-Caveat Lector-
>From the NewAustralian
http://www.newaus.com.au/us137littleton.html
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What does the Littleton Massacre have to do with 'cultural Marxism' at the U.S.
Naval Academy? By *Dr. Gerald L. Atkinson
No. 137, 11 - 17 October 1999
The U.S. Naval Academy, via its 'Leadership and Ethics' program, appears to be
taking a path that the nation's public schools have trod over the past 30
years. That is, it has introduced the pseudo-psychological curriculum of
'relative' moral values that has been so disastrous for our young children. The
academy appears to be taking the direction that has forced many (who can afford
it) to send their children to private schools or 'home school' them. This is
becoming apparent as evidence emerges concerning the true nature of the
'Leadership and Ethics' program and, specially, the new Integrity Development
Seminars (IDS) at the Academy.
This series of 'essays' has at least scratched the surface in characterizing
these seminars and the entire 'Leadership and Ethics' program in terms of a
broader view of where the ideas, techniques, and personnel come from, what they
believe, and what their 'mission' is. We have seen the product of these flawed
and failed ideas in the public school system at the Littleton, CO massacre at
Columbine High School where 13 innocent students were murdered by two evil
products of the New Age 'ethics' taught at that school. A countervailing view
of the appropriate 'ethics' training for our nation's future Navy and Marine
officers is provided by General Charles C. Krulak, Jr. USMC (Ret.), the former
Commandant of the Marine Corps.
In an interview, Gen. Krulak responded to the question1, "The Marine Corps
seems to have done better than the other services in warding off [difficulties
in morale, cultural stress, recruiting, retention, etc.]. What are the Marines
doing differently [than the other services]? Gen. Krulak's answer was
straightforward. "The first thing we've done differently is recognize who
Generation X and Generation Next really are ... What we've found out is that,
in reality, we believe we have found the next 'greatest generation' [after the
WWII G.I. generation]. What's been wrong all along is that we as a nation, the
American people and certainly we in the military, have not been giving these
kids what they want. What they want is very simple: They want to be challenged,
big time. They want to do something of value, and they really want that value
to be in terms of respect from their peers and respect from their seniors.
They believe in accountability and responsibility but don't believe we believe
in it. So, if you give them a hole in the fence, they are through it in a
heartbeat." The interviewer then asked, "How, then, does that realization shape
the Marines' approach?" Gen. Krulak replied, "What we decided to do is, if that
was what they want, instead of softening up we increased our standards, we
tightened up. The DoD recruiting standard for high school graduates was 90
percent. We said the Marines will accept nothing less than 95 percent. We test
our kids for drugs three times before they even get to the recruit depot. If
they have any kind of tattoo that is racist in nature, that is gang related,
they don't become a Marine. We took off television any kind of recruiting
advertisement that said anything about 'we're going to give you $50,000 for a
college education or we're going to teach you a skill.' Our advertising is very
simple. It says: 'If you want to be challenged physically, mentally and
morally, join the Marine Corps. You will be changed and the change will be
forever.'"
Contrast this view of a moral challenge with that which has been described in
this series of 'essays' on 'Cultural Marxism' at the U.S. Naval Academy. The
later, a soft 'relativism' that has invaded the 'Leadership and Ethics' program
at the Academy, is in fact just the opposite of that which has been so
successful for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Academy approach is one that has,
over the past few decades, infected our public schools by sowing cognitive
dissonance in a young person's mind and molding his or her 'morals' to fit the
agenda of an ideology that is quite foreign to the principles of individual
freedom, a gift handed down to us from our Founding Fathers. Let us, here,
explore that technique.
The sowing of cognitive dissonance in the minds of our young has been in
practice, in the background, silently, with deceptive cover for over 30 years.
It contributed to the horror of Littleton, CO. Here is how it works. Society
itself experiences increasing degrees of cognitive dissonance as a result of
the double standards on public policy generated by behavioral psychologists of
the Frankfurt School type. There is evidence that many of the so-called 'model,
upstanding, friendly' individuals who suddenly make news by going berserk and
killing people are persons who have been on the receiving end of numerous
unresolvable conflicts2.
