Home Schooling

Containing:
1) Welcome to Homeschooling
2) Principles & Practices of Teaching Reading
3) What Can Children Learn & When
4) 12 Teaching Guidelines for Basic Psycholinguistic Skills
5) Developing the Total Child
6) What Every Home Schooling Parent Needs to Know about ADD
7) Dyslexia
8) Psychology:
Psychiatry & Special Education to the Rescue ?
Psychology Redefines Religion
Is Psychology a Science?
9) What's Wrong With Outcome-Based Education
10) The Education Bloc, or Who Controls Government Education
11) Why Home-Schooling is Important for America (Samuel L. Blumenfeld)
All Articles by Dr. Paul Cates, unless otherwise noted.
Faith Christian Ministries
864 Poplar Creek Road
Oliver Springs, TN 37840
423-435-6185
E-Mail: pcates@worldnet.att.net

Welcome to Home Schooling

Articles as published in The Biblical Examiner. All articles are by Dr. Paul Cates, unless otherwise noted. We pray you will find the enclosed material beneficial for you and your family. We want to address topics here to help you to have the best home schooling program possible in preparing your children to be the leaders of the new century. This should be an exciting time in your life. You have been entrusted by God to prepare the next, generation of leadership that He will be using to be the "light" to a very dark world. We are the "salt" of the earth and we need to be that salt that affects everything in a positive way for the times that are ahead of us.

Let us open this booklet by taking a look at a very important component of our home schooling program - reading. Reading is the foundation of how well our children do in all the other basic subjects. We need to begin to understand reading and what reading is and what reading is not.

We need to realize what a total reading program is for our children and to evaluate whether we are providing a total reading program for them or not. I (Dr. Cates) will be making curriculum recommendations so you can have a total reading program if you do not already have one.

There are seven major components to reading. All seven are essential for teaching reading whether to a pre school child or to a high school child. There will be a break downs somewhere in your home schooling program if all these seven components are not developed and taught. The seven components are: 1) Phonics. 2) Reading Comprehension. 3) Word Comprehension. 4) Vocabulary Development. 5) Listening Skills. 6) Oral Reading. 7) Silent Reading.

The first component is phonics. Phonics is the engine to reading. You cannot, have a total reading program without having phonics as part of it. Phonics teaches us how to break down the English language and decode it so we can read. There are many programs that teach phonics. We will not list them all here but will mention a few of them.

Spalding: The only 100% phonetic approach to phonicsThe Writing Road to ReadingChrist Centered Approach to PhonisA-Beka PhonicsB.J. PhonicsAlpha PhonicsMCP PhonicsVictory DrillExplode the CodeStarting PhoneticallyStarting Visually.
All these programs are excellent. The real job at this point is to find the best program for your child. To do this you need to discover how your child learns. Is he/she mainly a strong oral or visual learner. That is going to make a difference in which program will be the best match for your child.

Our children all are different. They develop differently. They develop at different levels and at different speeds. We must keep all this in mind when we begin to teach phonics to our children. One of the most important things to consider at this point is when is my child ready to learn how to read. One very important developmental step is his/her ability to discriminate different sounds. Especially different sounds that are associated with the various letters of the alphabet. If this ability has not developed then we need to spend time in a readiness activity called auditory discrimination. Readiness is very important in teaching any child to read. There are numerous activities that a child should be able to perform at the readiness level before we begin to teach him formally how to read. We will cover those areas in the next article.

We can provide further information about any of the things discussed herein or about helping you individualize your home schooling program. Contact Dr Paul Cates, Faith Christian Ministries, 864 Poplar Creek Road, Oliver Springs, TN 37840, 423-435-6185. E-Mail, pcates@worldnet.att.net

Principles & Practices of Teaching Reading

To be meaningful, evaluation must be based on understanding of children as learners, reading as a learning process, and learning to read as a long-term developmental process.

Principles:

1. Learning to read is a complicated process and is sensitive to a variety of pressures. Too much pressure, or the wrong kind of pressure may result in non-learning. Sources of pressures on children experiencing difficulty in reading:
Pressure from home and parents. Parents are ego- involved in their child's success.
Pressure from the child himself (stems from ego-needs and concept of self).
Pressure from school. Children's attitudes result from the competitive atmosphere fostered by adults (parents, school, teacher) and from the conformity pattern imposed by society.
2. Learning to read is an individual process. Grouping children is of negligible value unless the teacher adjusts learning situations to each child's need for instruction.
3. Pupil differences must be a primary consideration in reading instruction. It is hypothesized that any home/school will house children/pupils whose present achievement and instructional needs vary greatly.
4. Reading instruction should be thought of as an organized, systematic, growth-producing activity. Sound instruction will start from the premise that the environment is an integral part of instruction.
5. Proper reading instruction depends on the diagnosis of each child's weaknesses and needs. Diagnosis has become associated too often with cure or remedy rather than with preventing the development of poor reading. To establish the fact that a child is reading below what might be expected is not diagnosis. It is an invitation to diagnosis.
6. The best diagnosis is useless unless it is used as a blueprint for instruction. When test results are not used for instructional purposes, the educational objectives of the testing program are defeated. Any skill not mastered, or only partially mastered, may be instrumental in producing other reading problems. Intelligent instruction must be based on accurate information regarding the children's present accomplishments and weaknesses. In this sense, a thorough diagnosis is a blueprint for instruction.
7. No child should be expected or forced to attempt to read material which, at the moment, he is incapable of reading.
All curriculum study and the placing of learning tasks at different points on the educational continuum are related to this principle. The principle should be followed in all areas of child growth and development -- physical, social, emotional, intellectual. The principle amounts to a rejection of the myth that "the child is a miniature adult."
This principle is also related to the fact that different children develop at different rates and that the growth pattern of an individual child is not uniform. It is not conducive to social, emotional, or educational growth to subject a child to failure experiences, because he is physically present in a home school environment/classroom where arbitrary achievement goals are set.
8. Reading is a process of getting meaning from printed word symbols. It is not merely a process of making conventionalized noises associated with these symbols. Reading is more than a mechanical process, even though mechanics are an essential part of the process. Creativity and versatility are basic requirements for successful teaching.
9. Any given technique, practice, or procedure is likely to work better with some children than with others. Hence, the teacher of reading must have a variety of approaches. "There is no one best method of teaching". When a parent/teacher becomes enamored of one method to the exclusion of others, she shuts out the possibility of adjusting the method to the individual child's needs. Although such a parent/teacher may be highly successful with some children, she will inevitably produce a number of frustrated, unhappy misfits. Some of her children/pupils will develop behaviors which result in such labels as "bad", "dull", "dreamers", "lazy", and "anti-social". These behaviors, instead of being interpreted as the logical outcomes of failure, frustration, and tension evolving from the reading situation, become in turn, the explanations of why the child failed in reading.
10. Learning to read is a long-term developmental process extending over a period of years. This rests on two premises. First, every aspect of the instructional program is related to the ultimate goal of producing efficient readers. The second, that the child's early attitude towards reading is important from the "educational standpoint. It can influence a student's habits for life.
11. This concept of readiness should be extended upward to all grades. There should be as much concern with readiness at all levels as there is at the first grade level.
12. Early in the learning process the child must acquire ways of gaining independence in identifying words whose meanings are known to him, but which are unknown to him as sight words.
Pronouncing words is not reading, but sounding out words not known as sight words is essential to independent reading.
13. Children should not be in a formal learning situation if they have emotional problems sufficiently serious to make them uneducable at the moment, or if they interfere with ordisrupt the learning process.
Just as the practice of "beating the devil" out of the "obsessed" came to an end, so, I pray, will we stop trying to beat learning into a child who is at the moment uneducable.
14. Emphasis should be on prevention rather than cure. Reading problems should be detected early and corrected before they deteriorate into failure - frustration - reaction cases.
Sound principles of reading instruction should apply with equal validity to any instructional approach; and by definition such principles cannot reflect what might be called an either-or bias as to particular methodologies.

Famous People With Reading Problems

Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Michael Heseltine, Woodrow Wilson, George Bush, George Patton, Jackie Stewart, a racing driver, Duncan Goodhew, an olympic swimmer, Tom Cruise, actor, George Burns, Whoopi Goldberg, actress, Susan Hampshire, actress, Danny Glove, actor, Cher, actress, singer

What Can Children Learn & When!!!

