ARE AMERICAN SCHOOLS ADRIFT
                       Aldo S. Bernardo, PhD


I find it truly astonishing that so few Americans are aware of
the radical education reforms that have been sweeping this
country since 1983.  It was then that Pres. Reagan appointed a
Commission to study the condition of American education following
the radical movements of the 60s and 70s.  The Commission's
report was entitled A NATION AT RISK, and subtitled "The
Imperative for Educational Reform." It showed that American
students could no longer hold their own in comparative world-wide
testing, and it called for greater involvement by parents and
taxpayers.  By 1989 the Association of American Governors, headed
by then-Governor Clinton, presented President Bush with a report
listing goals which they considered essential for preparing young
Americans for the 21st century.  Eventually the findings were
incorporated in legislation known as Goals 2000: Educate America
Act signed by Clinton in 1995.  But what most people missed was
the subtitle of the Goals 2000:  "A Strategy for Reinventing Our
Schools."

Ever since then, the federal government has been leading the
assault on traditional education, pouring billions of dollars a
year into programs that have done little or nothing to improve
the international status of our students.  In fact, results have
shown a steady decline in all areas of student performance,
especially literacy, science and math.  Why the dismal results?
Because the 8 goals proposed by Goals 2000 were so vague that
they were quickly seized upon by "educrats" to make proposals
that they thought appropriate to "reinvent our schools."

Strangely enough, these new "educrats" had descended from the
John Dewey philosophy of education which earlier in the century
had led to the so-called "progressive" or "experiential"
education which tied schooling directly to life.  This in turn
was pre-empted by the celebrated Harvard psychologist, B.F.
Skinner, who, through experimentation with rats, had proclaimed a
"technology of behavior" that would enable schools to train
students like rats.  And this in turn had attracted a Chicago U.
social scientist, Benjamin Bloom who as early as 1968 wrote, "The
prime goal of education is to challenge the students' fixed
beliefs."  Bloom became the granddaddy of so-called learning
"outcomes" which were based on his conviction that schools could
go beyond the academic (or cognitive) by developing outcomes or
goals related to feelings, attitudes and behavior.  It was such
thinking that led to the establishment of the OBE movement headed
by another Chicago sociologist and follower of Bloom, William
Spady, who in the mid-80s received a federal grant of over $500M
from the U.S. Dept of Education to spread OBE throughout the
country.

Spady went beyond his master, Bloom, in proclaiming that
cognitive or academic education must YIELD to affective education
if true reform is to be achieved.  That is, education must affect
or excite the emotions.  In other words affective education means
teaching "desirable attitudes" toward life and learning which in
turn means tinkering with student behavior and values rather than
with imparting academic knowledge.  "Desirable attitudes" are of
course those prescribed by granting foundations and the radical
curricular reformers.  As a result the dedication to intellectual
development, family and nation is replaced by group peer-tutored
performances, environmental cultism, New World globalism, New Age
fads, the idea that if it feels good, do it - all of which is to
say that education becomes social engineering.  This gets to the
heart of today's topic:  How did the Occult gain a foothold in
school curricula.

Following in Bloom's footsteps, Spady adopted hook, line, and
sinker most of Bloom's learning outcomes.  For Spady the needed
outcomes did not deal with academic content, but with complex
role performances "that represent effective adult functioning."
Everyone, students, parents, teachers, etc. had to be reeducated
in a manner that would achieve outcomes in accordance with some
generally accepted (or better, politically correct) norms of
behavior, attitudes, and beliefs.  Gradually, standardized tests
would be eliminated in favor of so-called portfolios, and the
system of letter grades and grade levels would yield to
ungradedness.  The emphasis would be, not on content or factual
learning, but on behavior or performance based on what is called
"real life."  Students would work in cooperative groups or teams.
Failures would be cut to a minimum by remediation (watering down
the goals) or by the use of Incomplete as a grade.  Homework would
gradually be eliminated.  In this way education would produce a
"self-directed" learner who is creative, has the "right"
attitudes toward learning and life, a "clear" value system of his
own, and high self-esteem.  Teachers become facilitators,
clinicians, or coaches who help young people grope toward the new
century.  State ed departments would suggest appropriate outcomes
as derived from G2000. As a result we now have outcomes for
graduation (exit), for programs (frameworks), and for courses
(areas of study).  All together, 15,000 outcomes are possible.
If a student doesn't satisfy an outcome, he may request an
"Incomplete" and keep trying.  In Minn. almost 16,000 incompletes
were given in 4 schools in one semester, amounting to 3 per
student.

