- managed and trained—not its general
"Proponents of Mastery Learning Defend
lems?... It is the traditional idea that educational level, although a small
Method after Its Rejection by Chicago" in which
says certain forms of communication, cadre of highly educated creative
Prof. James Block states "he doesn't know of
such as comic books, are ‘bad.' But in people is essential to innovation and
any major urban school system in the United
the modern context of functionalism growth. Ending discrimination and
States that has not adopted some kind of
they may not be all that bad." changing values are probably more
mastery learning program." (Iserbyt comment:
————————————————————— important than reading in moving low
This proves that urban schools were targetted
PAGE 182, WILLIAM SPADY, "THE FATHER OF OUT- income families into the middle class."
for implementation of the failed mastery
COME BASED EDUCATION" made the following —————————————————————
learning method.)
statement during a conference held at the U.S. PAGES 287-288, "HUMAN CAPITAL AND AMERICA'S
—————————————————————
Department of Education in 1982 (attended FUTURE: AN ECONOMIC STRAGTEGY FOR THE NINE-
PAGE 229, U.S. President Reagan and Soviet
by this writer). TIES", 1991 EDITED BY D AVID H ORNBECK AND
President Gorbachev signed an agreement in
LESTER M SALAMON, which states in part
"Two of the four functions of Mastery 1985 calling for cooperation in the field of sci-
Learning are: Extra: whole agenda of ence and technology and additional agree- "Employer beliefs about the superior
acculturation, social roles, social ments in other specific fields, incuding the capabilities of educated people turned
integraton, get the kids to participate humanities and social sciences; the facilitation out NOT to be confirmed in practice
in social unit, affective (attitudes, of the exchange by appropriate organizations (emphasis in original); educated
values and beliefs, ed.); and Hidden: a of educational and teaching materials, employees have higher turn-over
system of supervision and control incuding textbooks, syllabi and curricula, ma- rates, lower job satisfactoin, and
which restrains behavior of kids; the terials on methodology, samples of teaching poorer promotion records than less
outcome of the hidden agenda should instruments and audiovisual aids, and the ex- educated employees. (p.7)
be the fostering of social responsibility change of primary and secondary school text-
books and other teaching materials...the con- © 2003 Charlotte T. Iserbyt, All Rights Reserved
or compliance."
————————————————————— ducting of joint studies on textbooks between —————————————————————
APPENDIX XXVI, A-159-166. "SHAMANISTIC RITU- appropriate organizations in the United States Charlotte Iserbyt is the consummate whistleblower!
ALS IN EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS", BRIAN ROWAN, APRIL and the Ministry of Education of the USSR." At Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of
the same time Carnegie Corporation signed Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. De-
1984, produced under U.S. Dept. of Education
partment of Education, during the first Reagan Admin-
contract, in which Rowan states: agreements with the Soviet Academy of Sci- istration, where she first blew the whistle on a major
ences which resulted in "joint research on the technology initiative which would control curriculum
"The ritual is particularly suited to application of computers in early elementary in America's classrooms. Iserbyt is a former school board
application in urban or low performing education,focusing especially on the teaching director in Camden, Maine and was co-founder and re-
school systems where successful of higher level skills and complex subjects to search analyst of Guardians of Education for Maine (GEM)
instructional outcomes among from 1978 to 2000. She has also served in the American
younger children." Red Cross on Guam and Japan during the Korean War,
disadvantaged students are highly
and in the United States Foreign Service in Belgium and
uncertain but where mobilized publics Iserbyt comment: This agreement, still in ef- in the Republic of South Africa.
demand immediate demonstrations of fect, carved in stone the necessary changes
in education, i.e., from academics to the failed Iserbyt is a speaker and writer, best known for her 1985
success. The uncertainties faced by
booklet Back to Basics Reform or OBE: Skinnerian
practitioners in this situation can easily Soviet performance-based polytech system International Curriculum and her 1989 pamphlet So-
be alleviated by what scholars have using Pavlovian methods for workforce train- viets in the Classroom: America's Latest Education Fad
begun to call ‘curriculum alignment.' ing and brainwashing. These agreements are which covered the details of the U.S.-Soviet and
Also, "Student variability in perfor- a direct result of Carnegie Corporation's ear- Carnegie-Soviet Education Agreements which remain
in effect to this day. She is a freelance writer and has
mance can be reduced, and relative lier plans (1933 and 1934 above) and the tax-
had articles published in Human Events, The Washing-
performance increased, not by exempt foundations' efforts to merge the ton Times, The Bangor Daily News, and included in the
changing instructional objectives or United States with the Soviet Union (interna- record of Congressional hearings.
practices, but simply by changing tests tional socialism). See page 46, Reece Commit-
Website:
and testing procedures." tee Congressional Hearings, 1953, regarding
www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
White House recommendations to founda-
Iserbyt comment: This is Teach to Test which E-Mail: dumbdown@blazenetme.net
tions to spend their money so that United
is being implemented nationwide under the —————————————————————
States could be comfortably merged with the
Leave No Child Behind legislation. Rowan was To order Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt’s The Deliber-
Soviet Union (Lenin's international socialism ate Dumbing Down of America...A Chronologi-
also involved in the infamous 1984 Spady Utah being implemented right now with the bless- cal Paper Trail (700 pages pb, $47.00 including S/
OBE grant.) ing of U.S. Congress). H), go to www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
Or call: 1 (207) 442-0543 1.25.04

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