It's All In The World View
Many Americans are
uncomfortable with what they are seeing in the restructuring of
America. Some wonder why they are
uncomfortable but cannot put a finger on the problem. When all is stripped away, the bottom
line is that it really is all in the world view.
World view n: WELTANSCHAUUNG: a
comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world esp. from a specific
standpoint (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).
Continually, in the context of
education reform and the reengineering of the corporation, we hear the term paradigm. Paradigm is simply another term
for model, a specific standpoint.
To quote Steven Covey from his popular book, Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People, paradigm…
was originally a scientific term,
and is more commonly used today to mean a model, theory, perception,
assumption, or frame of reference.
In the more general sense, it's the way we "see" the world not
in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving,
understanding, interpreting.
In comparing paradigm and world
view, it becomes obvious that they are synonymous. A person's world view is based on the
philosophy, the principles, that guide his or her life.
The United States
was founded on Judeo-Christian principles or the Christian world view. This was not by happenstance,
this was by design because our Founding Fathers knew that this was the only way
in which the people could be assured the freedom, liberty, and justice they
sought. The Judeo-Christian world
view sees man as an individual creation of God, special in his own
right, worthy and valued in his individuality, with rights as an
individual. This was the basis of
the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Under the Judeo-Christian world view,
our nation has prospered and flourished as no other nation had before or has
since. Most people do not realize
that the Judeo-Christian world view has been responsible for that, largely
because the history and foundations of our nation have been absent from the
classroom for far too long.
[a] National
Department of Education…the studies will be revolutionized, being
cleansed of religious, patriotic, and other features of the bourgeois ideology. The students will be taught the basis of
Marxian dialectical materialism, internationalism and the general ethics of the
new Socialist society. [1]
If
paradigm and world view are synonymous, then obviously a paradigm
shift means a shift in world view. From what world view
to what world view? Although
most people don't consciously categorize their principles, their values, their
beliefs in terms of a world view, they do, nonetheless, have a world view. Even though they may not have been
raised in a church, most people were raised on the Judeo-Christian world
view.
To what world view, then, is this shift
trying to take us? In one word: humanism. Humanism, like Christianity, is a
religion (Torcaso vs
Watkins; 367 U.S. 488, 1961).
Humanism permeates every facet of education reform. This should come as no surprise, considering
that the purpose of education is now to produce a workforce, just as such is
the purpose of education in countries that embrace humanism as the state
religion; more especially the Eastern Bloc nations.
Humanism believes
that man is devoid of spirituality and self-determinism, and must, therefore,
be conditioned to his environment, whatever that environment is decided to be
in the created future.
In order to condition man to his
environment, it first must be decided what that environment will be. This is the vision — what
"we" [2] want the world to look like in x number of years. Next, society must be assessed as to
where they are now as compared to where "we" want them to be. This is known as the gap analysis.
Next, "we" must plan how
the greater number of people in society are going to
be moved from where they are now to where "we" want them to be. This is known as the strategic plan. Then comes the implementation plan
or action plan — how "we" are going to move society from
where they are now to where "we" want them to be. At this point, "we" must come
up with the goals — what people must look like and act like, what
people must demonstrate mastery of, in order for them to arrive at where
"we" want them to be.
This is the why and wherefore of the exit
outcomes that states and school districts are coming up with. In achieving the vision of the world of
the 21st century, the goal of education is to produce the world class worker. The state essential academic learning
requirements (exit outcomes) define what every child should know and be able
to do as a result of his/her educational experience, if he/she is to become
a world class worker in the 21st century.
In turn, the curriculum, instruction, and teaching methodologies are
aligned with the exit outcomes to ensure mastery of the exit outcomes; the
measure of said mastery being the assessment.
The assessments are a process of
stimuli and response — does the child respond appropriately to the given
stimuli (also known as a prompt or trigger); is the child being
conditioned properly to his perceived environment? Stimuli and response, known as operant
conditioning, finds basis in the rat box experiments of B.F. Skinner.
How "we" decide what
"we" want the world to look like is the product of the decentralized
decision making process or consensus building process using a cross
section of the community. This
process has two purposes:
The process of facilitation is a very
insidious process wherein the individual participants are encouraged to arrive at
a group decision that all give input to and all agree to
abide by. Once the individual
agrees to play by the rules, he has effectively given over his individual mind
to the group in achieving oneness of mind, synonymous with consensus
(defined as solidarity of belief).
This requires that he set his individual values and beliefs aside in the
name of relationship building; in so doing creating conflict between
group values and beliefs and individual values and beliefs, resulting in the
abrogation of individual values and beliefs in behest of those of the group.
What people don't realize, when they
participate in facilitated meetings, is that the outcome has already been
decided; that the facilitative process is merely the instrument for
If the vision of the world of tomorrow
is to be achieved, the greater number of people must change from trusting that
God will provide for their future and place their trust in man to build the
future we want — to create
the future. The
facilitative process is, first and foremost, intended to do that. This is also why those who will not go
along must be neutralized or marginalized, or must agree not to sabotage. This facilitative process is also being
used on children in the classroom and gives definition to the term teacher
as facilitator, the purpose of which is to relieve children of their
Judeo-Christian beliefs and make them free thinkers with higher order
thinking skills.