Before the ages of three, the answer is simply, when the child can do it.

Entering the school zone, use the following guidelines to help you know if your child is on target or possibly has some delays.
CHECK LIST FOR EYE-HAND AND MOTOR COORDINATION FOR 4-5 YEARS:

Can the child trace, as example, letters and numbers? Can the child circle an answer or complete a line? Can the child make a line between two parallel lines? Can the child find direction in a maze? Can the child follow dot and line patterns? Can the child cut with a scissors? Can the child complete dot-to-dot pictures by connecting numbered dots? Can the child color within heavy outlines? Can the child walk, run, skip and jump? Can the child build block towers (requires steadiness)? Can the child manipulate puzzle pieces, pegs and blocks? Can the child use a vertical chalkboard? Can the child dance or march to rhythms? Does the child have an awareness of self in space? Does the child have an awareness of self in relation to other objects within the environment?

CHECKLIST FOR VISUAL PERCEPTION- 4-5 YEARS:

Can the child complete Shape and A-B-C puzzles? Can the child discriminate in likenesses and differences? Can the child note missing parts? Can the child identify the whole, when only a part is seen? Can the child see the goal in a maze? Can the child identify shapes within the environment? Can the child discriminate shapes? Can the chid match shapes to the outlines of the shape? Does the child understand variations in size, color and position? Can the child discriminate in size activities? Can the child do peg board designs? Can the child reproduce patterns from a given copy? Can the child reproduce patterns from memory? Can the child reproduce designs from memory? Can the child identify body parts?

CHECKLIST FOR MENTAL SKILLS: 4-5 YEARS:

Does the child know the difference between upper and lower case A-B-C's? Both manuscript and cursive? Does the child know numerals to 10? Can the child count objects to 25? Can the child follow verbal directions? Can the child discriminate shapes? Does the child know directional concepts such as in-out, over-under? Does the child know relational concepts such as first-last, mine-yours? Can the child group or classify objects into families? (Fruit, toys, vehicles) Can the child discriminate in terms of size such as big-little? Does the child know colors? Can the child differentiate shades of color? Can the child write his name ? Does the child know his address and telephone number?

CHECKLIST FOR AUDITORY PERCEPTION: 4-5 YEARS:

Can the child identify the sound to its symbol; the alphabet or number? Can the child form and identify words that rhyme? Can the child repeat sounds, words, sentences, and rhymes that you dictate? Can the child identify initial sounds for the names of objects, such as fruit? Can the child identify and repeat characteristic sounds (sirens, whoooo; windshield wipers, swish-swish; and animal sounds)? Can the child reauditorize (think) the initial sound for objects? Can the child signify when one sound or tone changes to another in pitch? (high-low, soft-loud)? Can the child write initial and final sounds of words that begin and end with consonants? Can the child repeat what was said without visual clues? Can the child follow directions without visual clues? Can the child identify specific things from musical recordings such as bells? Also horns and traffic sounds? Can the child identify pictures of objects with names that rhyme with no audible clues? Can the child sequence dictated words or events in a story? Can the child sequence dictated numbers of number patterns?

12 Teaching Guidelines for Basic Psycholinguistic Skills

1. If the child has a problem in Auditory Reception, follow these rules: A. Use short, one concept phrases. B. Ask short questions. C. Give visual clue whenever possible, i.e., gestures, written material, etc. D. Use visual aids whenever possible.
2. If the child has a problem in Visual Reception_, follow these rules: A. Allow child to auditorize whenever possible. B. Use phonic method of reading. C. Check comprehension carefully, giving auditory clues. D. Permit child to use records, tape-recorder, or other method of auditorizing materials to be learned.
3. If the child has a problem with Comprehension of Auditory Information, follow these rules: A. Ask one concept questions, eliciting several short answers. B. Accept concrete answers. C. Supply more abstract cues for him. D. Provide visual cues where possible. E. Give ample time for response. F. Give child a written question to think about before answering.
4. If the child has a problem with Comprehension of Visual Information, follow these rules: A. Permit him to trace correct responses first. B. Provide an auditory cue.
5. If the child has a problem in Verbal Expression, follow these rules: A. Provide opportunity and time for oral responses. B. "Show and Tell" may require much help from teacher. C. Give visual cue to help child describe events. D. Encourage oral reports, but with use of notes permitted.
6. If the child has a problem in Motor Expression, follow these rules: A. Do not insist on demonstration before class. B. Let child express ideas verbally.
7. If the child has a problem in Grammatic Closure, follow these rules: A. Encourage imitation of teacher's phrase. B. Provide records to memorize (short poem). C. Provide visual cues whenever possible. D. Check sound-blending abilities before pressing phonics. E. Work on sight vocabulary. F. Check visual closure abilities.
8. If the child has a problem in Auditory-Sequencing, follow these rules: A. Permit child to use visual cues.
B. Have him write as he memorizes. C. Use short, one-concept sentences. D. Use visual aids.
9. If the child has a problem in Visual-Sequencing, follow these rules: A. Permit child to use an auditory cue. B. Permit him to trace when possible. C. Use audio-visual aids whenever possible. D. Flash cards to be traced.
10. If the child has a problem in Visual Closure, follow these rules: A. Check and teach part-whole concepts.
B. Give him time to examine pictures. C. Ask questions leading to more detail. D. Ask questions going beyond seen details.
11. If the child has a problem in Auditory Closure, follow these rules: A. Teach blending. B. Give ample time.
C. Teach progressively rapid word recognition skills. D. Keep meaningfulness high.
12. If the child has a problem in Blending, follow these rules: A. Teach composition of words. B. Teach letter sounds. C. Teach blending. D. Keep meaningfulness high. E. Teach vocabulary skills.

Developing the Total Child

"Why do children from Christian homes `go bad'?"

"I hear the brethren and pastors talking about Proverbs 22:6, but what does it really mean to `train up a child in the way he should go'? How do you do this?"

Many of our children have more "secular" training than they have Biblical training.

Even though many of us attend church, have our children in church and even have our children in Sunday School classes, much of their exposure is non-Biblical.

God says a three fold cord is not easily broken. That should be the home, the church and the child's education all working together in harmony. Many times that is not the case.

Also many times the education that the child is receiving in one of these environments is partly Biblical and partly humanistic.

The church, a Christian school, the Sunday school should not be the one training up the child. The main influence should be always the home.
Deut. 6:4-9

The basic philosophy necessary to develop the total child is found in Colossians 2:8,

Beware lest any man spoil you through:
Philosophy: What others think is right- this is humanistic reasoning vs God's Word
Vain Deceit: Believing we are right, but being wrong
The Tradition of men: It has always been this way. The world's way.
Examples: Comparing children.
Grading children on a "bell shaped curve"
The Rudiments of the World: Marching in step with the rest of the world. We have to dress like the world. Have the same hair styles as the world. Have our children involved in the same activities as the world. Use the same methodologies in the training of our children as the world.
And not after Christ: If we need Him, we will call on Him. God cannot be thought of as a crutch if all else fails.

A Child must be properly planted: Psalm 1

Away from "the counsel of the ungodly." Away from "the way of the sinners." Away from "the seat of the scornful." Where the Child can delight in the law of the Lord. By the river where the Child can be fed. Free from negative spiritual and academic energy drains.
We cannot live in a monastery. We are the salt of the earth. But a child in training is not primarily a missionary. He is a student seeking "training" and that must be Godly training. Training or education is "brain washing". Education is a battle ground. The child must having "pure" training to understand who he is, who he is following, who he is serving and who the enemy is.

A Child must have a proper foundation: Luke 6:47-49 "Head"
One of the primary reasons children from Christian families don't "turn out well" is this. A PROBLEM gets attention.
Raed Luke 6: 47-49 and replace: "House" with "son" or "daughter" "Earth" with "humanism" or "inconsistency" "Rock" with "Christ"
Allowing a little humanism or inconsistency here and there weakens the foundation.

