The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail

by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, Charlotte Iserbyt-Thomson, Joel Pett (Illustrator)

The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - a Chronological Paper Thompson Iserbyt, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - a Chronological Paper Conscience FIRST First Edition, First Printing. Published by Conscience Press, 1999. Quarto. Paperback. Book is like new.Seller 502355 Reference We Buy Books! Collections - Libraries - Estates - Individual Titles. Message us if you have books to sell!

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Conspiracy Theories, Parenting, Philosophy

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Leah]

I read (or started to read) the Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt because a homeschooling association emailed me the free pdf (which is available on the interwebs). I gotta stop reading these books that homeschoolers love. It’s like they are trying to talk me out of homeschooling.

I decided to read this one only because I thought she couldn’t really mean that the decline of America’s education system was deliberate. That would be crazy, right? Well, it is crazy. It is chalk full of crazy.

My first clue that I probably wasn’t going to finish this book was in the foreward: “American social engineers have systematically gone about destroying the intellect of millions of American children for the purpose of leading the American people into a socialist world government controlled by behavioral and social scientist.” Really? If only this could be satirical, that sentence would be okay. But since it was intentional, it is just sad.

And then in her preface, the author goes on and on about the socialist/fascist agenda, and their intentions to create a global workforce… blah, blah, blah. It is basically comes off as the ramblings of an incredibly paranoid person. I’m not saying that Iserbyt is that person, just that it this book doesn’t rule that out.

The worst part about this book, and the reason that I didn’t finish, is that it actually contains more fiction than it does fact. Each chapter takes on a decade of “history” where she lists her evidence. It is almost completely uncited (there is a whole lot of “this person said blah, blah, blah” without any proof that anyone said anything like it), and what is cited is often clearly taken out of context. This kind of “source material” just makes me angry. I won’t go so far as to say its all a bunch of lies, because I think she believes the case she is making. But, there is no proof any of it is true.

Look, I think there is plenty wrong with the public school system in America. That is the reason I’m considering homeschooling my children. But this? This conspiracy business just makes homeschoolers look like a bunch of wackadoodles.

Other people have said this was a terrifying read because of what it revealed. The only scary thing about this book, to me, is that there are people who believe it.

Reading With My Eyes Shut

[Roslyn Ross]

This book can be summarized well with a loose quote from the preface: If a child can read, write and compute at a reasonably proficient level, he will be able to do just about anything he wishes with his life, able to control his destiny. Because providing such basic proficiencies is not and should not be an expensive or complicated proposition, it becomes obvious that it is only a radical social agenda to brainwash our children that is the costly proposition--and complicated to hide what's really going on.

I couldn't put this book down. But I don't think it is for everyone. It's extremely important and wow, what an immense amount of work and knowledge the author provides! But it's not easy reading. It's a paper trail of extremely annoying political writing and over-complicated attempts by person after person to first appeal to someone's emotional rather than rational brain and then slip in some tricky language so that everyone agrees with whatever he says. So... totally obnoxious annoying shit. But sometimes fun if you enjoy the puzzle. And just mostly horrifying. I have never wanted to leave this country more.

Crazy how the government documents would have me convinced for fifty pages that the idea came from a good place and would do some good for the kiddies (like getting rid of grades and apprenticeships) but then how it turns out to be totally evil.

When the government pushes for "no grades" what they are really pushing for is a different kid of grade, grading on things the government values. So instead of grades that measure work, the "grade-free" report cards are all about a student's timeliness, attitude, effort, cooperation, responsiveness to authority, etc. This is NOT what I think of when I think of "no grades." So here are the characteristics that a totalitarian government wants in its citizens. These are the traits that will get you ahead, get you into the good schools, the good jobs--not brain power, but obedience. The more obedient will be rewarded with jobs that give them power. It's brilliant. And totally Hiter-esque.

In the 90's teachers were required in almost all public schools to make behavior part of the kids grade--whether the teacher wanted to or not. It's all about baby steps.

