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Words are powerful - Thoughts shape - Ideas have consequences

Debra Rae

Author, "ABCs of Globalism"
Posted November 15, 2004

The Hijacking of State Schools
Part I: Introduction

Just over Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a planeload of passengers faced the bewildering reality that homicide hijackers had the upper hand in executing an unspeakable agenda. Limited in options, travelers on that fateful day in 2001 were forced to make a flash decision—to comply, to crumble, or to rally and roll. The rest is history. Thanks to a few brave souls, the deadly 9-11 attack on liberty itself was hindered, though not altogether thwarted. A similarly sobering hijacking is in progress today. This time, perpetrators target one in five Washingtonians who, on any given weekday, attends state schools.

Recall that in 1983 the Education Department issued a broadly circulated report, A Nation at Risk. “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose upon Americans the mediocre educational performance that exists today,” it cautioned, “we might well have viewed it as an act of war.” And so we should. This stunning declaration shook the education establishment to its core.

Conveniently, the traditional family took the fall when, according to columnist John Steinbacher, Dr. Chester Pierce of Harvard University decreed that every child in America entering school at the age of five is “mentally ill.” Educators must make these “sick” children well. How? By means of social and token reinforcement (behavior modification) in creating what he called “the international child of the future.” Over time, social engineering to reverse pesky behavior patterns picked up at home was coupled with systematic legal drugging of millions of youngsters and, this, at no small risk (Dr. Stanley Monteith). According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Ritalin production in the United States rose 700% from 1990-1997 alone.

By the mid-1990s, child psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and special educators in and around U.S. public schools nearly outnumbered teachers. A December 1999 report by the U.S. Surgeon General revealed that an alleged twenty percent of U.S. children suffer from “psychiatric disorders.” Accordingly, educrats appear to capitalize on a host of handy so-called “illnesses”—one being ODD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder in children five years of age and younger. Millions more school-aged children are chemically restrained with psychotropic drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The fitting question arises, “Have too many children been labeled and subsequently medicated?” In a lengthy, well-researched paper, Dr. Fred A. Baughman, Jr. suggests that few, if any, questions can be addressed properly without an honest answer to this: “Is ADHA a disease with a confirmatory physical (including chemical) abnormality, or isn’t it?” The good doctor agrees with peers that close to three decades of research have offered no definitive answer.

No matter, Dr. Shirley McCune adds her own prescription for “sick” children—that being, a quantum leap to “higher consciousness.” This so-called higher, group- or collaborative- consciousness for the up-and-coming New Age characterizes the “international child of the future.” Toward this outcome, McCune advances “a whole new curriculum and set of guidelines,” and make no mistake. This New Age guru is no small fish in the pond. Under the lead of Dr. Terry Bergeson, Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. McCune serves as senior staff executive and federal education liaison. In these roles, McCune monitors federal education legislation and research. Furthermore, she participates in policy discussions and formulation at the OSPI, where she assists in program planning, evaluation, and improvement.

In a speech she gave at the 1989 Kansas Governor’s Conference on Education, Dr. McCune claimed that “we no longer see the teaching of facts and information as the primary outcome of education.” Instead, she added, we look to a “total transformation of our society.” No doubt this perspective has colored her service as expert consultant to the Governor’s Council on Education Reform and Funding. An unelected committee, G-CERF takes responsibility for replacing basic education requirements through a proposal to be implemented by the Commission on Student Learning (CSL).

In Creating the Future, edited by Dee Dickenson, Dr. McCune proposes the direction of desired change toward universal societal transformation—namely, “moving out of the business of schooling and into the business of human resource development.” Apparently McCune embraces the cradle-to-grave vision for lifelong learning as conceived by Marc Tucker and former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

Having authored or co-authored numerous research reports, articles, and monographs, Dr. McCune (a Theosophist) is likewise author of trendy New Age books. As such, she claims to receive and act upon “channeled” messages from her alleged ascended master, Kuthumi. New Age theology purports that every 2,160 years of cyclic time, there comes a New Age with its new revelation. Currently, we are moving out of the age of the individual (Pisces) and into the age of the group (Aquarius). In The Light Shall Set You Free, co-authored with Dr. Norma Milanovich, McCune spotlights the threshold of this forthcoming millennium at which time our alleged “vibration frequency” will increase so as to allow the Light within to guide us to our divinity.

Before bellowing, “Beam me up, Scotty,” we’d best examine what this mystical mumbo-jumbo means. Some fear that “human resources” who travel by the beat of a different drum are destined to be labeled “at risk,” targeted for social engineering, and (if need be) administered pharmaceuticals to address symptoms relating to the supposed disorders of oppositional defiance, attention deficit, and/or hyperactivity. Bible-honoring believers, beware. The only absolutes allowable in McCune’s Twilight Zone, as it were, smack of political correctness gone awry. In McCune’s utopia, rugged individualism and higher education acquiesce to collectivism and higher consciousness, respectively.

Former Senior Associate with the U.S. Department of Education, Dr. Dennis Cuddy poses a fitting question: “[Given] one of the most influential educators of the day [specifically, Dr. Shirley McCune], do you still wonder why there are problems with American education?”(The Christian Conscience, December 1997).

Hijacking of state schools requires a decision. Do we comply, crumble, or rally and roll? In the tradition of 9-11 hero Todd Beamer, “Let’s roll!”

Stay tuned for Part II: Nouveau Educationese.

© Debra Rae 2004 Reprinted with Permission

Debra Rae received her Master of Education degree from the University of Washington, and her Bachelor of Theology Master of Ministries degrees from Pacific School of Theology. Her work spans pre-school through adult education, including teaching at the American School of Kuwait, during which time she tutored the daughter of Kuwait's Head of Parliament. After marrying Debra joined her husband in further exploration of Africa, Asia, East- and West- Europe, North- and South- Americas -- about 70,000 miles their first year of marriage! One trip featured a memorable jaunt on the elegant British Concorde. Her book, ABCs of Globalism has prompted numerous radio interviews aired across the nation, the Western Hemisphere, Russia, and the Middle East. And her latest, the ABC’s of Cultural-isms is its sequel.