Examples:
Idolizing sports heroes. Idolizing movie stars. Idolizing musical stars. Christianizing "rock music" Making TV a focal point. Magazines in the home that have nudity, liquor et cetera.
We as Christian parents need to pioneer a renaissance. We need to pioneer a new birth of righteousness for America. Pioneers sometimes have it very rough. But pioneers believe in the future. The future is the next generation.
We need to remember not to be weary in well doing for in due time, we will reap if we faint not. We need to have proper development and proper balance for our Child.
All discipline and no love will equal tyranny.
All love and no discipline will equal insecurity and rebellion.
Some love and some discipline will equal bitterness and confusion.

WE NEED GODLY PARENTS

Parents with a pleasing personality. Parents who can handle any problem. Parents who have "grown" up. Parents who are not subject to "mood" swings. Parents who are students of the Word. Parents with the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job. Parents who are compassionate. Parents who are creative and original. Parents who are concerned with the health, welfare, spiritual, educational, physical, and social problems of their Child.
HOME: It is what you make it!!! Hard, sometimes difficult but well worth it. Be not weary is oftentimes, many times difficult. But God's plan works.

DON'T DESPAIR. DON'T QUIT. DON'T LET UP.

What are problems? They are opportunities for a victory!!!! "Be strong and of good courage: be not afraid....for the Lord thy God is with thee." Joshua 1:19 "Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58
The Effect of Total Christian Training in the Life of a Child
The Child's will:

Will come into proper relationship with parents and brothers and sisters. The Child will want to respect them. The Child will want to live a life from God's point of view. The Child will have proper respect for his Pastor and others who are in authority. The Child will respect those who are older. The Child will be open to gain wisdom and insight. The Child will have proper respect for those in authority over him. The Child will have a clearer conscience enabling him to absorb academics more readily. The Child will respect P.E. as a sport, not a "god", and having fun as a means of keeping the "temple" strong. The Child will be able to cope with the game.

Learning to be a good winner and show character, but determination if they lose.

Let's Work on the Child's Heart: Luke 6: 43-45

Input: Ears, Eyes, Touch - none of us has "arrived"
Have positive input:
Bible Memory, Discipline, Parental Love, Christian Examples with the Brethren, Good Christian Education, Christian Biographies, Restricted Activities, Godly Hymns, Controlled diet, Control in Church, Planned Family Activities, Whole Family Involvement

Results
Obedience to Authority, Confidence, Pure Thoughts, Chaste/Virtuous/Pure, Self-control, Purpose, Strong Character, Disciplined Life, Love of Christ, Discernment, Respect for Parents and those in Authority.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. 6:7
"He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 2 Corinthians 9:6

Should We Shelter Our Child??
Yes: From
Immorality, Dope, Watching Sin, Inconsistency, Ungodliness, Rebellion, Critical Attitudes et cetera

Shelter at home, at school, at play and at work!!!

What Every Home Schooling Parent Needs to Know About A.D.D.

Ann Landers said, "Parents need new skills to deal with children with A.D.D." What "new skills" are needed?

A.D.D. also known as A.D.H.D. has become the most common "disease" of childhood and is spreading like wildfire. The professionals say it is affecting 6-33% of the children in the elementary grades. A.D.D. is striking children in their adolescent years also. It is affecting adults, causing school failure, causing drop outs from academics and life, causes aggression, violence, criminality, substance abuse et al. It supposedly needs treatment with addictive medication, that is "uppers" and is a certifiable disability.

Characterized by inattention, impulsivity and sometimes hyperactivity it is supposedly a "brain disease" due to a "chemical imbalance of the brain". It is usually diagnosed by a teacher checking any 8 of 14 behaviors on a pencil-and-paper behaviors checklist. This needs no physician, laboratory, x-ray or brain scan for confirmation.

WHY?

Because there is no confirmation.

In numbers unmatched anywhere in the world, U.S. children are diagnosed and drugged in a quid pro quo association between education and for-profit psychiatry and psychology.

Labeled "brain-diseased", schools and parents have an excuse for the rampant illiteracy and unpreparedness of their children. Psychiatry/psychology is gaining lifetime patients.

Parents! Educators! Wake UP!!!

Do you really believe that your child/ or a child seemingly normal/ normal or above intelligence until age eight (the average age at diagnosis) has suddenly acquired a "brain disease" due to a chemical imbalance of the brain? Diagnosed by a teacher! I don't think so.

I have found no medical professional that scientifically studies "real diseases" that has been able to validate one scientific case of "brain disease".

The company Ciba-Geigy which manufactures Ritalin has never published one article proving that A.D.D. is a real disease.

On September 23, 1993 Dr. Fred Baughman, M.D. , a child neurologist for thirty five years, testified at the National Institutes of Health that A.D.D. , conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder- the so called disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) are not proven diseases. They are neither proven diseases, organic or biologic, and therefore, "it would be unethical and fatally flawed, scientifically, to proceed with research into biological interventions, such as drugs."

On November 17, 1994 Dr. Baughman wrote to David Kessler, M.D., Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and asked how they could allow Ciba-Geigy to portray A.D.D. in the Ritalin "insert" as a syndrome," a term meaning the same thing as "disease." The FDA response:

"We acknowledgethat as yet no distinct pathophysiology for the disorder has been delineated:"

Conclusion: A.D.D. is not a proven disease at least by the FDA.

How did A.D.D., not a disease at all, become the most common "disease" of childhood? Why has its numbers doubled every 4 to 7 years and why has the U.S. Food and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) quota for Ritalin risen from 1700 kilograms in 1990 to 8000 kilograms in 1995?

Advertising: The ties of psychiatry to the drug industry.

If your child is not reading at grade level, is frustrated, increasingly unhappy, inattentive or even disruptive, and there is no "diagnosis" or special "pill" to eradicate this "disease", then we must get the medical/psychiatric/psychologic models out of the home and classroom and commit once again the proposition that children can read, they are educable, and we must learn and find ways to teach them.

If A.D.D. is the diagnosis given your child, and it is asserted that it is not a "disease", then representing it as such is false and is really "malpractice".

Do children have problems learning? Do we need special programs to teach these children? Yes and they are available. Let's use them.

Let me give you one example of such an objective test now available.

It is called the TOVA- which stands for the Test of Variables of Attention.

Auditory and Visual tests are individually administered computerized tests developed to assess objectively attention and impulse control. They measure inattention, or omissions that a person makes, impulse control or commissions, response time and response time variability.

What does this test help find? Let's take one example. A young person was dismissed from high school because he couldn't pay attention, couldn't do his work and never turned assignments in. He had been seen by many experts. After running the TOVA visual test it was discovered his visual attention broke down after twelve minutes. When the optometric profession followed up on him they discovered that his vision changed from 20/20 during the first twelve minutes to 20/50 after twelve minutes. Getting him a correct eye prescription has changed his attention span, his attitude, his working habits and according to teachers he is a different person.

There is a test called the TOMAL test which measures memory problems. The TOMAL measures memory problems as they affect learning in eight short term verbal areas, six short term non-verbal areas and four delayed recall areas. It has been found that children and adults can vary as many as four to nine years in these various subtests. What does this do? It helps us to determine the best way to teach this child so that both the child and the adult teaching him does not become frustrated.

God says my way is easy, my burden is light. That does not apply to everything except home schooling. His word applies to every area including home schooling.

For further information or help for your child who has been labeled "dsylexic" or ADD or ADHD please contact Faith Christian Ministries.

Dyslexia

As an educator for over thirty five years, I have taken special notice of the number of children who are labeled "learning disabled" "dyslexic" or are placed in "special education classes". In most cases the problem is an inability to read.

Professionals tell the parents that a brain abnormality "dyslexia" is the cause of their child's reading inability.

Dyslexia is a fancy word, that comes from the Greek dys, meaning ill or bad, and lexia, meaning words. It is a term that is used in the United States to describe at least eight percent of school age children.

Dyslexia, say the experts is a problem in the language arts part of the brain that comes to a parent's attention when the child fails to gain literacy in the early grades. What parents are not told is that in over sixty years of research nothing has been able to confirm that a defect of any sort exists in the brain of a child who has been labeled as dyslexic.

Isn't dyslexia a scientific term?

There are no well-defined reading behaviors that can clearly distinguish a dyslexic from other poor readers whose difficulties stem from limitations in experience or developmental delays. There are no distinguishing clinical patterns to determine a dyslexic person.