The outcomes themselves really define the problem.  For example,
most states had some version of the following outcomes:  Think
creatively and problem-solve in order to live in a global
society; Exhibit attitudes which promote mental, physical, and
emotional health; Be able to apply knowledge in diverse
situations; Make environmentally sound decisions in one's
personal and civic lives; Explain and demonstrate on a model
proper application of a condom; Believe in one's own mortality;
Express comfort with sexual identity; Deal with family anger;
understand "the institution of the "family," and show respect for
its function, diversity, and variety of form....", etc.  Most
such outcomes are perhaps acceptable, but how does a teacher
handle them?  The answer was rather simple: divide pupils into
small groups that teach themselves while the teacher becomes a
guide who encourages "creative thinking."  Anyone can see where
this could lead: students arriving at conclusions and solutions
that make them feel good.

If we add to this mix the fact that many older teachers were the
product of the radical 60s and the "flower children" of the Age
of Aquarius, while younger ones were being trained in ed schools
that were sympathetic to the reforms, we can see why academics
have been relegated to a status below the touchy-feely reforms.
Producing creative students became the ultimate ideal.  But as B.
Eakman points out in her recent book, CLONING OF THE AMERICAN
MIND: ERADICATING MORALITY THROUGH EDUCATION, "The New Age
movement basically was an effort to redefine creativity as being
similar to euphoria, or drug intoxication."  Being "creative"
meant that you were operating in an altered, heightened state of
consciousness, with or without drugs.  Thus, by encouraging
creativity for its own sake, a teacher can produce in a student
altered states of consciousness which heightens suggestibility.
This explains why even today students enjoy studying death or
suicide, let alone analyzing the role of parents and marriage in
extremely negative ways.

As many of you know, many teachers encourage younger students to
keep daily, confidential journals in which they are free to
express whatever they feel about anyone.  Such journals are often
loaded with anti-parent and anti-family sentiments. You may
recall that the girl who challenged one of the shooters at
Columbine High by admitting she believed in God had in her early
teens been fascinated with the occult and at one point received a
letter from her best friend which stated "We need to murder your
parents...kill me with your parents, then kill yourself so you
don't go to jail." These remnants of the 'hippie' movement of the
60s may also be seen in today's youth lifestyle characterized by
promiscuity, bizarre dress, drug euphoria, and primitive/hypnotic
music.

Today, only the hard sciences seem able to avoid somewhat the
effects of the reform movement.  Most other disciplines,
especially the social sciences, health education, and the
language arts have willingly surrendered to the movement.
History is being distorted, sex education is going wild, and the
reading and writing disciplines are failing shamefully.  All in
the name of equity which levels the playing fields of learning so
that students feel good about themselves rather than be expected
to acquire a strong knowledge base.  Psychology has of course
played a leading role in all this.  As Eakman points out, "The
harmful effects of psychologized education coupled with non-stop
vulgar entertainment" can only lead to a chaotic society in which
anything goes. But I must not stray.

If we look at the totality of current education reform , we can
see that rather than being teacher-centered as it used to be,
education has become child-centered.  The new teacher must work
from the child's perspective rather than from his/her own.  The
results have been predictably devastating.  Learning has become
an adventure, a matter of feeling good about school work.  Since
new technology simplified the learning process by eliminating
boring memorization of facts, the new attitude was let's teach
students how and where to find knowledge rather than to master
it.  Writing and math problems were therefore relegated to using
the computer or calculator, while the rest of the curriculum was
directed at what most interested the student.  Learning by doing
slowly dominated classroom work, while acquisition and retention
of knowledge was de-emphasized.  If a social studies class was
studying something about the West, kids prepared Indian
headbands, built a wigwam, and dressed as cowboys.  If an English
class had difficulty reading Shakespeare, building a model of
Shakespeare's Globe Theater took care of it.