When government pushes for "apprenticeships", it sounds so good! I totally support apprenticeships! That's what I want for my son! But reeeeally, when you make apprenticeships part of the school program, you put the government in control of jobs. Kids and parents aren't out there looking for an apprenticeship that their child wants, the government decides what the kid gets based on his grades in school (and remember his most important grade is obedience). A few more baby steps and now you can only get a license to work as a baker if you have done an apprenticeship and you can't get an apprenticeship without the government... the government controls the jobs and we are a communist country.

I used to think that the schools had been taken over by the Democrats and that's why most people couldn't graduate from college without becoming a liberal, now I know that I was really onto something. The schools were taken over by behaviorists (on the payroll of Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller) with a brainwashing agenda to make the US fascist/socialist a long long time ago.

The fact that it took so long shows the weaknesses of behaviorism and the strength of our old values. But baby steps, money, patience, "research," and 100 years and our country is pretty much socialist (but we call it freedom here!) Politics will follow ideology. Don't worry about today's men. Just take over the schools, brainwash the kids and everything will fall into place!

I am super curious about brainwashing now. Fascinating that what is taught does not matter as much as how it is taught. It is the methods that make people automatons who cannot think for themselves, not the subject matter. "The method IS the message."

That's the problem with brainwashing and socialism and government--as long as you agree with what they are doing to everyone else, it's great! "Make them dumb religious folk turn to science! This country would be a much better place if we all supported abortion, gay marriage, and evolution!" I can just hear people I know cheering. But then when those in power decide to "Make them horrible rebels send their kids to public brainwash school, make them horrible hippies vaccinate their babies, make them dissenters take mood-altering drugs, make people eat what we tell them to eat..." WHY DON'T PEOPLE SEE THIS? It's all the same! It doesn't matter what you are MAKING people do, it doesn't matter how good you think it will be for them or the world, the problem IS the MAKING.

Dear Would-Be Socialist Dictators, please read Non Violent Communication and Choice Theory. And John Locke. There IS another way. We don't actually all have to agree on ANYTHING except to respect each other.

My biggest complaint about this book is that I wish Charlotte wrote more. I want to know more of her thoughts about education and solutions. And, I don't need such a long paper trails. One or two documents per category would have been fine. And I gotta say, I wouldn't have minded if she held my hand a little more. This book is like Iserbyt got out her file of evidence and published it. I would like her to write a new book with short chapters based around each regulation or educational platform rather than chronology. It could accompany this book so that when she refers to "Project INSTRUCT" I can flip open this book and read a one page summary about project Instruct, who started it, who is pushing for it, what its real agenda is, etc.

Dear Charlotte, I appreciate your work here so much! Would love to take you to lunch....

And for parents like me who want to know what I concluded from this book without having to read it:
-Absolutely no public school for your kids
-If you want to do private school, make sure the teachers are experts in their fields and do NOT have teaching credentials, and try an alternative style Montessori or Acton
-If you chose to homeschool, do not do it through the public system and be very careful about whatever system you choose. Probably best for you to be the teacher. Remember the quote at the top--With basic math, reading, and writing skills your child will be able to do almost anything he wishes with his life. This is not a costly or complicated thing to teach your child.
-Flee, flee the country. And vote for freedom in every area about everything at all time. Vote to take power away from the government.

[wally]

this lady, i believe she was secretary of education at some point during the reagan years, had been away, out of the country, where i don't recall. she returns to the u.s.a. and is shocked by what she sees in american education. she compiled this book.

i read it a few years ago and it just came to me, just now, in a flash and i don't even want a pickle.

so...here i am, writing this. i read it on-line....did i use that hyphen correctly? and does it matter?

anyway, this work, as the sub-title says....(hyphen hyphen....where's my notes?) "a chronological paper trail."

she documents the deliberate dumbing down of america...yeah, sure, you're thinking, what a conspiracy nutcase? am i right? thing is, she doesn't provide commentary, she simply records the paper trail....