In 1989 the Council of Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association concluded that "consensus has yet to be reached on a practical operational definition of the disorder and, while an organic etiology is often presumed, clear identification has not yet been made.

Instead of screening and identifying dyslexia in pre-school and kindergarten and early elementary school children we should examine how these children are taught. Example schools such as the San Diego Unified School District showed an alarming drop in their reading scores. Why? During this period they changed reading methods- phonics was replaced by the whole language reading program. In 1990 51% of the students in San Diego scored above the national median. In 1991 only 25% did. Did an epidemic of dyslexia hit San Diego between 1990 and 1991?

To label someone as dyslexic is convenient. Labeling absolves everyone from any responsibility. The person/victim is blamed not the methodology or lack thereof.

Psychology

Psychiatry and Special Education to the Rescue???

Special education has grown from serving about 2% of the population of children to now serving over 20%. Is this labeling improving our reading or academic scores-no. Why not? Because the focus has been and is on labeling and trying to blame the victim rather than on the problem- curriculum and doing something about it.

You should know that this "disease" dyslexia has never been confirmed and that no test of proven validity to verify it exists is available.

We should demand that all practices and labels which cannot be scientifically validated be stopped.

It is time we look at the real culprits of the cause/etiology of "dyslexia" and that is improper curriculum for teaching many children and lack of knowledge in knowing what readiness activities need to be taught to prepare many of our children to learn how to read. Also improper methods of teaching are contributing to this misdiagnosis.

We need to focus on training parents and teachers how to teach their children and what to use to teach them so they can be successful.

Every child deserves the right to be able to learn how to read!!! They can learn- maybe not all to college or graduate level but they can learn to read. In over thirty years I have not seen one individual with an IQ over 25 that has not been able to read.

Psychology Redefines Religion

In the spiritually challenging decades between the two world wars, World War I and World War II, psychiatry and psychology grew by leaps and bounds. It was an era when fear and pessimism had engulfed the globe. An era when poison could masquerade as medicine.

John Dewey, an adherent of psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, and the man who would later pollute America's education system with Wundt's theories, designed the 1933 Humanist Manifesto. Dewey, the father of progressive education, believed that what man had always done was precisely what should no longer be done.

His manifesto denigrates religions and their ability to help solve people's problems. He couches his information in a deceptively mellifluous style and declares emphatically that man does not have a spiritual nature. He declares this with the arrogance of contemptuous authority.

His Manifesto calls for a one world "religion" which was not to be chained to "old beliefs" but to be influenced by scientific and economic change

Religion should be a "human activity" in the direction of a "...candid and explicit humanism."

A list of fifteen precepts was drafted. These included:

Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.
Humanists hold an organic view of liee Humanists find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected.
Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values.
Humanists say that religion must formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific spirit and method.
Humanists say that the distinction between the sacred and the secular can no longer be maintained.
Humanists assume that humanism will take the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking.

After World War II humanists went on to say, ". . .humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.

Humanists say that "...traditional moral codes...fail to meet the pressing needs of today and tomorrow... "

Humanists say, "promise of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. .. The total personality is a function of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context. There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body."

Quotes from leading individuals in this movement:

"More children from the fit, less from the unfit-that is the chief aim of birth control."
"The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."
"Birth control appeals to the advanced radical, because it is calculated to undermine the authority of the Christian Churches. I look forward to seeing humanity free someday of the tyranny of Christianity no less than capitalism."

Parents! Christians! Church! Wake Up!!! Let's stop going to bed with the DEVIL Himself.

How can we call ourselves Christians and call ourselves Christian Churches and Christian Colleges and go to bed with this philosophy? How can our Christian schools be awarding degrees in this field and related fields such as sociology and still say they proclaim the name of our Savior Jesus Christ?

Is Psychology A Science?

No psychology is not a science. To qualify as a science there must be the possibility of not only refuting theories but also predicting future events. You must be able to reproduce results obtained and control what is observed.

The cause and effect relationship so evident in the physical sciences is largely not found in the "social sciences". Instead of statistically significant cause-effect relationships, the social science relies on covariationthat is events or relationships which appear together but are not necessarily related.

No one is able to cite even one true expert, that is a philosopher of science, a distinguished professor or Nobel Laureate who will state and write that psychology is a pure science.

If psychology is not a science what is it?

Psychology studies behaviors, attitudes, morals and values. What is that? That is not a scientific study. It is the study of religion. In the case of psychology it is the study of secular humanism.

Psychology is founded on eight false premises that are all humanistic from the core.

The faith, the solutions once delivered to the Saints is being displaced today by a substitute faith disguising itself as psychology, Christian psychology, psychiatry, but is based upon foundations which are in direct contradiction to the holy Bible.

We as Christians sit idle and do nothing while the church is being destroyed from within. The prophets have warned us of this.

What's Wrong With Outcome-Based Education?

By Dr Paul Cates

Outcome-Based Education (OBE) is sweeping the country in the name of school "restructuring." OBE calls for a complete change in the way children are taught, graded, and graduated kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Here is a summary of ten major objections to OBE:

1. OBE is packaged in a deceptive language that appears to be mischievously chosen to mislead parents. It includes rewriting the English language and altering operational definitions. This is America's definitions. This is America's first experience with dialectic language used by Hitler, Marx, and Lenin.
2. OBE uses students as guinea pigs in a vast experiment without any replicable research of pilot studies to show that it works. (B-Sept-Behavioral Teacher Education Project, 1967, U.S. Office of Education, Contract #OBC-0-0-32042-4042.)
[Minnesota - 1988 Survey - OBE Classes spend 55% of time on non-academic pursuits. Oklahoma -OBE Task Force findings: 1) Decrease in Academic achievement. 2) Cost to implement not affordable. Illinois (Chicago) - Group of black parents filed a lawsuit against their district when their children became adept at passing tests but could not read. Illinois (Chicago.) - The Independent School District Board dropped OBE after 5 years and 7.5 million dollars spent due to continued poor scores on standardized tests. Wisconsin - Milwaukee - OBE was a contributing factor to more than a 60% drop out rate of ninth graders. Of the 40% who continued their education, 10% could not read by graduation time. Arizona - The Arizona Federation of Teachers passed a resolution opposing OBE and also petitioned Congress for protection against use of such methods. Kansas - Wichita - Pilot project begun in 1986... by 1990 the average cost to educate a student had increased by over 60% from $3,093.00 to $5,085.00. John Hopkins University - A 1987 Survey concluded that more is achieved per hour in a traditional classroom than in an OBE classroom.]
3. OBE offers no method of accountability to students, parents, teachers, or taxpayers.
4. OBE is a dumbed-down egalitarian scheme that stifles individual potential for excellence and achievement by holding the entire class to a level of learning attainable by every child. "Cooperative learning" is stressed by organizing virtually all learning activities into group activities. Group thinking is in: individual thinking and capitalism is out. (Though apparently determined to pursue OBE, our local state school superintendent described OBE thusly: "OBE is converting the three R's to the three D's -- Deliberately Dumbed Down.")
5. In an OBE system, academic and factual subject matter is replaced by vague and subjective learning outcomes.
6. A high percentage of OBE "outcomes" concerns values, attitudes, opinions, and relationships rather than objective information. A large number of OBE's goals are affective (concerned with emotions and feelings) rather than academic (concerned with knowledge and cognitive skills). Instead of absolutes, students determine what "they" consider values (acceptable) to them. There are no absolutes.
7. OBE establishes a computer file on each child to track the child's efforts to master the learning's outcome. These files will include all school, psychological and medical records, and will be available to prospective employers after graduation. All privacy rights are overridden.
8. OBE is a method for concealing and perpetuating the number-one crime of the American school system -- the failure to teach first graders to read. OBE is wholly committed to the "whole language", word-guessing method rather than the phonics method. A child taught OBE - "whole language" will master 1,420 words by 4th grade. A child taught phonics will master over 21,000 words.
9. OBE involves high costs for administration and the retraining of teachers in an entirely new system, which will be reflected in higher taxes for schools. It is fostered by psychologists who know virtually nothing about education and curriculum. These "experts" know nothing about scope and sequence in determining educational objectives for children.
10. OBE involves tightened state control through Federal funding to replace local school control. Judas betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Local school boards are selling out for a "Federal" handout.

