A WEEKLY COMMENTARY
Year Twenty-Nine ... Number Thirty-Four ... September 3, 1982
TO SO ALTER AMERICAN SOCIETY
As we watched the children climbing into the dirt-brown bus to be transported into another town for their statist indoctrination, we were reminded of the statement made recently by Eleanor Howe, research editor of The National Educator. She wrote: "Recently deceased Dr. Max Rafferty once told me the school establishment had no need to change to meet any demends by the citizenry. The then Superintendent of Public Instruction for California schools told me on one of my many trips to the State Capitol that battling sex education, textbooks, etc, was an exercise in futility. He said, 'On the one hand you wear yourself out mentally, physically and financially trying to get the establishment to see your point of view. Why should they change the course they have charted when, on the other hand, you continue to supply them with all they need to stay in business -- your children and your money?' Since the told me that in 1970, I have been trying to get people to understand that they can in no way change the humanist seminaries better known as public schools"
The answer, then, is obvious. Quit paying more and more money into the statist education system; and stop sending your children to statist schools. U.S. News in its issue of Sept. 4, cites a trend: "Last March, Illinois voters in 31 or 37 districts refused requests for tax increases or bond issues to aid local schools. In Michigan, 12 percent of the appeals to sustain current funding were rejected. Fifty-eight Oregon districts may have to shorten their school year unless voters approve more funds ... Growing local resistance comes as state and federal officials are reducing school aid. Federal funding for elementary and secondary education could drop as much as 9 percent this fall ... Congress has approved higher spending levels, but President Reagan has yet to agree ... In Minnesota support for elementary and secondary education dropped to 2.1 billion dollars ... About 2,500 teachers in Minnesota were laid off ... The American Federation of Teachers estimates a record of 55,500 teachers will be out of work when schools open this fall."
As funds for statist schools drop off, more and more independent and church operated schools are opened. And an important new development has been spreading like a forest fire. Parents in ever greater numbers are deciding to teach their own children. When there are no Christian schools available, or where the tuition cost is too high for the family, parents are schooling their own chlidren at home, with dramatically good results. Best source of information on this subject is an excellent manual by Virginia Birt Baker (Mrs. Charles N. Baker), Teaching Your Children At Home, can be ordered from Ginny Baker, R t. 1, Box 25, Fairfield, Montana 59436. $7 plus $1.75 for postage and handling. Listed in the manual are the compulsory attendance statutes of the various states, court decisions regarding home education, a grade-by-grade cirriculum, how to teach, etc. Essential qualities are answered plainly and specifically. And for those interested in the development of the home education movement, there is an excellent Home Education Newsletter, a publication of The National Association of Home Educators, Rt. 3, Box 324-B, Gallatin, Missouri 64640. Monthly, $17.50 per year. Please understand that these are not "paid advertisements." It is essential that dedicated Christian Americans see to it that their children are not subjected almost daily to the humanistic and atheistic indoctrination that they are sure to receive in the statist schools of today. The only legal alternative is the Christian school or Christian home education. For this reason, those aiding in the home education movement are literally doing a service to both God and their country.
As more and more children fail to report to the statist schools, the funds from governments supporting those schools are reduced. This has made Terrell Bell, Secretary of the Department of Education and the NEA more determined than ever to control the indoctrination of all American children. Bell is determined, regardless of cost or where the money is coming from, to bring the American society into the "Technotronic Era" which was explained by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book, "Between Two Ages." In writing this blueprint for the Trilateral Commission, Brzezinski was quite frank. He wrote: "Though the objective of shaping a community of the developed nations is less ambitious than the goal of world government; it is more attainable. It is more ambitious than the concept of an Atlantic community but historically more relevent to the new spatial revolution. Though cognizant of present divisions between communist and non-communist nations, it attempts to create a new framework for international affairs not by exploiting these division but rather by striving to preserve and create openings for eventual reconciliation." Accordingly, an effort must be made to forge a community of the developed nations that would embrace the Atlantic states, the more advanced European communist states, and Japan."
Therefore, Brzezinski continues, there must be developed "a new generation accepting as routine managerial processes current innovations such as planning-programming-budgeting systems (PPBS) and the appearance in high business echelons of 'top computing executives.'" Furthermore, "in the technotronic society the trend seems to be toward .. effectively exploiting the latest communications techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason. Reliance on television -- and hence the tendency to replace language with imagery, which is international rather than national, creates a somewhat cosmopolitan (internationalist) involvement of global affairs." Hence, "Scientific and technological developments may become the handmaidens of constructive change (through home video tapes, closed-channel programming) far greater in diversity than is today available (1970), as well as more extensive exploitation of the audio-visual media by more institutions (schools) and organizations." Finally, "the increasing involvement of business companies in education may lead to a more rapid adaptation of the latest techniques and scientific knowledge to the educational process. American business and, to a lesser extent, the government have already undertaken extensive programs of managerial retooling and retraining." This was written in 1970, remember.
