Numbing and Dumbing: Educating Locally Towards Collectivism

America is being educated, in mass, towards an acceptance of collectivist philosophies and goals; and away from American traditions, republicanism, local cohesiveness, and the Constitution. Children are being educated within the schools; both adults and children are being educated through the media. This is not some new fad that the educational establishment has decided to follow, but rather a purposeful plan that is directed via unseen strings, such as those that puppet masters might use.

Actually, the ‘puppet master’ concept is a very apt analogy, and you may want to read G. Edward Griffin, who explains the involvement of the socialists/collectivists in the behind-the-scenes planning for Americans and their educations. These things are not happening far from your home; they are happening in your consolidated, ‘neighborhood’ schools.

The Republican Party may claim to be so conservative; so supportive of improved academic, knowledge-based, standards, but notice that the Party then proceeds to think, act and vote in lockstep with the Democrats. These two ‘opposing parties’ are constantly devising ways to legislate global education; are becoming more successful at numbing the morals, patriotism and analytical skills of the citizenry; and are continually dumbing down curriculum, children, and teachers.

Ignore the “Republican vs. Democrat” slight-of-hand, and ask yourself, “Does this politician vote in ways that would lead the country back to the era of Individualists; or does this person vote in ways that will lead us deeper into group collectivism?” There truly is a two-party system, but it is “Individualists vs. Collectivists” rather than “Elephants vs. Asses.”

The real agenda of the puppeteers is being put into place everywhere and the goals are being achieved: child-by-child; classroom-by-classroom; school-by-school; in every consolidated-for-just-this-purpose school district. The goals are being implemented and most of this is going unnoticed and unheeded by the majority of the American people.

(Book suggestions: The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto; The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Iserbyt; The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin; The Giver by Lois Lowry; This Perfect Day by Ira Levin.)

Parents who enroll their children in public schools must be knowledgeable about these goals, because the lessons and the shaping are conducted in subtle ways. In all likelihood, most teachers are not even aware that they have been duped, brainwashed, into training children for living and believing in collectivist (i.e. communist/socialist) worldviews. Only by understanding the processes used to achieve these goals, will you be able to recognize them, and hope to combat them. In the end you may see that even the strongest attempts fail, and you may opt, as we finally did, to remove your children from public education.

The actions toward reshaping children, and modifying their loyalties towards family and culture, begin early; actually upon the child’s enrollment in school. Parents cannot learn too much about the ‘numbing and dumbing’ process, and must be prepared to be ever vigilant; watchful for any process used to ‘reinvent’ your children.

In the district where our son attended, the ‘puppeteers’ showed their hand at the first parent/teacher conference of kindergarten, when we were informed, “David refuses to share with the other children; he is very selfish.” That seemed odd, since our child was normally generous to a fault, dropping every coin he received into the Humane Society doghouse collection units, and offering to give his toys to any child who admired them. I stated, “We teach him NOT to share, for fear that he will willingly hand over excessive tax payments to an already too-large, too-intrusive government.”

David later explained that he had been the only child interested in building with blocks, and, being the creative engineer that he is, he had nearly completed a large, intricate bridge. It was then that the other children decided that they, too, wanted to play with blocks and be creative. David objected to having his project destroyed, but the ‘group wishes’ prevailed and the teacher forced David to “share the blocks equally with the other children.” David asked, “Mom, what could I build with four blocks?” His analysis was insightful, and parents should note that such collectivist “learn to share” lessons destroy incentive and spread resources – both in the schools and in the real world – too thin to be of productive use to anyone.

About this same time, in the building where I was teaching, the young principal decided that every child should receive an award at the honor assembly so that “all the children would feel well about themselves.” The assembly drug on for hours as each child was presented with a certificate for …something. Following that, additional time was spent presenting the genuine academic, music, and citizenship awards. As we left the gym, I asked the principal if he thought that many of the children would feel badly in light of the fact that they only received one (1) certificate while other children received 2, 3, even more. My question went unanswered, but the look of shocked insight on the principal’s face was priceless.

Any award given freely, rather than upon merit, is meaningless, and parents should question the motives of any school activity that appears to be a phony ‘build self-esteem’ show. Children know when they cannot read, or do math, or achieve. A fake certificate, or a meaningless high school diploma, does not change the reality. It does not fool anyone, especially the unskilled and uneducated recipient. Children recognize a lie, and their self-esteems suffer for being forced to play a part in such public deceptions.