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly nor too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST." - Patrick Henry.

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves and to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." - James Madison.

"Man will be ultimately governed by God or tyrants." - Benjamin Franklin.

"Our constitution was made only for a RELIGIOUS and MORAL people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." - John Adams

"We have this day restored the sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let his kingdom come." - Samuel Adams, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

"You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life, and above all the religion Jesus Christ. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in these wise intentions." - George Washington to the Delaware Indian tribe. Congress appropriated funds for 20,000 Bibles for the frontier Indians. Does this sound like separation of church from state?

"Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof." - Leviticus 25:10, inscription on the Liberty Bell.

"The people know that it is impossible to rightly govern without God and the Bible." - George Washington

"The Bible is the Rock on which our republic rests." - Andrew Jackson.

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering" - Daniel Webster.

"I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens." - Thomas Jefferson.

"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." - John Quincy Adams.

"No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged and is the religion of the country...Christianity is part of the common law...its foundations are broad, strong, and deep. It is the purest system of morality...and only stable support of all human laws." - Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1824.

"Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Northwest Ordinance, 1789. "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: and that His justice cannot sleep forever." - Thomas Jefferson.

"A general dissolution of principle and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of Americans then the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when they once lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader." - Samuel Adams

"He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world." - Benjamin Franklin.

"Politics are a part of religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as part of their duty to God...(God) will bless or curse this nation, according to the course (Christians) take (in politics)." - Charles Finney, 19th Century Evangelist.

"As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an invisible chain of causes and effects, providence punishes national sins by national calamities." - George Mason, father of the Bill of Rights.

"By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion, and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same, equal footing." - Supreme Court decision, 1799.

"Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government." Supreme Court decision, 1811.

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty - as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians as their rulers." - John Jay, First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars." - George Washington, Farewell Address.

Contrast Philosophies

Traditional Education:

1. Education is the core for the foundation of a person's life. "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.
2. Education must allow for quiet and thoughtful completion.
3. Demonstration is appropriate for some skills. "Ye shall know them by their fruits." Attitudes and behaviors have no proven assessment tools. Demonstration of appropriate attitudes and behaviors is subjective and is used for social engineering in men manipulating or controlling other men.
4. Curriculum is clearly defined. The outcome is specific to the individual. It is pre-determined by God.
5. The curriculum is concept and content oriented. Well taught "basics" can then be assimilated easily to new areas of knowledge and application. We teach "precept upon precept".
6. Competitiveness with one's self stimulates learning. It also promotes individuality. Learning is personal. It teaches us to understand we have different talents and to use those talents. Cooperation is valued when it encourages other persons to do their best, but not when it takes responsibility for another's learning.
We want to help our fellow man to learn, but we are not responsible for his behavior.
7. All people must have a set of values on which they base their lives. Personal discipline instilled and taught by parents with firm convictions is necessary to produce people who can stand alon without compromise.
8. The ability to learn is basic. It must be taught in the proper order and learned Biblically; that is, "precept upon precept," "line upon line."
9. Education should be based on all available knowledge. All knowledge is not tentative. We may only know "now in part," but knowledge is not tentative. It is facts. Facts are the bedrock of all things we need to know. Facts are the foundation. Without a foundation, the building will not stand.
10. Learning is based on long-term objectives determined by God. Children's interest are not a reliable guide. They can be fostered or altered. A skillful teacher is able to develop interest.
11. Education should be dedicated to upholding direction given by the consumer; i.e., the parent. The family and church are responsible for socialization. Schools are assistants for acquiring factual information. Ideally, parents should teach their own children.
12. Educational goals are decisions to be made by parents, not decisions based on one group of politically active educators who have a humanistic bent. Schools are vehicles for indoctrination and thus must be chosen with the correct foundation. When the Biblical foundation was removed, the American Public Education began its downfall. The foundation was removed when history was rewritten in our textbooks and prayer, God, and Bible reading were removed.

Outcome Based Education ( a philosophy not accepted by the conservative Christian - New Testament church.

1. Education is not "training." It is manipulation. "School is a change agent...and the specific focus is on changing people."
(Education is brainwashing in secular, humanistic religion through the humanistic religions of psychology and sociology.)
2. Education is a social process.
3. Emphasis is on the "demonstrational." The "demonstration" that humanistic psychologists and sociologists want.
4. The "end" (outcome) justifies the "means" (process). Content is not specifically defined, but is freely chosen on teacher perceptions.
5. Integration of many subject areas. Focus is not on learning a subject but on application. Content is only necessary if it can be applied or manipulated.
6. Competition is eliminated because children are not competitors. Competition is discouraged even within one's self. Group thinking and interacting is in; individuality is out. Socialism is in; capitalism is out. Everyone must be equalized. Learners are dependent on the group as a team for motivation and learning. Peer teaching - "blind leading the blind."
7. Little emphasis on personal discipline but rather on discipline by group pressure. This does not allow for personal values to develop, and allows for the leader of a group to determine group behaviors and attitudes. No absolutes. What is/is not acceptable by the "group" is in.
8. Education is based on the latest psychological and sociological trends without respect for tradition or known, reliable facts. Students are the "guinea pigs" of the 21st Century, unproven psychological and sociological garbage.
9. Education is based on the latest psychological data without respect to known and proven facts.
10. Learning is based on and is motivated by the interests of the child with no right or wrong answers, no absolutes, situational ethics, and no standards.
11. School is child-centered. Basic needs such as a safe place, food, and people who will meet the student's needs must be met before learning can happen. The essentials of becoming successful and productive will then be maximized. Students learn that the "state" provides their needs and become dependent on the "state." Socialism is personified.
12. Education is dedicated to reconstruction of the socialization process. This promotes sensitivities to multiculture, gender fair (sameunisex), economic productivity, behaviors, citizenships, and physical and emotional wellness. Education thus is dedicated to the establishment of globalism. National sovereignty should be under the control of a world authority, according to OBE.

First published, 8/98

The Education Bloc

"HE ALONE , WHO OWNS THE YOUTH, GAINS THE FUTURE!"
ADOLF HITLER

Who are the real "movers and shakers" of the educational establishment? Who initiates and funds our educational studies? Who has all the solutions to our educational woes? Who stands at the schoolhouse door with check in hand waiting to lure us onto the educational-reform bandwagon? The answers to these questions may surprise you.

While the little taxpayer is scrimping and struggling to support his family and pay his taxes, the real power behind the reform movement is raking in the cash, tax free, and using that tax-free income to finance the destruction of our educational system. An elitist coterie of America's tax-exempt foundations has designed and initiated every wave of educational reform since John Dewey and his progressive education. The goal of each and every reform movement has been the same--to eliminate knowledge in the classroom and to pilot the United States toward a one-world, socialist government.

You may find these accusations preposterous. After all, we have laws in this country; we have a Constitution that protects our rights. While this is true, we also have the Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford Foundations. These tax-exempt institutions are above the laws of common man, they are the real power behind our government, and they answer to no one. Presidents, be they Democratic or Republican, may come and go, but the foundations never leave office!

Let us, then, turn our attention to the foundations and examine the effect they have had on education for almost a century. This monopoly on public education began with the creation of the Rockefeller General Education Board in 1903 (terminated in 1953); The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1905; The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1910; The Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911; and The Rockefeller Foundation in 1918. The impact of these foundations will become evident as we look at what has transpired since their inception.

As we begin our journey back in time, the first item worth noting is that the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations were staunch supporters of Dewey's educational philosophy. Dewey in fact, taught four of the five Rockefeller brothers, including David and Nelson.

The Walsh Committee was created on August 23, 1912, to review industrial relations. During the tenure of this committee, tax-exempt foundations were also examined. The following was revealed: "A number of witnesses testified that colleges had surrendered their religious identifications in order to comply with foundation requirements to receive grants..." (William M. Bowen, Jr, Globalism America's Demise, Huntington House Inc., 1984, p.40)

The foundations' activities came under scrutiny again in the late 1940s and early 1950s due to several Congressional investigations. The first case involved Alger Hiss, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Hiss had worked for the State Department in 1936 and was an advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Hiss was elected president of this Carnegie Foundation in 1946.