...unlike say John Taylor Gatto, who in his The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling does provide commentary.

reading this, you understand why the network news, (you do recall dan rather coming out, stage left, during the election w/a paper suggesting george bush's old man kept him out of the war? or whatever?
and cbs, bastion of "that's the way it was" does it w/o blinking an eye?)

sorry, getting away from the matter at hand, this work by iserbyt.

i mean, but....and so the paper trail is there, you can read it and ignore it...like i said, she doesn't provide commentary....so, like, does that mean it is objective?

words, words, words, so said our favorite dane....

this book is one of many that document the same story.

well worth a read! i can't remember what year i read it....

[Zalee Harris]

By the time I finished reading BK Eakman's "Cloning the American Mind, I was fired up. A community friend connected me with Chalotte Iserbyt. Chalotte came to Maryland to be a keynote speaker at annual PTA Awards meeting I co-planned. She shipped 100 copies of this book and she gave autographed copies of this book to all that attended. We became friends. For me, this book connected the dots in the research I was doing regarding the education system where I lived.

If you want to understand the process of education reform in America, this book is the road map. Chalotte is working on a new manual. To get prepared for her new release, you must read this book. This is a must have have reference manual for all education advocates.

[Delubio de Paula]

Wow some of the reviewers should come back and apologize to us. Called us Conspiracy Theorists.
That did not age to well. After the "Plandemic" everything is clicking into place.
Scientificism is the hype now. Believe in Science take your SHOT get blood clots and die....
CRT crap in Public Schools, WOKE culture..... WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW....
Cheap war waged in America paid off..... This country is really in bad shape because of TEACHERS UNIONS ....>God save this Country!

[Joyce]

...it was prophetic, in a measurable and statistical way, i.e. rational, orderly, and, hence, scientific!

[Travis Koch]

More Crimes Against Humanity...

[Antigone Ants]

I should start this review by saying that I am a teacher. I have taught at both private and public schools, and have noticed that public school children are 2-3 years behind the students at the private classical Christian academy. To this, I assigned the following obvious reasons: at the private school, a higher percentage of parents were involved in their children’s education; and, equally importantly, technology was strictly limited. At public schools, kids are always thinking about their phones and always using their Chromebooks.

I should add that, beginning this book, I am very skeptical about it, for two reasons. The first is that I am more likely to blame stupidity for things than malice (for example, the existence of Chromebooks in schools); the second is that, reading reviews for the book, I found that the five-star reviews seldom if ever had intellectual depth but frequently were nasty toward those who disliked the book. This is not a good sign.

However, I also want to be fair to the book. I think there are serious problems with our educational system, and there might be something in this book that’s relevant. I am an academic, an English teacher who loves rhetoric and is willing to change her mind, so I’ll make notes as I go.

I wrote that, and then started reading. Oh, boy. What an unfortunate beginning.

In the preface, the author posits that Americans have two beliefs, 1) That if children have a decent proficiency at academics, they can remain free; 2) that education is not and should not be expensive.

I don’t dispute that many Americans hold these beliefs, but I will note for 2), that just because Americans believe something shouldn’t be expensive doesn’t mean they’re correct. An A-sized high school I worked at, which had a building built about 40 years ago, had a heating bill of almost $45k/year. Should heating be that expensive, from an existential viewpoint? Doesn’t matter—it is.

The author continues, “Since most Americans believe . . . that providing basic educational proficiencies is not and should not be an expensive proposition—it becomes obvious that it is only a radical agenda, the purpose of which is to change values and attitudes (brainwash), that is the costly agenda. In other words, brainwashing by our schools and universities is what is bankrupting our nation and our children’s minds.”

—Really? “If I believe something should be cheap, the only possible reason it might be expensive is that someone’s trying to brainwash me”??? That is ludicrously illogical.