During first grade, a woman came on a weekly basis to teach the children living skills. We resented the loss of academic instruction time, but at first these special sessions seemed fairly harmless – to recognize and avoid poisonous products; to only take medicines given by a parent. Soon, though, the topics became inappropriate: sexuality and homosexuality; Deputy Dog taught the evil of guns and instructed the children to report any gun to the police; instruction in how to phone the police if their parents tried to spank them. We complained to the principal but achieved nothing. I was not working that year, so I began spending part of every day in David’s building – volunteering in the computer lab, tutoring students, and reading aloud each library day. I carefully observed everything, and since David did have a very fine first grade teacher, we made it through the remainder of that year.

The library was a sore spot, however, for the first graders were not allowed to browse through the shelves in search of a book that would appeal to the individual interests of each child. The librarian had simple, low-level books spread on a table and the students had to choose only from those. I complained to the principal, explaining that the available books were ones most likely to be found in homes; that we should use our libraries to EXPAND a child’s world and knowledge base, not to keep it static. The librarian did then put a few more simple, low-level books onto three shelves next to the table of simple, low-level books. The children were allowed to browse – but only on those three shelves. In anger, I browsed the shelves myself every week and checked out interesting and worthwhile books in my name, for use by my son. The other children checked out the prescribed books and carried home the official ‘lessons.’ Parents should evaluate the library policies in light of the role they may play in developing a new, collective group of children with increasingly dumbed-down and homogenized interests, thoughts, skills.

Second grade arrived, and we hoped for more focus on academics and knowledge; on development of creative thinking skills; on educating for competency as citizens. We again had misjudged, and underestimated, the powers of the puppet masters. David came home with lots of arts projects and few instructional papers. Math was limited to a review of first grade concepts. Reading instruction was kept at the level of the lowest child. The entire class was leveled down, rather than leveled up.

Meetings with the principal reconvened and he agreed that David was being held back by using a first grade basal reader, since he tested at an eleventh (11th) grade reading level. However, the principal would not force the librarian to allow David to check out ‘chapter books’ from the library since the policy was that children had to be in third grade to check out more difficult books. It would not be fair for David to begin reading chapter books before the other children were able to do so. In anger, I browsed the library myself and I checked out chapter books in my name for use by my son.

The principal advised David to be patient, for in third grade he could join the Odyssey of the Mind club where his creativity and intelligence would be put to good use. We bit our lips and waited for the year to end.

Third grade arrived, and David was assigned to a wonderful traditional teacher with about three decades of experience. Classes were boring for him, though, since the teacher had to teach the neglected second grade concepts before she could begin teaching third grade concepts. But…tryouts for Odyssey of the Mind were coming up, and David eagerly anticipated the long-awaited opportunity to use his inventive powers.

But…David did not earn a place on the OM team. He was not chosen because “David is not a team player.” David explained the audition: each group was given several pieces of paper and told to build the tallest tower possible. The ‘in-the-box’ thinkers in David’s group placed the flat pieces on top of each other, ending up with a tower approaching one millimeter in height. They realized that their tower was not very high, but became angry when David began folding pieces of paper into three-dimensional structures that could support weight and be set atop one another to make a tall tower. The flat-sheet thinkers were awarded slots on the competitive team. David was hurt to see academically and intellectually weaker children earn places on this ‘prestigious’ team, especially after his patient wait – of more than two years – to use his skills and creative energies. We removed David from public schooling during Christmas vacation that year, but he refused to even again try out for OM. He never has forgotten the demeaning trick that had been pulled on him in a public school.

There is little room for intelligent, independent thinkers in today’s public educational system. The toll taken by Collectivist agendas on these Individualist types of children and adults is simply too profound; too damaging. Public education has lost sight of the goal of education. Educators rave on about how the STATE needs to make sure that children have their basic needs met before they can be expected to learn; all the while forgetting that historically children arrived, often underfed and poorly clothed, at drafty one-roomed schoolhouses where uncertified teachers educated individuals who would create and build one of the truly great civilizations on Earth. Now it is questionable whether most graduates are capable of understanding that which they have been bequeathed, let alone have the competencies and knowledge to restore and maintain America.

Once parents understand the dangers of, and the agenda and history behind, state schooling, many will refigure their budgets, reassess their priorities, and remove their children from a system where puppet masters with invisible strings pull all people and all policies towards Collectivism. The only hope is that the remaining Individualists will fight all attempts by the collective to ensnare their children and attempt to teach them to: share; hold back; fail with the group, underachieve; then willingly work to clothe and feed the lazy and the elite few at the top.

There is a huge difference between a Republic, and a Democracy. The Collectivists understand that well, and will even lie to children in hopes that young people will grow up to mistakenly believe that America was meant to be a democracy. The puppet masters go about the business of ‘numbing and dumbing’ the population, in hopes that we all will let every collective policy pass, unnoticed and unchallenged.

February 25, 2003