In 1948 during the hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hiss was accused of being a member of the Communist party and of passing State Department documents to a Soviet Agent, Whittaker Chambers, editor of Time magazine. These charges resulted in two trials, the first of which ended in a hung jury. Hiss was convicted on two counts of perjury in the second trial on January 21, 1950.

By the early `50s, it had become obvious that someone was interfering with the educational system in the United States. Schools were no longer teaching the concepts associated with the economic and political structures inherent of our form of government.
A preliminary inquiry into the educational dilemma pointed to several tax-exempt foundations which had been funding the promotion of textbooks and methodologies that were socialistic and globalistic in nature. The three major foundations implicated in this inquiry were the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. (Michael Loyd Chadwick, The Freeman Digest, "Tax-Exempt Foundations Their Impact on the World," Published by the Freemen Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, June 1978 issue, p.1)

These preliminary findings resulted in House Resolution 561, approved by the 82nd Congress, demanding an investigation into the tax-exempt foundations to determine if any foundations had been "using their resources for un-American and subversive activities or for purposes not in the interest of the tradition of the United States." (Ibid, p.2)

This committee became known as the Cox Committee. The Cox Committee was short lived due to time constraints and the death of the committee chairman; however, "In its final report, the Cox Committee reported that a Moscow-directed, Communist plot existed to infiltrate American foundations and to use their funds for Communist purposes. (See No. 2514, 82nd Congress, 2nd Session)
Congressman B. Carroll Reece introduced House Resolution 217 to continue the investigation into the tax-exempt foundations. This resolution passed on July 27, 1953. The actual hearings by the Reece Committee lasted only nineteen days before being canceled as a result of questionable political maneuvers. While the evidence uncovered as a result of this committee was substantial, the foundations have continued to "do business as usual".

The Freemen Institute devoted its entire June, 1978 issue of The Freemen Digest to the finds of the Reece Committee. This publication contained an interview with Norman Dodd (Research Director for the Reece Committee), a summary of the investigation, and quoted excerpts of some of the testimonies given during the hearings. Some of the evidence disclosed by the Reece Committee included:

After the First World War, the foundation Trustees came to the conclusion that to continue moving the nation toward Carnegie's objective, they must control education. Carnegie solicited the help of the Rockefeller Foundation for this task. Rockefeller was given the task of changing education as it pertained to domestic subjects, while Carnegie worked on subjects dealing with international relationships. The major changes focused on the teaching of American history, by discrediting the founders of the U.S. and demeaning the nation's Constitutional structure of government. The Guggenheim Foundation facilitated the work of these two foundations by awarding fellowships to several "likely" students studying history and sending them to London where they were briefed in "what was expected of them." These students returned to the U.S. where they became the most influential members of the American Historical Society.

Toward the end of the 1920s, Carnegie funded the American Historical Society to prepare a report detailing what the future of the U.S. should be. The seventh volume of this report specifies that "the future belongs to collectivism" (William M. Bowen, Jr., pp 35-36)

In the Reece Committee Staff Report on Relations Between Foundations and Education, Assistant Research Director, Thomas M. McNiece wrote:

Miss Kathryn Casey, legal analyst of the Reece Committee, filed a detailed report on the foundations' activities in regard to education. This information was included in the Reece Committee's Final Report on Relations Between Foundations and Education. Excerpts from the Final Report include:

Under the heading of "The Redistribution of Power" it continues:

Under the heading "appendix A--Next Steps" the Report continues:

The President and Treasurer of the Carnegie Corporation of New York not only endorsed but lauded the call to socialism in the report described above. This was evidenced in their annual report for 1933-4.

Professor Harold J. Laski, philosopher of British socialism, made the following comment in his testimony about the Commission's report: `At bottom, and stripped of its carefully neutral phrases, the report is an educational program for a socialist America'. (William M. Bowen, Jr., p. 38)

The Reece Committee had this to say about the report produced by the Commission on Social Studies: "This committee finds the document from which we have quoted an astounding piece of work. We cannot understand how a foundation, Carnegie in this instance, administering funds dedicated to a public trust and made free of taxation by the grace of the people, could justify..having supported such a program. Is this what foundation executives refer to when they assert the right of foundations to `experiment' and to use `risk capital' to reach `new horizons'? (The Freeman Digest, p.22.)

Carnegie has continued to endorse the American Historical Society's "Conclusions and Recommendations" through the years. This will be evidenced in the next part of this report.

Aaron M. Sargent, a lawyer specializing in anti-subversive work and investigations affecting American education, testified that a movement began in the U.S. shortly before the turn of the century, closely related to Fabian socialism. According to Mr. Sargent, a group of American radical intellectuals organized an attack upon patriotism, "challenging basic American Philosophy founded on the doctrine of natural law." Sargent attributed the new revolutionary philosophy to the teachings of John Dewey. In fact, Sargent referred to Dewey as "a gift from the gods to the radicals".

Mr. Sargent pointed out that the period under discussion was one of growing intellectual radicalism, citing the statement of Professor Von Mises that socialism does not spring from the people but is a program instigated by special types of intellectuals `that form themselves into a clique and bore from within and operate that way..It is not a people's movement at all. It is a capitalizing on the people's emotions and sympathies and skillfully directing those sympathies toward a point these people wish to reach'. (Ibid. 31)
Sargent's testimony went on to include:

Another interesting aside is that Dr. counts' pamphlet, mentioned above, is listed in the Communist Leaders' Handbook for recommended reading. Carnegie had great interest in things Russian.

The Ford Foundation for the Advancement of Education and the Old Dominion Foundation jointly supported a project of the Institute for Philosophical Research. Mortimer J. Adler was the Director of this Institute. The project, implemented in 1952, is described as "undertaking a dialectical examination of Western humanistic thought with a view to providing assistance in the clarification of basic philosophical and educational issued in the modern world." (The Freeman Digest, p.29)

Mr. Adler is still around and very active in the field of education.

A portion of the concluding remarks of the Reece Committee stated:

The evidence uncovered as a result of the Reece Committee was incontrovertible. What action was taken against the foundations? NONE!!! The committee was canceled due to the disruptive behavior of Congressman Wayne Hayes of Ohio, a member of the Committee, and the matter was more or less dropped.

The findings of the Reece Committee merely became a matter of public record, and as such, is stored in the archives in Washington, DC. The information was never picked up by the media. However, at least two books have been published in the years that followed exposing the influence and power that the major foundations have had on our government and educational institutions.

Rene Wormser, General Counsel for the Reece Committee, published Foundations: Their Power and Influence in 1958. Dr. Carroll Quigley, a professed "insider" among the foundations and money people, published the "tell all" book, Tragedy and Hope - a History of the World in Our Time in 1966. On page 955 of his book, Quigley explains why the press never jumped to cover the Senate investigation: "It soon became clear that people of immense wealth would be unhappy if the investigation went too far and that the `most respected' newspapers in the country, closely allied with these men of wealth, would not get excited enough about any revelations to make the publicity worth while, in terms of votes or campaign contributions." (W. Cleon Skousen, p. 58)

In an interview with Michael Loyd Chadwick, editor of The Freemen Digest, Norman Dodd, Chief Investigator and Director of Research for the Reece Committee, was quoted as saying that the foundations had succeeded in providing the United States with a "national system of education." According to Dodd, through the efforts of "organizations and persons little known to the American public. The principles upon which this country was founded are now scorned as a result of the changes fostered by the foundations' control of education. The foundations have been able to take the philosophy upon which American civilization was based and turn it into its opposite..." (The Freeman Digest, p.75)

To recap the evidence gathered by the Reece Committee, it appears that the elitist coterie of tax-exempt foundations used the tax dollars of American citizens to gain control of our colleges, elementary and secondary schools, the media, the legislatures and courts, the textbook industry, and any person or organization even remotely connected with the educational establishment. Thus establishing this control, the foundations then went to work to mold and indoctrinate the voters and leaders of the future. The goal of this indoctrination was to engineer society into a collectivist, socialist state as outlined in the "conclusions and Recommendations" report.
You see, the "new world order" can be achieved in a more timely and tidy manner when the equalized masses willingly follow the "pied piper of Planethood" than if they surrender through force. To paraphrase Ludwig von Mises, Austrian economist and international educator, collectivism is not something that springs naturally from a people, rather it is something that is contemplated by special types of intellectuals or power-mongers.