This loose structure allowed all kinds of new areas of experience
to enter the picture.  Since the emphasis was on preparation for
real life these new areas of experience had to prove interesting
or even titillating to young minds.  The 2 most popular ones
proved to be sex and the occult.  I think we all are aware of how
sex is being handled in health classes. In a very recent study by
the AAUW, teen-age girls from 11 to 17 listed sex as the No. 1
most important issue they face, followed by peer pressure, drugs
and alcohol.

The occult, on the other hand, has been handled much more subtly.
This may be seen in the fact that following the horrible
shootings in Littleton, CO, few news stories stressed the role
played by the curriculum at Columbine High.  Several years
earlier a battle had raged over the schools OBE curriculum.  The
first skirmish was won by anti-OBE parents who succeeded in
gaining control of the school board.  But one year later, the
pro-OBE side won out, and the curriculum which was heavy with
values clarification concerns, situation ethics, and death,
grief, and suicide education, continued unabated.  In any event,
what happened to Cassie Bernall, the student who was shot at
Littleton after admitting her Christian faith, supplies the
information we need.

Cassie was once deeply into the Occult movement.  By the time of
her death she had spent nearly 3 years escaping what she called
"the dark side." The 2 killers, Harris and Kiebold never did
escape. Together with friends she had become fascinated by
witchcraft, vampires, violence, drugs, self-mutilation and shock-
rocker Marilyn Manson.  They wrote poems about "the angel of the
dark" and "the emptiness of my soul."  When her parents
discovered this side of their daughter, they consulted with a
Christian minister, took away her phone, pulled her out of the
school she was attending, put her in a private Christian school
and forbade her to contact her old friends.  The mother quit her
job to spend more time at home.  Cassie was made to join a youth
group at the church where after 6 months she wrote in her diary
that she had "turned my life around" during a March 1997 youth
retreat.  The rest is history, but right now, according to the
AAUW report previously cited, a huge percentage of teenage girls
say that they are having trouble finding answers to questions
that disturb them most because they seem unable to turn to
parents or adults.

One phenomenon that has marked American society since the radical
60s has been the manner in which adults have taken to imitating
youth culture.  This may be seen in their choice of clothes, hair
styles, music, movies, TV shows, as well as in their acceptance
of cohabitation by young people, abortion, and religious
scepticism.  The most recent New Age rage among adults and young
people is the so-called "powerbead bracelet,"modeled after the
Buddhist prayer beads.   Made of semi-precious and varicolored
stones, it is thought to have special powers depending on the
color of the stone. It is selling like hotcakes at fashion
centers. In a recent book by Kay Hymowitz entitled READY OR NOT,
WHY TREATING CHILDREN AS SMALL ADULTS ENDANGERS THEIR FUTURE AND
OURS, the author points out the extent to which role-reversal is
affecting parent-child relationships.  She cites the example of a
father who says to the son, "Son, it's time we had a talk about
sex."  The son replies, "Yeah, dad, what do you want to know?"

Another popular fad is witchcraft which is also  sweeping through
the adult world to the point that it is beginning to be accepted
as a religion.  As devotees of "Wicca," the witches, usually
staunch feminists, argue that their faith is older and deeper and
more spiritual than Christianity, and that it was branded as evil
only because it posed a threat to the "patriarchal" culture.
Their basic tenet is "Harm none and do what you will.  "They are
organized into "covens" and cultivate such symbols as the
pentagram, the altar, use of crystals, the 9-inch daggers, the
long robes, etc.  Their basic commodity is the conversion
experience, the transition from dark to light, lost to found,
outsider to insider.  Covens have been spreading through suburbs
to the point where even the military now recognizes the Wiccans
as a "minority religion, "with the right to hold rituals and
classes for the servicemen.  Even more shocking is the fact that
some universities, such as Toronto, are beginning to accept
witches as chaplains! As a recent article in the National Review
points out, "Feminism, environmentalism, and liberalism all come
together in a religion that recognizes the goddess as the object
of worship, the priestess as her representative, and the earth
and its seasons as the source of sacred rites."

