When teachers testify that they are afraid to walk the halls of their school; when a superintendent attributes the high truancy rate in his school to a fear of gangs operating in the school;
when students describe a large variety of weapons in schools, from knives and karate sticks to an occasional Saturday Night Special gun; when students are victimized by organized ex- tortion operations demanding lunch money; and when illegal drugs can be easily obtained in school hallways and playgrounds, then there can be no question that the already challenging task of education becomes almost impossible to carry out.
Shortly after Bayh spoke...
Leaders of two St. Louis teacher organizations said that educators must stop "covering up" incidents of beatings, extortion and robbery that have become everyday events in many city and suburban schools. "No one likes to admit that these things happen in schools," said Tom Downey, president of the 1,000-member St. Louis Teachers Association. Mike Bingman of the St. Louis Suburban Teachers Association said such problems exist "even in some of your so-called finer schools."11
A National Education Association study showed:
Over 100 murders were committed on school grounds the previous year by students. At the elementary and secondary level, students committed 9,000 rapes, 12,000 armed rob- beries, 204,000 aggravated assaults against teachers and each other, 270,000 school burglaries—and vandalized well over
$600-million in school property.12
For twenty years the press has turned the spotlight on school violence periodically. Headlines in St.Louis area newspapers collected over the years read:
Murder and Mayhem in Public Schools....Cover-up of School Violence Charged By Teachers' Group....It's "Blackboard Jungle" On Some City Schools Buses, Drivers Say.... "It's The
The Revolution We've Lived Through 121 Strong Against The Weak," Area Student Says....School Violence, Congress Is Moving To Intervene
Violence makes headlines but this isn't the only prob- lem. Even the "nice" kids have been affected. In October 1995, a Reader's Digest article was headlined, "Cheat- ing In Our Schools: A National Scandal." The story reported that 34 percent of high school students ad- mitted using "cheat sheets" on tests in 1969. By 1989 the figure had doubled. Even the highest achieving students routinely cut ethical corners. The Reader's Digest reported:
In a survey of 3100 top high school juniors and seniors that was conducted for Who's Who Among American High School Students, 78 percent said they had cheated. And 89 percent said cheating was common at their schools.
Stephen F. David, professor of psychology at Emporia State University in Kansas, said:
The numbers alone are disturbing but even more alarming is the attitude. There's no remorse. For students, cheating is a way of life.
Jay Mulkey of the Character Education Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said of the danger to society:
Cheating is habit forming. Students who cheat in class may well cheat in their jobs or on their spouses. When you have a country that doesn't value honesty and thinks character is unimportant, what kind of society do you have?
The Reader's Digest indicated that even when schools try to deal with cheating, they face confrontations with parents. The same thing happens when schools try to deal with even simple discipline problems. Why? The parents (and many grandparents) of today's students are themselves products of the education for "a new social order."
In the introduction to a revision of his best-selling book, Baby and Child Care, Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote:
The rearing of children is more and more puzzling for parents in the twentieth century because we've lost a lot of our old-fashioned convictions about what kind of morals and ambitions and characters we want them to have. We've even lost our convictions about the purpose of human existence.
The "new" education imposed on America's schools in the last sixty years has had an impact on those who are today's parents and grandparents. If you are not aware that a revolution has so drastically changed our society and the way we raise our children, you are typical of so many parents today. Dr. Spock explained why when he wrote:
You may not be conscious of these changes—because you are so much a part of these times.
Spock didn't say it but the biggest single cause of the
"changes" which have transformed America is the "new education" imposed on America and its children over several generations. It's an "education" which has eroded and destroyed the twelve foundational concepts on which a stable society must rest. The question which must be asked is: "Why would any group of educators develop a system of education which produces crime and corruption, violence and vandalism, drug abuse, changing moral standards and the selfishness which destroys marriages?"
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political philosopher, wrote his classic, Democracy In America, 160 years ago. In it, he provided an answer, saying.
...if a despotism should be established among the democratic nations of our day, it would probably have a different charac- ter. It would be more widespread and milder; it would degrade men rather than torment them....I do not expect their leaders
The Revolution We've Lived Through 123
to be tyrants, but rather their schoolmasters. (Page 691) (Emphasis added.)
De Tocqueville visited the United States to learn what
"magic quality" enabled a handful of people to defeat the mighty British Empire twice in 35 years. He looked for the greatness of America in her harbors and rivers, her fertile fields arid boundless forests, mines and other natural resources. He studied America's schools, her Congress and her matchless Constitution without com- prehending America's power. Not, he said, until he went into the churches of America and heard pulpits
"aflame with righteousness" did he understand the secret of her genius and strength. De Tocqueville returned to France and wrote:
America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
In his book de Tocqueville explores and examines all facets of American life and government.Near the end of the book in a chapter titled, "What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To Fear," he expressed con- cerns for America's future. In doing so he almost seemed endued with prophetic wisdom. He reviewed the absolute despots who ruled empires in the past. He commented that although in the past the whole govern- ment of an empire was concentrated in the hands of the emperor alone and he could decide everything...
...yet the details of social life and personal everyday existence normally escaped his control. (Page 690)
In contrast, de Tocqueville feared a "despotism" even ancient emperors did not envision. It would provide what is called "cradle-to-grave care." It would
"degrade" men and keep its citizens wrapped up in
"enjoyments" to stop their thinking. He wrote:
Over this kind of [degraded] men stands an immense, protec- tive power which is alone responsible for securing their en- joyment and watching over their fate. That power is absolute, thoughtful of detail, orderly, provident and gentle. It would resemble parental authority if, fatherlike, it tried to prepare its charges for a man's life, but on the contrary, it only tries to keep them in perpetual childhood. It likes to see the citizens enjoy themselves, provided they think of nothing but enjoy- ment. (Page 692)