The key to collectivism, then, is to play to the emotions and sympathies of the individual in order to "skillfully" direct him toward the predetermined Global objective. Perhaps this explains the trend toward hypnosis and New Age techniques in the classroom today. If you will recall the new thinking skills techniques were designed primarily to play to the emotional and sensitive side of the brain!!!???

In his book, The Naked Capitalist, Cleon Skousen had this to say regarding the foundations' role in education: "If these people had their way we would develop a prospective nightmare in our schools--schools without grades, without discipline, without prayers, without pledges of alliance, without Christmas, without Easter, without patriotism, without morals, without standards of speech or standards of dress." (W. Cleon Skousen, p. 72) - HAS NOT ALL THIS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED???

Isn't it amazing that everything Skousen forewarned in 1970 has come to pass in the `90s???

Has the locus of control in education changed today....NO! Today, Carnegie controls not only the teachers' unions (NEA and AFT), but also the educational studies, educational research, educational committees (including the Education Commission of the States, the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Association of State Boards of Education), individual state reform efforts (including state assessment testing and reform task forces), national testing instruments (NAEP, SAT, ETS, and the National Teachers' Examination), high school graduation requirements (Carnegie units), and most importantly, the development and dissemination of curriculum through the National Diffusion Network.

The list can go on and on. Carnegie's stronghold on education doesn't stop with organizations and testing, however. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching co-controls the national educational database (ESIDS along with federal and state governments. They also spearheaded and designed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act perhaps the most important piece of educational legislation of the century.

Some of Carnegie's projects include The Task Force on Teaching as a Profession and The Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents. And, let's not forget Carnegie's American-Soviet educational agreement.

Don't you find it odd that the people screaming the loudest about our public school nightmare are the very ones who delivered it to us in the first place????

First published in the Examiner, 5/97

Why Home-Schooling is Important for America

By Samuel L. Blumenfeld

We Americans are a very special breed. Something in our psyche, in our culture, has set us apart from other nations. In fact, people in other countries cannot understand why so many Americans have such a deep distrust of civil government. But when these foreigners arrive in this country as immigrants and expect to find themselves in the land of the free and the home of the brave, they find themselves in the land of bureaucratic regulation and educational confusion.

They settle in cities where the crime rate is much higher than in the countries they left behind. Yet, few return to their countries of origin because they detect something in America that is different and not to be found anywhere else: a deep sense of hope about the future, an indefatigable entrepreneurial spirit, boundless energy, the religious fervor of millions of individuals who are trying indeed to restore America to what it once was: a nation under God, a land of unlimited opportunity and limited, unobtrusive government bound by a Constitution based on Biblical principles. Ayn Rand, the novelist, put it in these words:

That moral law, of course, was Biblical law. Early visitors to America remarked on that aspect of the American way of life.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian who visited America in the 1830s, wrote:

How far we have come from that benevolent state in which Biblical law set the moral standards of American society! Today, what we have in America is the subordination of society to bureaucratic law, the law of the state. Yes, these laws were enacted by the legislators we elected. But too many of these legislators no longer believe in the primacy of Biblical law. They believe that man's law is superior to God's law. That philosophy is humanism, and that's the philosophical foundation of liberalism.

Liberalism goes under many guises: progressivism, socialism, collectivism. No matter what it is called, its most significant principle is its rejection of God as the true sovereign over our nation. And, of course, this has serious consequences for the family and for education.

Humanism

Humanism is an organized religious-philosophical movement dedicated to the overthrow of Christianity. The humanists declared war on Christianity in 1933 with the proclamation of its Humanist Manifesto which states:

In other words, the humanist program calls for taking control and transforming all of the cultural and religious institutions and associations of the nation so that they will be made to effectively advance the humanist agenda. No other religion in America calls for taking over the institutions and associations of other religions. We are supposed to be living in a society where religious freedom is respected by all religions. But we have it in the words of the Humanist Manifesto itself the intention of humanists to reconstitute everybody else's religious institutions, rituals, and ecclesiastical practices to conform with humanist goals.

Conflict

Nowhere has the philosophical conflict between humanism and Christianity been better explained than in Dr. Rousas J. Rushdoony's classic book, The Messianic Character of American Education, for it is in the field of education that the conflict has raged most intensely. It should be noted that one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 was John Dewey, father of progressive education.

Rushdoony argues that humanism not only threatens Christian education but educational freedom in general, because there is a link between religious liberty and educational freedom. Americans are slowly becoming aware that spiritually and morally, education is basically a religious function, even when it is atheistic, and Christian education is hardly viable without religious freedom. Rushdoony writes:

In America, the ultimate aims of humanism can be achieved only through the control of children and their education. The fundamental issue, therefore, is the ownership of children. Do humanists have the right to indoctrinate children in the public schools with humanist values without the knowledge or consent of the parents? On this issue, Rushdoony writes:

There are many cases in which compulsory school attendance laws have been used to deprive parents of their children. The most egregious case I know of is that of 18 year-old Barry Bear, a Native American, who has spent the last five years in state custody in Iowa because of truancy. Barry's mother, Anna Bear, is a white woman married to a Native America with whom she has had four sons and a daughter. The family lives on a reservation near Tama. Barry is mildly retarded and has what the public schools like to call "special needs." But like many retarded children, Barry suffers from a variety of ailments, mainly gastro-intestinal. And so, when it came to attending school, Barry was absent a great deal. However, that should not have bothered the school, since Anna Bear taught school for twenty years, was certified, and could teach Barry at home.

However, in May 1989 the Iowa Supreme Court ordered that Barry, then 12, be forced to attend school. His parents refused. And so in 1991, after a long court battle, Barry was removed from his home and placed in foster care. Barry has now been in state custody for five years. He's been in four or five foster homes, four or five public schools in which he's learned how to tie his shoelaces but not much else. He is presently at a residential hospital where he is being drugged and has become addicted. This mild, gentle boy has become a violent young adult who wants to go home and be with his parents and brothers and sisters, but the state will not let him go home. He is now their prisoner, and even though he has reached the age of 18 and is beyond compulsory school age, the court refuses to release him. Why? Because they own him, and they want every homeschooler in Iowa to know that they own him and every other child they can get their clutches on.

And we know why. The Des Moines Register of January 12, 1989 carried the following small item under the heading of "Statehouse Briefing":

Thus the humanist state can legally kidnap any child it wants through the compulsory education laws, and keep that child prisoner for as long as it wants: which means that the issue of Christian liberty can only be resolved in a philosophical confrontation between Christians and the state. I say philosophical confrontation, not a physical one, since the government has shown little restraint in its handling of citizens who disagree with its laws. (The ATF called out the U.S. Army with tanks and helicopters and 70 armed agents just to serve the hapless David Koresh with a search warrant for what?a technical gun violation which would have gotten Koresh maybe 3 months in jail if found guilty.) This means that you don't physically confront a government run by power-crazed bureaucrats and agents if you want to survive. (Randy Weaver found that out when his son and wife were killed over an arms technicality.) As long as this civil war can be fought in the courts and in the polling booths and by the legal actions of its citizens, there is no reason for physical confrontation.

Goal

Our goal must be the recognition of God's sovereignty over this nation. The principle of God's ownership was implicitly understood by the Founding Fathers who wrote the U.S Constitution and upheld God's sovereignty over man. George Washington, in his inaugural address in 1789 as first President of the United States under the new Constitution, said:

Thus, it was clearly understood at the very birth of the American republic that God's sovereignty ruled over the United States and that as long as the civil government remained subordinate to God's sovereignty, it was legitimate and thereby supportable by Christians.
But the introduction of secular, government-owned and -controlled schools and colleges began to erode that basic understanding in the minds of the American people. Statism, the philosophy that the state is the supreme power, slowly absorbed the loyalty of America's academic elite.