Humanism believes that individual man is simply part of
the greater whole, a mere atom in a larger molecule — of one mind, one system, what affects one part affects
all parts, wholistic or holistic with all parts interconnected and interdependent
(systems thinking or general systems theory); the collectivist society. This plays itself out in the
cooperative, collaborative learning atmosphere in which children are taught to
function as part of the team, not as an individual. It plays itself out in the misguided
conception of teachers that it is their duty to address the whole child. It plays itself out in the consensus
process, the purpose of which is to establish oneness of mind. It follows from this belief that man is
a mere instrument of the state, thus human capital; there to serve the
state, not there to be served by the state. In this context, man is seen in
accordance to his worth to the state.
This regulates where he works, where he lives, and what needs [3] are
met. The higher the value of the human resource, the more his needs are
met. When the human resource is no
longer of value to the state, his needs are no longer important to the state,
giving rise to the need to euthanize those no longer of value.
Humanism
believes that right and wrong are situational, relative, a matter of perception. This plays itself
out in conflict resolution programs sold to parents as teaching children to get
along but that are really about teaching children collectivism, and in drug and
sex education programs where children are taught that engaging in promiscuity
and drug use is a matter of "choice." This also plays itself out in higher
order thinking skills as already discussed.
Humanism, and the tenets thereon built,
reject the sin nature of man; believing that man is inherently good, that only
his experiences and material environment make him a bad person (reference the I Am Your Child Campaign and the claim that
early
childhood experiences predicate the child's future). In his latter days, Abraham Maslow, one of the chief founders and proponents of Third
Force psychology based on humanism, stated that the whole theory was flawed as
it failed to acknowledge the sin nature of man. Dr Carl Rogers, another founder and
proponent of Third Force psychology, elucidated, in Freedom to Learn,
second edition, 1983, the failure of Third Force psychology. The book is not to be found in libraries
even though the first (1969) and third (1994) editions are readily available.
The whole of this is intended to put
"man in charge of his destiny" — creating his future
— thus the emergence and use of the word empowered. In the world of Third Force psychology,
the empowered homo sapien is said to be self-actualized. This is another way of saying that the
individual looks to man to solve the problems of the world in defiance of the
authoritarian God.
Humanism, by its very construct,
establishes a class society in which an unelected few (the "we")
decide the fate of the many — the true essence of democracy. This is the underlying philosophy of
feudalism in which the masses live in poverty to the benefit of the elite at
the top — those deemed the intelligentsia. Such a philosophy finds venue in Russia
and impoverished nations where the leaders live in luxury and the masses suffer
for the benefit of the collective.
It is a world view that oppresses people. But it is not represented that way. It is represented as a philosophy of enlightenment,
as freeing man from the constraints of religious doctrine, as democracy,
the democratic society, the participatory democracy. What it really does is lead mankind into
the oppression of the socialist/communist society under the misguided
conception of perfectly equalizing the possessions, opinions, and passions of
all (Federalist Paper #10).
Humanism was the religion of the Dark Ages, a time of great oppression
and human suffering. Humanism
fragments a society, rending the fabric of the society such that freedom,
liberty and justice do not long survive.
America stands in great peril. Our religious institutions have failed
in their duty to the people; they have failed to uphold the truth and to speak
it from the pulpit, they have failed to teach Biblical law. In the name of acceptance and
compromise, they have lent their hand, their name, their leadership and their
credibility to the restructuring of America. Too many people don't know what they
really believe, and are, therefore, confused and apathetic. That confusion has allowed our schools
to become institutions of humanist indoctrination. The children of today will be the
leaders of tomorrow.
America is in the throws of the chaos
that necessarily predicates the moving of a nation to dialectical
materialism — the evolution to the socialist/communist state. Were most people to know, they would be
horrified. But ignorant and
apathetic, hoping for the best, seeking relief from the chaos and thus being
willing to let go of the past and take a chance on the future (Rules for
Radicals, Saul Alinsky, 1971), they are easily led, easily used, and
easily manipulated.
If the American people believe and depend
on the political process and the politicians to save our nation, they are
putting their trust in a system that is so corrupt that it will not long
endure. It is only an educated and
involved populace that will stop the forward march of America to destruction. As David slew Goliath, so can this
monster be slain.
But if it happens, it will be the American people who do it by the will
and grace of God.
__________________
[1] Toward a Soviet
America, William J Foster, 1932.
Foster was the head of the American Communist Party. [Back]
[2] As used here
"we" denotes the change agents who have set out, via systems theory,
to "create the future" according to their own humanistic vision of
the "perfect society" — the utopian society. [Back]
[3] Note that
"need" and "want" are not the same. [Back]
© May 1997;
Lynn M Stuter
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