The same article points out that what was and is frightening in
the image of the witch is that she is viewed as "the archetype of
the liberated human being - the human being who had stepped free
from the chains of morality and seized the world and its glories
for herself."  The rituals, spells, and incantations are
deliberate defiances of reason.  People on their own are nothing
- victims of the natural world.  People in a group, however, have
a power that is more than the sum of their individual efforts.
And what affords this power is the spell which, as a rite of
passage, purges the individual of his isolation and grants him
membership in the tribe.  The article concludes as follows: "For
the moment, the Wiccans speak only of peace and love and finding
oneself.  But without a doctrine or text to protect them, they
may soon find themselves opening the door to the Devil."

It so happens that the Southern Tier area is surprisingly filled
with its share of some of these fads.  As long as 17-18 years ago
a baby's death made national headlines.  The 5-year old girl was
found dead in her crib, which stood on a pentagram.  All blood
had been drained from her body, and satanic books were found in
the house.  It so happened that she was born and died at
Halloween time.  The mother was arrested, and recently released.

The Tier in fact houses several covens and Wiccans.  Not too long
ago the local paper ran stories of BU female instructors who were
followers of Wicca and offered courses for credit.   Many local
high schools likewise have groups who study witchcraft and wear
the appropriate paraphernalia.  Not too long ago the paper ran a
story about a student who was asked to remove a necklace bearing
a Wiccan symbol, but refused. One high school is known to have a
vampire club as well.  And JC High seems to be proud of its
address:  666 Reynolds Road.

In a strange way, it is this kind of world that the adherents of
current educational reforms have been trying to add to school
curricula.  Not necessarily the world of witchcraft, but the
world of free-thinking, surrendering to one's feelings, and
unbridled behavior which explores areas of human consciousness
that go far beyond cognitive learning. A best-selling children's
book series right now deals with Harry, a student at Hogwarts
School for wizards and witches whose exploits as a sorcerer have
been attracting children and adults to the point where his
picture not only appeared on the Time Magazine cover, but Time
Warner has bought the movie rights. With students being bombarded
with such things in and out of school, it is no wonder that most
schools are involved with prescribing mind-altering drugs to
students who can't cope with the complex things that are being
taught.  Without structure, learning can become chaotic, and
young minds can easily be caught up in a world that allows them
to experience feelings and sensations for which they are not
prepared.  In fact some teachers believe in teaching only what
students think they want to learn.  For example, in the past few
years death education or grief education has become quite
popular, as has the study of AIDS and sex education.
This has led to the problem of teachers often assuming the role
of psychologists in counseling children about life and death
issues.  To add fuel to the fire, recently, professors at the
University of Arizona have been experimenting with ways that will
allow us to communicate with the dead by using a computer.  Can
you imagine what a boost this real-world experiment will give to
student interest in courses on death?  No wonder so many serious
psychologists are deeply concerned about this trend!  And yet
most parents smile benignly at such revelations, preferring to
consider them as harmless and innocent - just some kids having
fun.

The extent to which feelings rather than knowledge are cultivated
in the new reforms may be seen in the manner in which even Math
is being handled by some teachers.  Students are asked to write a
love story between a circle and a trapezoid, or a play about the
wonderful world of zero, or the autobiography of a right angle!
All of this explains the need for health clinics and social
workers as part and parcel of today's schools.  It also explains
why there are over 125,000 guidance counselors and psychologists
in American schools, and why over 3 million American children are
on Ritalin, which has been described as a drug so similar to
cocaine that "it takes a chemist to tell the difference."