Religious Toleration

Slowly but surely the concept of religious freedom gave way to that of religious toleration. The original concept of religious freedom meant that the state had no jurisdiction over the church, its schools, or its affairs. But the new doctrine of religious toleration meant that the state granted certain privileges to churches and religious schools at its own pleasure, privileges, such as tax exemption, which could be withdrawn at any time for some "compelling state interest." Rushdoony writes:

This basic philosophy of statism and religious toleration has important ramifications for the Christian family. Rushdoony writes:

Home Schooling

In light of all of this, it is obvious now why the homeschooling movement is so important to America during this time of cultural civil war. The means to restore Christian liberty and Constitutional government are limited by the very circumstances of the battlefield. The battlefields of this civil war are to be found in the court houses, the legislatures, the media, and most important of all, in the actions that citizens can take to further the cause of freedom and godly government.

One of the most important actions families can take is to remove their children from the government schools and home-school them. By now about a million families have made that choice, and their actions have had a cumulative effect on American life that is only now beginning to be felt.

While the government asserts implicitly in court decisions here and there that it owns the children, it cannot say so explicitly to the public at large for fear of provoking a violent reaction. Thus school districts subtly assert the state-ownership principle by requiring parents to request permission to home-school and requiring home-schooled children to be tested. Some school districts require more and some less, depending on the disposition of the superintendent. But in some districts, where humanist superintendents refuse to acknowledge parents' rights and impose onerous conditions for home-schooling, parents have had to fight in court to defend their God-given right to educate their children as they see fit.

Despite the obstacles involved, the withdrawal of children from the humanist state system is significant because it means that those children will be free from statist, humanist, indoctrination. It means that Christian family will be free to raise their children in a godly way, in a way that conforms to the principles and values of the Founding Fathers. These are the children who will mold America's future and restore God's sovereignty over our government.

What is also important is what the home-school movement is doing for the Christian family. Home-schoolers are rediscovering the benefits, joys and blessings of family life. For it is in the family that love for one another and love of God is nurtured. The very act of educating one's children is a godly act called for in Deuteronomy. And therefore, it brings the Christian family in obedience to God's law and reestablishes the family as a unit governed under God, equal to the civil government. American civil government was never meant to usurp, replace or negate family government.

Family Government

The civil government must respect family government, for they both derive their legitimacy from the same divine source. But today's civil government has done all in its power to make the family totally subordinate to the state by taking control of the children through compulsory attendance laws and using state social agencies to undermine the integrity of the family.

It is true that "dysfunctional families" pose a problem for American society. But in the past it was the church or private agencies that dealt with such problems. Today, when the state takes control of a family, it plays the role of God. Social workers place children in foster homes that sometimes turn out to be worse than the homes they were taken from. And, of course, drug addiction and unwed teenage motherhood have exacerbated the dysfunctional family problem. Detached from God, these people become the victims of their own innate depravity.

But we should not lose our freedoms, and parents should not lose their rights simply because a portion of the population acts self-destructively. We cannot expect the drug addicts and unwed teenage mothers on welfare to save our country. Nor should we let them prevent us from doing what has to be done to restore America as a nation under God.

On the Front Line

Thus the home-school family is on the front line of this civil war, and we can only win this long, protracted struggle one family at a time. The quiet revolution is taking place right under the very noses of the humanists and there isn't much they can do about it.
Meanwhile, the home-schooling family is creating a revolution in American family life. The Christian family that lives in obedience to God sets a standard of morality that will stay with their children for the rest of their lives. That even some home-schooled children may go astray is inevitable, knowing what we do about human nature. But the vast majority are becoming the kind of citizens we can all be proud of.

Benefits of Home Schooling

The reconstruction of the American family is one of the great benefits of the home-school movement. The homeschooling family creates a generation bridge instead of a generation gap. Parents can pass on to their children their spiritual and moral values, thereby creating family continuity unto many generations.

Home-schooled children learn to respect their parents' intelligence, and the parents, who know their children better than any stranger could, enjoy teaching their children. One of the greatest pleasures of parenthood must be the act of instructing one's own children in all that is good and valuable, showing them what a wonderful world they were born in, what a wonderful God we have that has given us life and inspired our Founding Fathers to create a country of such great freedom. What a joy it is to introduce a child to the Word of God, or to poetry and great literature, or great music and art, or the wonders of nature, or to playful puppies and kittens, or to horseback riding, swimming, ice-skating, and heaven knows what else.

It is also well documented that home-schoolers learn better than public schoolers. Wherever home-schoolers have taken standardized achievement tests, they've come out ahead of the public schoolers. Why? Because the home is a better place to learn than a school. One-on-one teaching is more effective than the classroom. Also, at home the pre-schoolers learn from their older siblings. They can't help but learn because they hear it and see it all around them.

And what is even more interesting is that homeschooling parents learn more than their children. Quite an unexpected phenomenon. Many parents don't realize that when they begin teaching their children math or grammar or history or a foreign language they are also learning these subjects. In fact, because home-schooling parents generally use phonics to teach their children to read, they improve their own reading skills by learning the phonics they didn't have when they were in school. Most of today's young home-schooling parents were taught to read by the Dick-and-Jane look-say method and were deprived of the kind of intensive phonics necessary to become a good reader. Thus, learning phonics through teaching it to their children has been enormously beneficial.

Another important benefit of home-schooling is that the home is a safe haven for the children in a world awash with drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, violence, and moral corruption. Children need all the protection they can get. If you want a child to get involved with drugs, send him or her to a public school, the principle marketplace for drugs in America. That's where peer pressure is used to hook a child. If you want your child to become suicidal, just give him a good dose of death education. If you want your child to become sexually active, just give him or her explicit sex education beginning in kindergarten with instructions on how to use a condom. If you want your child to lose his religious faith, just subject him to endless lessons about evolution and critical thinkingwhich means criticizing your folks and your religion. If you want your child to start putting rings through his nose, and safety pins in his eyebrows or navel, send him to a public school where his peers will persuade him of the beauties of self-mutilation.

Home-schooling provides healthful socialization, not the negative kind you get in the public school. In homeschooling, brothers and sisters get to know one another very well and they become lifelong friends. In the public school, brothers and sisters go their separate ways, bonding with their own clique of friends, engaging in mischievous behavior, drinking, smoking, dating, getting high, listening to acid rock or heavy metal music, having sex.

Home-schooled kids get to know other home-schooled kids. Their Christian code of morals determines their behavior. They believe in courtship, not dating. They are future-oriented, planning to have long, healthful, productive lives. Public school teenagers live for the moment, the thrill, the party. Otherwise, they are bored, hanging out at malls or parking lots, killing time before going home to surly parents. "Where'd you go?" their parents ask. "Nowhere," is the usual response. "What did'ya do?" "Nothing."

But perhaps the greatest dividend that home-schoolers enjoy is the ownership of their own time. Time is one of the most precious commodities a family has, and the more time a family can devote to its own improvement and enjoyment the better it is for all of its members. Public schools squander the best time in a family's life. They rob the family of the time that could be spent together, learning, playing, and creating. The state wants that time in order to do its work of indoctrination. But that time belongs to the family.
Another development among home-schoolers is their political awakening. They know that they must get more God-fearing men into the Congress and state legislatures if home-schooling is to survive the coming onslaught from educational statists. Home-schoolers made quite a difference in the elections of November 1994. And they must become politically active and stay politically active for the statists would like nothing better than to get politicians in power who will enact laws making homeschooling illegal.

I think I've made the case that home-schoolers are very important to America's future, more important than many of them realize. They are the true revolutionaries doing God's work, one family at a time. Our humanist education system is like a big hourglass. Each grain of sand is a child, and every second of that hour several grains of sand fall through the tiny hole separating the top from the bottom. Eventually the top will be empty. How long it will take, no one knows. But the day may come when the public schools will be virtually empty not because we have abolished public education but because the parents for the most part will have abandoned them. Yes, there will be those who will send their children to government schools out of ignorance, or indifference, or a misguided loyalty to an institution that no longer works. But the taxpayers may decide that keeping the public schools open for that diminished group is uneconomical and decide to provide the remaining families with tuition to attend private schools. Who knows. we may yet see such a day in the not-too-distant future!

(©Chalcedon Report, 1996. Used by permission.)

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