In the end, they really do crack up. They are no longer able to maintain a
perspective. Columbine High School, near Littleton, CO, was the scene of a
massacre of 12 students, one teacher, and the two killers — Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold, both 18 year-old seniors. On 20 April 1999, the killers gunned
down their victims in an episode that had been planned for over a year. This
senseless bloodshed, by young Americans in the flower of their youth with
bountiful years of prosperity before them, has been a complete mystery to adult
Americans.
President Clinton first blamed parents3. Then Hollywood, video games,
television, and guns became the favorite whipping posts of the politicians and
media elite. Even Hillary Clinton weighed in with a 'profound' cultural
observation4, "Part of growing up is learning how to control one's impulses." A
national magazine5 devoted an entire issue to Kid Culture in the Age of
Columbine: At schools, in clubs, and on the Internet, a new world is being
born. And it's scariest for those who don't yet understand: Parents. Congress
became wrapped up in the hysteria of the moment and argued for two months over
gun control as the answer to the unknown causes of the problem of a seemingly
uncontrollable public high school environment in America. And it is
uncontrollable. Similarly murderous episodes had occurred over the past five
years in such places as Jonesboro, AR; West Paducah, KY; Springfield, OR; and
Edinboro, PA.
At the peak of the hysteria over the Columbine killings, Representative Marge
Roukema6 (Republican, NJ) offered on national television that, "This reveals a
simple truth. We must implement psychological testing of all public high school
students — immediately. We must find out which students might be at a mental
breaking point and do something about it." She seemed to know something that
most of us did not. That is, the public schools are under a great deal of
pressure, and have been for some years, to bring 'therapeutic' education to the
classroom — and this may be the problem underlying all of the mystery of this
and other events of a similar nature across the country.
For example, B.K. Eakman7 tells us that "Some 35 years ago, social scientists
began unveiling unworkable philosophies of child management, characterized by a
lack of adult guidance and punctuated with heavy doses of pop psychology."
Teachers were discouraged from criticizing pupils' work, manner of dress, and
speech. School counselors took up the cause and levied a cease and desist order
against adults who persisted in 'shoving' their outdated moral and religious
values on children. She further explains that "Eventually, the suggestion that
parents had the right to direct the upbringing of their children became
synonymous with overprotectiveness, then with child abuse, while tolerance of
bad manners and obscenities was viewed as 'being flexible.'"
By 1987, what kids wanted at any given moment had become more important than
their knowledge base. Children were made drunk on their own importance. Teacher
training was taken up with courses in behavioral psychology instead of academic
subject matter." At the same time, standardized tests started looking more like
opinion surveys then cognitive assessments. Eakman explains that "By 1996, even
math courses had started placing correct world views and teamwork (read: 'peer
pressure') over correct answers. The Wall Street Journal informs us that the
Courts undermining of school discipline contributed a great deal to the
attitude that prevailed at Columbine High School. In the wake of the Littleton
school shootings, we've heard a lot about 'educators' need to pay attention to
the 'warning signs.' "But the legal culture produced by a pair of Supreme Court
rulings8 makes it difficult for educators to do anything when confronted with
such warning signs — or indeed even to enforce the ordinary discipline that
kids need in order to be molded into citizens."
The Journal explains that in Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969), the
justices sided with students who had been threatened with suspension for
wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. Six years later, in Goss v.
Lopez, the court granted students the right to due process when threatened with
a suspension of more than 10 days. At first sight, these decisions may seem
balanced and sensible. But their unintended consequence was to help create a
world in which "Assemblies often degenerated into catcalls and semi-obscene
behavior while teachers watched silently. Trash littered the hallway outside
the cafeteria, but it was a rare teacher who suggested a student pick up a milk
carton he or she had thrown on the floor."