To so alter American society, making it compatible with the technocratic era that Brzezinski proposed, he stressed two imperatives: 1) Businesses as well as government must take part in this "retooling and retraining"; and 2) Computers, Visual-Aids, every new form of technological and electronic skills (hence the word technotronic) must be used in the school classrooms. It is noteworthy how Terrell Bell has stressed these same imperatives. It is as though the blueprint was completed long before Bell became Secretary of a separate Department of Education. As soon as he was approved and took charge, Bell began his program of converting the Department into a foundation. As such, like the Public Broadcasting Corporation and similar quasi-government institutions, Bell would have little to no congressional or administrative checks and balances, and would be able to bring businesses into the educational institution (this once was called fascism). This American Educational Foundation would be able to accept, in addition to government grants, donations from corporations, other foundations, wealthy philanthropists such as Armand Hammer and David Rockefeller, etc. U.S. News of Sept. 6 notes the trend: "In California, about 60 nonprofit, tax-exempt educational foundations have been created, most isnce the mid-70s, to assist financially troubled schools .. More local businesses are extending a hand to the public schools. Among the most popular partnerships are 'adopt a school' programs in which businesses assume responsibility for donating money, equipment or instruction to a particular school. In Atlanta, 104 businesses have adopted 50 schools. Telecommunications giant Scientific Atlanta, for example, works with a magnet school of math and science, lending equipment and engineers to teach classes ... Apple Computer, Inc, has offered to put a computer in every school if Congress passes a law that would let the firm write off the cost of making the equipment. Observers give the bill an even chance of passing next year, but the Reagan administration opposes the meausre. Anthony Sutton and Patrick Wood in their book Trilaterals over Washington, Vol. II, page 13, comment: "A prime Trilateral objective is to blur the distinction between 'private' and 'public' operations so as to divert public funds into private projects set up by Trilaterals to achieve Trilateral objectives."
Zbigniew Brzezinski's book "Between Two Ages" is said to be the bible of the Trilateral Commission. It deals with the development of the "Technotronic Era", the aim of which is, among other things, to do away with all religions, especially Christianity, and all traditional ethical standards, replacing them with what he calls "rational humanism on an international scale." In his book he mentions briefly the educational systems of France, West Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Latin America and the Soviet Union. When he discusses education in America, he begins with the acceptance of PPBS, then concentrates on the technological and electronic development which will alter American society. A computer in every classroom, data banks from which will be issued software, that is, computer discs on all subjects, prepared by "experts" and used instead of textbooks. There is to be distribution of electronic mail, the very latest audio-visual equipment. The final plan is the creation of a controlled and directed society, and a society that is to be dominated by an elite. To tie this all together properly, let's start where Brzezinski started, with PPBS.
In 1954 a series of reports was introduced at the Rand Corporation, a think tank which does much business with our Defense Department. Out of these reports was born the Programming, Planning, Budgeting System (PPBS), often referred to by other names, especially Management by Objective. PPBS, in 1956, was introduced into the Defense Department by Robert Strange McNamara, then its secretary. In 1965, President Johnson intiated the program on a government-wide basis. When the computer came along, PPBS found its home and under the guise of efficiency and financial accountability, the computerized (or technotronic) system has been promoted by the Federal Department of Education, by the State Departments of Education, and certainly by computer producers and programmers. So, pre-programmed instruction found its way into the classrooms of the nation. It should be apparent that whoever controls such programs, controls the minds of the future generations. And, as one critic pointed out, "Objectionable change-agent programs can be hidden within the coded security of the computer -- known only to the change-agent who placed them there, down in the bowels of the machine where they will escape the notice of even the most knowledgeable parent!"
There is another side to this technotronic era: Programs are not produced and developed by the "elite" unless there is going to be a profit in the venture. A corresponding friend took the time and trouble to check Standard and Poors at the local library. The research revealed some very interesting information concerning the connections between technotronic equipment producers and members of the Council on Foreign Relations and/or the Trilateral Commissions. We quote:
And so it goes. While the list is far from complete, it should serve to make the point, as to who is in control of the technology designed for the "Technocratic Era."
Though not a computer manufacturer, let us take a quick look into the RAND Corporation -- the folks who brought you Delphi Technique/Consensus, PPBS, and a public school voucher demonstration: "The First Year at Alum Rock." Chairman and director is listed as J. Paul Austin, (Coca-Cola, CFR, TC, Hudson Institute, Woodruff Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation). Vice President, George K. Tanham (CFR). On the board of directors we find William T. Coleman (Brookings Institution, CFR, TC, Chase Manhattan Bank); George H. Weyerhauser (TC). Six other members of the CFR are listed as directors of RAND in addition to the above named persons: Lewis M. Branscomb, Lloyd N. Morriset, Wesley W. Posvar, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Eleanor B. Sheldon, and Walter B. Wriston.
In view of the aforementioned facts, can there be much doubt about the 'Technotronic Era' being a quantum leap into cybernetic suicide? Is there any doubt but that this does indeed constitute a society dominated by an elite who would not hesitate -- in fact has planned to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior, opinions and at the same time keeping society under close surveillance and control? (End of extended quotation).
On the subject of "Global Schooling: The Re-Education of America" for the Technotronic Era, the following article appeared in the Oct. 1980 issue of Trilateral Observer under the sub-heading "Parents Need to be Educated Also": John I. Goodland wrote in "Schooling for a Global Age": 'Parents and the general public must be reached also. Otherwise, children and youth enrolled in globally oriented programs may find themselves in conflict with values assumed in the home. And then the educational institution frequently comes under scrutiny and must pull back. (Emphasis added).
The greatest obstacle to the implementing of global education is not lack of funds, of change-agents or computers. It is the parent who rejects statist, atheistic training for his children. Persecution sometimes results, but perseverence for Christ-oriented teaching always receives its own rich reward.
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