FrankRep
07-31-2013, 12:25 AM
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51woYdJnE-L._SY300_.jpg (http://tinyurl.com/ojmglx2)
Is Public Education Necessary? (http://tinyurl.com/ojmglx2)
Samuel L. Blumenfeld, 1981
Book Review
Public Education Basically Flawed
The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
December 9, 1985
If you believed Albert Shanker or the NEA, you would think the near-sacred institution of public education somehow predates the invention of the wheel, and that public schools have performed the holy mission of enlightening the ignorant masses from the dawn of civilization.
Yet, as the decline in SAT scores, literacy rates and graduate quality clearly shows, Americans have plenty of evidence to conclude that our national public education experiment has been a colossal failure. But what can be done?
Perhaps before launching an attempt to reform the government education system, it might be prudent to determine why large-scale public education does not produce better results. Before public servants force taxpayers to part with even more of their incomes to save America's government schools, it would seem to be wise to consider the origins of the public school movement itself. Then, perhaps, we can focus on any fundamental weaknesses. Author Samuel L. Blumenfeld has done the job for us in an excellent book first published in 1981, and now republished by the Paradigm Company.
Blumenfeld's 1984 best seller, NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education (http://tinyurl.com/nqrsp25), coupled with his very successful nation-wide speaking tour, has shaken the public education establishment to the core. Yet, it is Blumenfeld's 1981 little-known and underpublicized Is Public Education Necessary? (http://tinyurl.com/ojmglx2) that provides the fundamental reasons for the failures in our nation's public education system.
With meticulous research and testimony gathered from relatively obscure 18th and 19th century sources, Blumenfeld presents his brilliant revisionist history of the origins of the public school monopoly in America. Like a shrewd detective, he systematically traces the theological, philosophical and historical roots of education in the United States as it evolved from the near-total laissez-faire system of our nation's first 50 years to the ineffective centrally controlled bureaucracy that it has become today.
Prior to 1805, Harvard University had been an institutional stronghold for orthodox Calvinism in America. In 1805, a liberal theologian named Henry Ware was elected to the key position of Hollis Professor of Divinity. Blumenfeld argues that this "takeover of Harvard in 1805 by the Unitarians is probably the most important intellectual event in American history -- at least from the standpoint of education." Because of it, Harvard "became the Unitarian Vatican, so to speak, dispensing a religious and secular liberalism that was to have profound and enduring effects on the evolution of American cultural, moral and social values." Thus began, Blumenfeld believes, "the secular humanist world view that now dominates American culture."
Unlike their Puritan forefathers who followed the theology of Augustine and Calvin, the Harvard-based Unitarians believed that "man was innately good, rational, benevolent and cooperative." Like Rousseau, they argued that man was "eminently perfectible" and that the faults of men were caused by civilization and a bad environment. The key to reforming the world was to get all children away from the corrupting influences of their homes and churches where they are adversely influenced by parental and clerical authorities. These children could then be molded into the new enlightened Unitarian ideal. "To the Unitarians, therefore, education became the road to salvation." And zealous support for public education became for them not just another social or political issue, but a burning religious issue. The misguided missionary zeal and the elitist attitudes of the early Unitarians are still prevalent among many of today's secular-minded government school advocates.
As Blumenfeld's account unfolds in chapter after chapter, he details how Robert Owen (1771-1858) and other influential socialists became involved in the public school movement to achieve their own ends. Their purpose was similar to that of their Unitarian allies, except that these radical socialist reformers sought not education, but "socialization" for the purpose of leading America to the utopian dream of a Communist society.
The mastermind behind the failed New Harmony, Indiana commune, Robert Owen believed that the reason his socialist experiment failed was because the masses were poorly prepared as a result of their improper education. If Communism was to succeed in America, Owen and his followers believed that a compulsory taxpayer-funded education system had to be implemented. The purpose of their system would be to educate youngsters away from the evils of individualism, belief in God, and capitalist greed. Many prominent Owenites and socialists began their push for public schools by "operating covertly in secret cells in America as early as 1829."
Blumenfeld also chronicles the career of Horace Mann, the idol of the public education elite. Mann, of course, has been praised by most historians as the father of American public education. Blumenfeld writes: "If Mann was the father of anything, it was of centralized, state-controlled public education, governed by a state bureaucracy, and financed by taxes on property." Mann visited socialist Prussia and used its educational system as his model in building a network of compulsory primary and secondary government schools. Mann also founded a series of state-supported "normal" schools, or teachers colleges, designed to train teachers in the latest methods of molding young minds. Blumenfeld clearly detects the danger to our liberties presented by Mann's plans. He argues that "once a nation's teachers colleges become the primary vehicle through which the philosophy of statism is advanced, this philosophy will soon infect every other quarter of society...."
Blumenfeld's conclusion, is that public education is indeed not necessary. He proved that from its very inception, the public school movement has been anti-student, anti-learning and anti-American. This book is a valuable resource for individuals who seek to grasp the true nature of the public school problem.