"Cheating was widespread, but few adults seemed to care. Teachers who accused
kids of cheating were required to produce documentation and witnesses to
counter the 'other side of the story.' One teacher who had failed a boy for
plagiarizing a paper had to defend herself repeatedly before a supervisor after
being harassed by daily phone calls from the student's parents and the lawyer
they had hired on their son's behalf... The phrase 'You can't suspend me'
became the taunt of many a disruptive student." The Wall Street Journal further
informs us that "Rights-empowered students are not merely a discipline problem;
they have also helped dumb down the curriculum . . .administrators and teachers
became fearful of restless, back-talking adolescents, they resorted to keeping
classes amiable and non-threatening — in other words, unchallenging... Instead
of enriching children's minds and challenging their media-fed fantasies, adults
stand by and condone the worst forms of adolescent acting-out, sometimes with
deadly results."
In response to some of this misbehavior, some editorial writers, speaking for a
large majority of us, have begun to speak out9. "In another earlier time,
children who misbehaved were punished at home, at school and, if elsewhere, by
any adult on the scene. Today they are more likely to be dubbed 'at risk' and
put in a special education program. The child goes undisciplined." This
editorial writer asks the obvious question, "Why not spankings and corporal
punishment [at home and in the public schools]?" She reminds us that "until the
1980s, school officials visited mild physical discipline on classrooms to keep
smart alecks and potential malefactors in check. There was nothing wrong with a
whack with the teacher's paddle or ruler. Or a smack on a wee one's hands to
let her know that what she had done was flat out wrong — and, more importantly,
that she was never to do it again ... These days public schools are more
inclined to dispense condoms than discipline, giving young people license to do
as they very well please."
But how does this relate to what happened at Columbine High School? Eakman10
reveals that, "...[At Columbine] the cumulative effect of
therapeutic/socialization-style education hit a critical mass... Psychologized
education, which first came to Littleton in 1991 under the name 'outcome-based
education,' changed labels when it came under attack from parents and the
public. But in typical fashion, curricular 'standards' and the thrust of
programs remained the same. The Rocky Mountain News reported in June 1994 that
the Jefferson County Education Board voted to continue funding the renamed
outcome-based — i.e. psychology-based — education to the tune of $1 million,
over parent protests. Drug education, refusal skills, self-esteem, and
relationships became centerpieces of the curriculum, pushing academics to the
back burner. Yet, in the aftermath of the Littleton tragedy, the president,
[Congress, I might add], and pundits are calling for more of the same."
References
1Interview with GEN Charles C. Krulak, Former Commandant of the U.S. Marine
Corps, The San Diego Union-Tribune, pp. G5, 11 July 1999.
2For example, the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, CO and a
similar shooting at Heritage High School in Conyers, GA. Eakman points out the
an Outcome Based Education curriculum had been implemented in the Columbine
High School in 1991 under an innocuous sounding title. See Eakman, B.K. on the
Cal Thomas show, America's Voice, 10:00 p.m., 24 May 1999.
3Clinton, William Jefferson, The Parent Trap" The Wall Street Journal, 2 July
1999. On NBCs Today Show, President Clinton told Katie Couric, "I think in the
end, you've got to take it back to the fact that we — we all have
responsibilities, and it starts with parents."
4Schlaffly, Phyllis, What Caused Columbine?, Phyllis Schlaffly Report, Part I,
June 1999.
5New York Magazine, 17 May 1999. This issue was full of pictures of teenage
boys with rings in their ears, noses, and lips, feminine lipsticked lips,
pacifiers (binkies) in their mouths, and young women with scanty negligees and
weird-colored hairdos. Article titles ran from The Generation Gap in My Living
Room to Why Your Kids Know More About the FUTURE Than You Do to Why NEW YORK
Kids Say It Couldn't Happen Here.
6Roukema, Marge, Morning Journal, with Brian Lamb, C-SPAN, 21 April 1999.
7Eakman, B.K., Children of the therapeutic society, The Washington Times, 26
April 1999.
8Hymowitz, Kay S., How the Courts Undermined School Discipline, The Wall Street
Journal, 4 May 1999.
9Simmons, Deborah, Behave, or else, The Washington Times, 7 June 1999.
10Ibid, Eakman, B.K. Return to The New Australian
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