New Age in Schools: Academia Speaks Out by Craig Branch Parents aren't the only ones who are rising up to protest certain directions in education. The business community is gaining closer ties with the educational community because they have a vested interest in the quality of young people being turned out into the workforce. Dr. Thomas Sowell, according to the Wall Street Journal, is one of America's premier economists. Dr. Sowell, a black and senior economist at the Hoover Institute, has written a new book titled "Inside American Education." In reviewing the book, the writer in the Wall Street Journal article writes, "Avid consumers of educational fads, teachers afford a ready market for curricular programs and techniques aimed at the psychological adjustment of students. Tucked under the benign banners of self-esteem, decision-making, drug prevention, sex education, or enrichment for the gifted and talented, these programs are all designed to reshape student's attitudes. "These programs, among other things, elevate feelings over thought, undermine accepted moral and cultural standards, and attack the authority of parents. The techniques that are imported into the classroom are so manipulative that Mr. Sowell refers to them as classroom brainwashing" (Michael Schwartz, "Classroom Brainwashing and Other Ills," Wall Street Journal, Feb.12, 1993). Dr. Sowell has written a recent article published in Forbes magazine where he makes an observation on the substance of the issues being raised and on the tactics of those on the left. He writes, "It is much the same story in the media today, as editorials warn that the religious right is taking over school boards. Alarms are being raised that conservative or religious indoctrination will be imposed in the public schools. "Where have the media been all these years, while the most blatant, deliberate and pervasive indoctrination by the political left has been taking place in public schools all across the country? ... "These are not the isolated idiosyncrasies of particular teachers. They are products of numerous books and other educational material in programs packaged by organizations that sell such curricula to administrators and teach the techniques to teachers. Some packages even include instructions on how to deal with parents or others who object... Many parents who have been appalled to discover what has been going on in the schools have fought lonely and frustrating battles against the education establishment. Eventually some have begun to organize, which at least deprives the school bureaucrats their favorite line: "You're the only one who has complained." "That line will be used, even when controversies and lawsuits are raging all across the country over a particular brainwashing program. Parents are also likely to be told that all the educational experts support the program. What they are unlikely to be told is that these 'experts' are often the ideological gurus who pushed these programs in the first place, or consultants who profit from them. "When the futility of individual protest leads to organized activity, that is when the cry of censorship goes up from the education establishment and the media rush to the rescue, invoking the specter of the religious right. What has caught their attention is someone trying to fight back" (Dr. Thomas Sowell, Forbes, Feb.1, 1993, p.65). And how does the educational establishment validate Dr. Sowell's observations? The N.E.A. has funded the production of a recent 196 page manual titled "What's Left after the Right." It's stated goals are to provide information about the "Far Right Movement" and to deal "with the tactics of educational censors". The manual caricatures Christians and those believing in traditional values as "ultra-conservative, far right, religious right, righteous right, new right, and radical right." At least the writer admits that Christians are right. The manual lumps conservatism into a monolithic mold and presents them as extremists without any justification to their charges. The manual claims that the large percentage of critics of public education are self-serving, power seeking, out for revenge, or are seeking financial gain. Representative leaders of the "extremist" groups are William Bennett, Ronald Reagan, Orin Hatch, James Dobson, Beverly La Haye, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Phyllis Schlafly. This list, along with the types of tactics listed in the booklet in order to repel efforts by concerned parents, demonstrates how far removed the N.E.A. is from American mainstream. Dr. William Kilpatrick, a Professor of Education at Boston College, with degrees from Harvard and Purdue University in Education and Psychology, has just written an excellent book, "Why Johnny Can't Tell Right From Wrong." He notes a December 9, 1991 U.S. News and World Report article which documented that the nation's faith in public schools is fading fast (p.254). The indicator was that home schooling had jumped from 10, 000 in 1970 to 300,000 in 1990 (p.255). He, too, notes that the affective, non-directive decision making models and self-esteem emphasis in drug and sex education programs are wrong-headed and are counter- productive. He warns that many of these programs use approaches that are psychotherapeutic and are quite hazardous when done by teachers who are not trained therapists (pp.30-77). Kilpatrick has also observed that "the New Age Movement has made considerable headway into the schools" (p.218). He notes that this new "paradigm for learning includes techniques of guided imagery or fantasy, meditation, and self transcendence" (p.215). He warns that the path to recapturing the power of imagination should never "circle back to education's most naive and soft-headed era of the 60's."(p.224). Newsweek, commenting on the affective approach in education, ran as their cover story "The Abuse of Self-Esteem - What's Wrong With the Feel-Good Movement," in the February 17, 1992 issue. They write, "Nowhere has the concept taken root as firmly as in education. Toddlers are encouraged to reach their full potential in self-esteem day care centers. High School drug and alcohol programs now emphasize self-esteem, on the theory according to New Hampshire school administrator, James Weiss, that 'if youngsters feel good about themselves, those temptations won't be so strong'" (Newsweek, February 17, 1992, pp.47-48). The article goes on to comment, "of course, there are still a few kinks to work out." For instance, as the article reports that American school children now rank far ahead of students in countries like Japan, Taiwan and China in self- confidence (self-esteem) about their academic abilities, but in fact, the American children were far behind those countries in actual performance. The article concluded that after 10,000 studies on self- esteem had been done, there was not even agreement as to what is self-esteem, and that the self-esteem industry was largely a lot of nonsense. The April 1, 1990 issue of U.S. News and World Report reminds its readers that "almost no research evidence that these programs work" (p.66). The article reported that the correlations between self-esteem and social sciences was almost zero and "that the obsession with self-esteem ultimately undermines real education" (Ibid. ).