She gives actual numbers, but since they’re from 1993, I’ll use updated ones from the Census Bureau. At the moment, the average K–12 student runs our nation about $17.5k/year, and there are about 24 students per class ($420,000/class). So where could that cost have possibly come from? Well, first of all, teacher salary—and don’t forget that benefits are typically worth 50% more. So if teachers on average make $65k, then add in benefits, and you’re already at $97.5k—almost a quarter of the total right there. Now add building costs, utilities, administration, school supplies, technology (averaging $9600 per class). . .

Don’t get me wrong: I think schools do waste a lot of money, but that doesn’t mean education would otherwise be cheap. Education is expensive. There’s a reason that private schools charge $10k per student per year and underpay their teachers and still have to have donations to survive. The simple fact is: the belief that education is inexpensive is simply wrong. Education is and always has been expensive, and “should” has nothing to do with the reality of the matter.

The preface than goes on to argue that the current purpose of education is “training” in “controversial programs” including “health education, sex education, drug and alcohol education, death education, critical thinking education, etc.” This is to me a baffling list. I understand why sex education is controversial, but what is death education? Also, why is teaching kids anatomy, drugs are bad, and rhetoric controversial? Rhetoric has always been taught, “health education” just involves basic medical knowledge, and drug and alcohol education is invariably “why you shouldn’t do this.”

Again, don’t get me wrong. There are certainly teachers and schools which push non-traditional values on students. There’s a reason I wanted to teach at a classical Christian academy. I don’t believe that pushing politics on students is appropriate. And I have certainly seen evidence that political messaging does influence what schools teach, especially at the high school level. But a few points here: 1) is she saying that sex ed is what’s making schools expensive? 2) Wouldn’t teaching critical thinking help her desire for free will? 3) She says, “if the government schools are allowed to teach children K–12 using Pavlovian/Skinnerian animal training methods—which provide tangible rewards for correct answers—there can be no freedom” because these people are “programmed to speak up only if a positive reward or response is forthcoming.”

So, this is interesting. Is she saying that when I teach 2nd graders, I’m not permitted to use positive reinforcement or I’m brainwashing the 7-year-olds? Is she saying that all conditioning (such as the conditioning to put your right hand over your heart when saying the Pledge of Allegiance or coming in when the bell rings or saying “excuse me” when bumping into someone) is necessarily bad? Or that I should also reward incorrect answers—or no answers at all?

As a teacher, I use a lot of Socratic questioning techniques. I want students to think things through to get to the correct answer. But when I’m teaching math (I’m a sub at the moment, so I’m teaching everything K-12), I’m not going to say, “good job, 2+2=5.” Instead, I’m going to walk the kid through the problem until they get the right answer.

There’s always a balance to be struck. Humans need habits and conditioning to function and automate certain aspects of our lives, such as driving a car and having good table manners. There’s a huge difference between “rewarding good behavior” and “welcome to your new Orwellian existence.” There is also, I should add, a huge difference in the cognitive development of a Kindergartener and a 12th grader. I won’t go into the classical education trivium, but let’s just say that in the younger grades, giving facts, facts, facts is what’s going to provide kids the foundation for critical thinking later.

I’ll skip ahead. The author posits that the following are the “real purposes” of American education. I’ll quote her and put my thoughts in parentheses:

- to use the schools to change America from a free, individual nation to a socialist, global ‘state,’ just one of many socialist states which will be subservient to the United Nations Charter, not the United States Constitution. (History teacher are not trained to do this. So who is doing it?)

- To brainwash our children, starting at birth, to reject individualism in favor of collectivism (in my opinion, our extremely selfish students could stand to think about others a bit more)

- To reject high academic standards in favor of . . . egalitarianism (really depends on the school, in my experience. But I think going with standards is what most large corporations do, alas. I think our standards should be higher)

- To reject truth and absolutes in favor of tolerance, situational ethics, and consensus (I don’t know if it’s the schools doing this . . . seems to be a wider societal trend, helped by the internet)

- To reject American values in favor of internationalist values (same as above)

- To reject freedom to choose one’s career it favor of the totalitarian . . . ‘lifelong labor’ process. (Just because you want a career, doesn’t mean you can get it. My lifelong goal is to be a full-time writer. I have worked diligently at this for 25 years. Somehow, that has not made enough people buy my books to make this a reality. So, at 38 years old, I have another job. Not because I’m trained that way, because she who does not work, does not eat.