Generally speaking, most schools do not teach the occult
directly.  Nevertheless, it does creep into most curricula
indirectly, usually in social studies, health education,
literature classes or even home economics where students are
often required to write their own wills, obituaries or suicide
notes, decide how they would prefer to die, who would be their
pall bearers, examine head stones and coffins, etc.
Interestingly, back in the early 90s death education was a
specific and very popular course at Columbine High in Littleton,
CO.  Most recently the occult has appeared on the wings of
something called "multiple intelligences."  This is a theory
developed by a Harvard professor which is based on the New Age
concept of Seven Multiple Intelligences (he's now working on 2
more).  These include the use of Guided Imagery, Centering,
Emotional Processing, Mind Mapping, and Know Thyself procedures -
all well-known eastern religious techniques.  The intelligences
are also defined as linguistic, spatial, interpersonal,
intra-personal, logical/mathematical, musical, and bodily
kinesthetic.  Here too the emphasis is on feelings, attitudes and
emotions, not academics.  The basic philosophy is that the more
we engage a child emotionally, the more he learns.  This
naturally demands radical changes in teaching practices.  Among
the principal changes are the use of cooperative learning which
maintains that students learn best by working in groups; a focus
on feelings; personal journal writing; role playing (imitating a
character in a novel); the teacher as facilitator (a guide on the
side, not a sage on the stage); elimination of individualism (not
one of us is as smart as all of us together); learning slowed
down to the slowest learner (nobody is done until everyone is
done).  As we have seen, these are all traits associated with
OBE.

Most of these approaches and techniques have unfortunately been
infiltrating the Catholic schools.  Some may appear relatively
harmless to parents, but knowledge of where they may ultimately
lead is essential to avoid psychological damage to young minds.
Sadly, because they have been slow to adopt the reforms, most
Catholic schools have begun to adopt elements of the reform that
are already proving to be failures.  Perhaps the most serious one
is the turn to psychologizing in the classroom.

We find an almost perfect example in a program being used in a
local Catholic school which seems to be innocent enough on the
surface, but raises serious questions when considered in the
light of what's being said in today's conference.  Thanks to some
alert parents, the program was brought to the attention of the
bishop.  The program itself was called "Bubble Meditation," and
was used in kindergarten.  It entailed 5 sessions of training
that were taught by an outside teacher who was also a certified
hypno-therapist. The program was intended to teach the children
how to relax at rest time and how to handle non-violent problems.
The training included Jesus being in a bubble with the children
as well as discussions of fears children had in and out of
school. A grandmother of a kindergartner and her daughter
attended one of the sessions and concluded that they were therapy
techniques, involving hypnosis.  They observed yoga-like training
with meditation, visualization, guided imagery, breathing
control, and repetition of certain phrases about the children's
abilities and states of being.  At the end of the session the
teacher told the children that they were "feeling much better
than before." The technique involved imagining a bright light
which the teacher said was the presence of God.  This light
develops into a "bubble of protection" in which they are "always
protected" and "never alone," and in the presence of God and
angels.  She told them to go into their bubbles whenever they
were upset or afraid.  After attending the session, the
grandmother wrote her concerns to the bishop, pointing out that
the technique might present a physical danger to a child who
thinks he can overlook previous safety training and use his
bubble instead.  She also pointed out that of the 3 purposes
served by the program, relaxation training, non-violent behavior
training, and new forms of prayer, the new form of prayer purpose
disturbed her most.  The letter is full of references to
documents on Catholic doctrine, including the new Catechism,
regarding meditation and prayer.  One states that taking feelings
of light and warmth for consolations of the Holy Spirit "would be
a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life."
Together with her daughter this grandparent provided the bishop
with an incredible amount of documentation to counter the
principal's contention that the program helped develop the
children's spirituality.  They also describe the changes that had
taken place in the grandson since taking the program.  For
example, just prior to Christmas he suddenly no longer wanted to
hear stories about Jesus.  "He started blocking his ears when we
would talk about Him, and on 2 occasions, he threw new books on
the floor because they were about Jesus."

The reply from the bishop's office agreed on certain points, but
not on others.  It agreed that the 2 books which the women had
also questioned should be removed, but as far as the "bubble"
program was concerned the use of guided imagery was theologically
acceptable. The principal, however, would be asked to have the
classroom teacher rather than an outside teacher conduct prayer
experiences with the children, and to consider having the program
used in the second grade rather than in kindergarten.
The bishop also asked the principal not to use the services of
the hypno-therapist.

How subtly the occult may enter a school may also be seen in a
Sacramento, Ca. district.  There, back in 1994, a number of
parents received approval for a charter school that would use the
so-called Waldorf curriculum - an educational philosophy related
to the New Age religion known as "Anthroposophy."  This year an
unlikely coalition of liberals and evangelical Christians has
filed a suit against the Sacramento City Unified School District
and the Twin Ridges Elementary School District for allowing
public funds to be used to set up schools which teach the Waldorf
curriculum.