Is Public Education Necessary? (http://tinyurl.com/ojmglx2)
Samuel L. Blumenfeld, 1981
Book Review
Public Education Basically Flawed
The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
December 9, 1985
If you believed Albert Shanker or the NEA, you would think the near-sacred institution of public education somehow predates the invention of the wheel, and that public schools have performed the holy mission of enlightening the ignorant masses from the dawn of civilization.
Yet, as the decline in SAT scores, literacy rates and graduate quality clearly shows, Americans have plenty of evidence to conclude that our national public education experiment has been a colossal failure. But what can be done?
Perhaps before launching an attempt to reform the government education system, it might be prudent to determine why large-scale public education does not produce better results. Before public servants force taxpayers to part with even more of their incomes to save America's government schools, it would seem to be wise to consider the origins of the public school movement itself. Then, perhaps, we can focus on any fundamental weaknesses. Author Samuel L. Blumenfeld has done the job for us in an excellent book first published in 1981, and now republished by the Paradigm Company.
Blumenfeld's 1984 best seller, NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education (http://tinyurl.com/nqrsp25), coupled with his very successful nation-wide speaking tour, has shaken the public education establishment to the core. Yet, it is Blumenfeld's 1981 little-known and underpublicized Is Public Education Necessary? (http://tinyurl.com/ojmglx2) that provides the fundamental reasons for the failures in our nation's public education system.
With meticulous research and testimony gathered from relatively obscure 18th and 19th century sources, Blumenfeld presents his brilliant revisionist history of the origins of the public school monopoly in America. Like a shrewd detective, he systematically traces the theological, philosophical and historical roots of education in the United States as it evolved from the near-total laissez-faire system of our nation's first 50 years to the ineffective centrally controlled bureaucracy that it has become today.
Prior to 1805, Harvard University had been an institutional stronghold for orthodox Calvinism in America. In 1805, a liberal theologian named Henry Ware was elected to the key position of Hollis Professor of Divinity. Blumenfeld argues that this "takeover of Harvard in 1805 by the Unitarians is probably the most important intellectual event in American history -- at least from the standpoint of education." Because of it, Harvard "became the Unitarian Vatican, so to speak, dispensing a religious and secular liberalism that was to have profound and enduring effects on the evolution of American cultural, moral and social values." Thus began, Blumenfeld believes, "the secular humanist world view that now dominates American culture."
Unlike their Puritan forefathers who followed the theology of Augustine and Calvin, the Harvard-based Unitarians believed that "man was innately good, rational, benevolent and cooperative." Like Rousseau, they argued that man was "eminently perfectible" and that the faults of men were caused by civilization and a bad environment. The key to reforming the world was to get all children away from the corrupting influences of their homes and churches where they are adversely influenced by parental and clerical authorities. These children could then be molded into the new enlightened Unitarian ideal. "To the Unitarians, therefore, education became the road to salvation." And zealous support for public education became for them not just another social or political issue, but a burning religious issue. The misguided missionary zeal and the elitist attitudes of the early Unitarians are still prevalent among many of today's secular-minded government school advocates.
As Blumenfeld's account unfolds in chapter after chapter, he details how Robert Owen (1771-1858) and other influential socialists became involved in the public school movement to achieve their own ends. Their purpose was similar to that of their Unitarian allies, except that these radical socialist reformers sought not education, but "socialization" for the purpose of leading America to the utopian dream of a Communist society.
The mastermind behind the failed New Harmony, Indiana commune, Robert Owen believed that the reason his socialist experiment failed was because the masses were poorly prepared as a result of their improper education. If Communism was to succeed in America, Owen and his followers believed that a compulsory taxpayer-funded education system had to be implemented. The purpose of their system would be to educate youngsters away from the evils of individualism, belief in God, and capitalist greed. Many prominent Owenites and socialists began their push for public schools by "operating covertly in secret cells in America as early as 1829."
Blumenfeld also chronicles the career of Horace Mann, the idol of the public education elite. Mann, of course, has been praised by most historians as the father of American public education. Blumenfeld writes: "If Mann was the father of anything, it was of centralized, state-controlled public education, governed by a state bureaucracy, and financed by taxes on property." Mann visited socialist Prussia and used its educational system as his model in building a network of compulsory primary and secondary government schools. Mann also founded a series of state-supported "normal" schools, or teachers colleges, designed to train teachers in the latest methods of molding young minds. Blumenfeld clearly detects the danger to our liberties presented by Mann's plans. He argues that "once a nation's teachers colleges become the primary vehicle through which the philosophy of statism is advanced, this philosophy will soon infect every other quarter of society...."
Blumenfeld's conclusion, is that public education is indeed not necessary. He proved that from its very inception, the public school movement has been anti-student, anti-learning and anti-American. This book is a valuable resource for individuals who seek to grasp the true nature of the public school problem.