I think I'm done with this book. That sure didn't take long. But when pretty much every single conclusion she makes in the preface is horrible illogical, I doubt there is sufficient worth in continuing to justify the possible harm.

(Not proofreading this review, so I can give the five-star reviews something to complain about.)

[Sally]

free download on her site. saw a clip on youtube....

[jewWiseGOY]

Lots of jewish surnames but none of them tied together.

[Mackey]

Oh gosh. I first read this book back in the 90s and hadn't realized that it had been updated. With all of the hullabaloo over the Federal Department of Education in the US, I got the new copy to refresh my mind on why I loved this book so much. I remember now.
At the time, I was a homeschool mom, homeschooling three kids through high school. All three either went on university or, the third, was part of the US Olympic team and now performs for Ci,rque du Soleil. However, at that time, we were dealing every single day with both our state and national education departments. Our kids were excelling - not just mine, over 90 percent all of homeschoolers. Yet, the federal government wanted to bind our hands and force us to follow their dumbed down standards, standards and curriculum that didn't work then and are far more egregious now. When you look at the failure of our country, both parties and the government itself, it is a direct result of the failure of these national standards. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT.
This book is factual, filled with references, a paper trail of how we got to this point. This isn't about opinion. During the pandemic a vast number of families had to homeschool their kids. What they found was that alternative method of educating their kids worked far better because kids love to learn, they are curious and want to like one another. We just don't give them that opportunity any longer in government controlled schools.
So, I highly encourage you to read this book, follow the paper trail and understand why there so many Americans, from all political backgrounds, who support doing away with the National Department of Education.

[John Smith]

I basically admire the thesis and intent of this book. But I fault it for its format and execution. This book is one long last, paragraph after paragraph, of quotations from sources which together allegedly show a "deliberate" dumbing down. Moe interpretation needed.

[Recynd]

I've not read/studied this book yet, though I've listened to many hours of her lectures on various, related subjects. If anyone is interested, she IS a compelling speaker, if you can get through her introduction. Just enter "Iserbyt" in the search box on YouTube and lots of videos will pop up.
*****************************************************

While I haven't read the book cover to cover (this is more of a reference book), I have read enough of it to get the idea. It is well-written and very, very informative. This is an excellent companion to John Taylor Gatto's "An Underground History of American Education".

[Bridget]

It's no surprise that our education system is headed for the dump. This is a very detailed collection of events and publication excerpts that portrays the decline of public school education. It is a laborious read and put me to sleep many nights to the point where I had to just skim read the last half.

[Karan]

Did not read the whole thing...okay...didn't have time to read it since it is not a book, it is a tome...but she does have a great deal of documents - and these are troubling. Is it credible? I think the greatest evidence is the educational tailspin our current generation is experiencing.

[Boky Oo]

You have The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, Revised and Abridged Edition on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumb...

[Budd Turner]

Paper trail of the "education reform" over the past century.
Depressing, helped me decide to get out of the education enterprise, away from budget politics and the good ole boy/gal net I was never invited into.

[Philnotfil]

A great compilation of primary sources, but the editorializing between the primary sources often skews the perception of what was happening in those primary sources. Worth having access to, but be aware of the heavy bias in the editorial commentary.

[Jesse]

Terrifying and can't stop reading it.

[Kasey Malone]

Revelatory!!!

[Walter Bradley Jr.]

A Must Read

[Dawn Harper]

Well argued thesis as to the intentional sabotage of the American intellect.

[Rafael Perez]

Strong book i think every parent should have a copy.

[Beebee Pomegranate]

Cpl. does not have it

[Patrick]

Not too sure if the points she makes are still valid in this day and age of on-demand information.