The Waldorf curriculum originated in a college in Spring Valley,
NY which trains teachers for the program.  Anthroposophy teaches
that education is under the guardianship of Lucifer, the god of
light who is opposed by Ahriman, the god of darkness.  These 2
opposing forces are balanced by the birth of Christ, the sun god.
The teaching methods include the use of arts such as painting,
drama and music.  In the case of painting, colors are stressed
"as a cleansing re-orientation of soul, helping the individuality
to accept the present incarnation in a physical body."

A former supporter of the program describes the course of study
for Waldorf teachers as clearly religious, with no core academic
classes, and with the required text for the first year including
such elements of occult science as the spiritual hierarchies and
spiritual guidance of man.  School children are categorized by
their Zodiac signs into one of "four temperaments." The program
guide defends the Waldorf curriculum by maintaining that "Most
Americans today subscribe to reincarnation; most Waldorf families
know that there are transcendent elements in the human
being....If Waldorf education is truly going to be a 'movement
for cultural renewal,' it is our responsibility to share  with
parents those elements of Anthroposophy which will help them
understand their children and fathom the mysterious ways in which
we work."  The trial date for the suit is set for February 28 of
next year.

Most of you have heard about a similar suit brought by 3 families
against the Bedford Central School District in 1995.  Here too
the situation seemed harmless.  The 3 families complained that
the district  had violated the first amendment rights of 3
Catholic families by requiring their children to create paper
images of a Hindu god, make toothpick and yarn "worry dolls" to
ward off anxiety, and take part in Earth Day worship services.
However, the judge upheld only 4 of the 12 claims by plaintiffs,
ordering the district to stop sponsoring Earth worship, as well
as N. American Indian animism or nature worship; to remove the
worry dolls; and to stop having children make likenesses of a god
or religious symbol. However, the judge ruled that a card game
called "Magic: The Gathering," which parents felt initiates
children into Satanism by perverting Bible verses, did not
violate the students religious rights.  This despite the fact
that the game seemed to parents to be steeped in satanic imagery,
signs, and rituals such as human sacrifices and the casting of
spells.  In fact, the object of the card game is to accumulate
"mana", defined as 'power that comes from the earth.' The
plaintiffs also charged that the card game is part of a New Age
curriculum that includes yoga lessons, cult worship, and
religious activities.

These are but a few examples of how subtly New Age and Occult
concepts are entering school curricula.  As a prominent New Ager
(Jack Canfield) has stated:  "By teaching children before they
have been 'corrupted' by Western culture and Christian values,
New Agers hope they can educate an entire generation to the
spiritual values of New Age philosophy.  In other words, if
children can be indoctrinated in New Age techniques and beliefs,
as adults they will become powerful agents of change, helping to
move society toward a new era of global harmony."

The curriculum areas most directly involved are the Language
Arts, Social Studies, Health courses, and Fine Arts.  We must
keep in mind, however, that if teachers were allowed to teach
their courses as true academic disciplines rather than as means
of appealing to students' feelings in order to achieve social
change, none of this would be happening.  We have lost sight of
our moral compass because we are allowing immature minds to deal
with serious problems without a serious base in real knowledge,
both secular and religious.  As one critic put it, what we are
headed for are "schools without books or tears." Despite the
billions being spent on current reforms, they are failing because
knowledge is acquired one piece at a time, and because the
constant fads that these infinite funds seem to feed are doing
nothing more than interfering with the primary focus of learning.
There is no sweetening the process, especially if it is to
encompass both this life and life everlasting.  Parents must be
vigilant about what their children are learning.  As I'll point
out this afternoon, there are many programs that sound appealing
and even innocent that deserve the most vigilance.  The new
Regents standards may sound tough, but they must be even tougher.
With the current explosion of knowledge, schools must not be
allowed to waste time on touchy-feely programs.  There's simply
too much to be learned.  We cannot afford to have our schools
remain adrift much longer. It is already clear that we are
falling behind most nations academically.  It is vital that we
constantly keep in mind that what is really involved in all of
this is not only the survival of our country but the salvation of
our children's very souls.