August 1982 Print

A Book Review by Kathleen B. Rutledge

Change Agents in the Schools
by Barbara M. Morris
The Barbara M. Morris Report,
Upland, California: 1979.

Barbara M. Morris is known throughout the United States as an author and lecturer on today's education. In her book, Change Agents in the Schools, she forthrightly presents the sad truth about government schools and many private and church schools: the truth that education in the U.S., for the most part, is being used as a means to nullify and to change traditional values in our children. Mrs. Morris does not ask the reader blindly to believe what she says. Instead, through extensive research, she allows educators and government officials to incriminate themselves with their own words.

This review will be divided into four areas: 1) the philosophy of the change agents; 2) how they have become so influential; 3) the techniques they use; and 4) the results of their style of education.

The term "change agent," coined by the government and the education establishment, refers to programs and people who will cause changes in beliefs and attitudes. In order to be changed, children in school must first be convinced that no one should decide values for them, even their families or God. This leaves them open to accept the philosophy of the educational system, which is made to look very attractive. Mrs. Morris defines this philosophy as Humanism/Socialism and proves that this philosophy controls education in government schools and even in many private and church schools.

Leaders in the educational establishment for the last one hundred years have been promoters of the religion of Secular Humanism, which in turn desires a socialist government. Seeking tax-exempt status, the Humanists were pleased when the courts declared Humanism a religion. Humanism is described in The Humanist Manifesto II and denies, among other things, God and eternal salvation or damnation. The Manifesto says, "We believe . . . revelation, God, ritual or creed above human needs and experiences do a disservice to the human species . . ." Being zealous missionaries, the Humanists have positioned themselves in controlling areas of government and education for the dissemination of their beliefs. The religion of Humanism is man-centered and wants its followers to live by situation ethics. With man omnipotent, any action one may take can be valid if there is a "good" reason. Once God has been ignored by the Humanists, it is easy to understand how abortion, homosexuality and any form of sin would assert itself.

Regarding education, The Humanist Manifesto II calls for "innovative," "experimental" programs and believes education should promote world government.

How have the Humanists become so powerful? One thing they have done is to conceal their existence and goals. Any parent who has tried to have a meaningful discussion with a change-agent educator knows what Mrs. Morris means when she describes the language of "educationese." This tactic has allowed the Humanists to operate for so long because frustrated parents do not know what they are saying. For example, a parent concerned over the fact that Johnny can't read goes to a conference with Johnny's teacher. The parent relaxes when told by his child's teacher, "We have gone back to the basics." But Johnny still can't read. The teacher is referring to what Barbara Morris identifies as the "new basics." These "new basics" are not the three R's; as change agent educator Harold C. Lyon, Jr. points out, "Schools must recognize that pleasure, spontaneity, and feelings are as vital, if not more vital than intellectual achievement."

Teachers have been advised to use their programs without fanfare and to use respectable titles. One teacher's journal has a list of guidelines entitled "How Teachers Can Innovate and Still Keep Their Job." Parents' input is not wanted, and in some areas parents are not allowed to observe in the classroom. The lowly parent is relegated to the PTA to raise money for playground equipment and lobby for the passage of school-bond issues, and, of course, to provide the tax money and the children.

Mrs. Morris illustrates how these change-agents protect and perpetuate their powers through the National Education Association. The NEA has strengthened Humanistic education by taking action against anyone who opposes such programs as sex education. They support political candidates who agree with the NEA goals. Teacher training, textbook writing, and promotion of a federally operated educational system are also programs of NEA.

Demonstrating the role of the federal government in the advancement of Humanism, Barbara Morris shows that the government sends much sought-after money to the states, with recommendations for education; the states do the same to the local school system. This has resulted in programs such as "The New Model Me" for high school students, which has caused much disquiet with parents because of its anti-parent effects. The National Diffusion Network of the federal government consists of twenty-two bureaucrats who choose the programs to be funded and promoted in government and non-public schools.

Once the reader has been brought to an understanding of how the Humanists have been able to control education, Mrs. Morris discusses the actual classroom techniques. In a word, these techniques are described by their official name, "psychotherapeutic." These "innovative" and "experimental" programs called for in The Humanist Manifesto II see our children as "target systems" and the teachers as "clinicians." Our children are considered maladjusted guinea pigs for such techniques as role playing and sensitivity training. Such techniques force our children to act out emotions and family situations, while the rest of the class sits in judgment of the values expressed. The children become increasingly influenced by peer-group pressure. The fact that this problem is widespread can be easily confirmed by asking your children what they do at school each day. The reviewer's second grader's class was asked questions about their families as well as who could perform miracles besides God.

Another technique called "accountability" takes the form of questionnaires which reveal attitudes of students and allow educators to measure their progress in changing undesirable attitudes. What progress are the change agents looking for? A "bettering" of attitudes on issues such as environment, world government, the U.N., abortion, women's "rights," etc. They want our children to learn to adapt to the Humanists' world and to live on their terms. Consider this grammar exercise for the sixth grade:

1.  John collected twenty-one dollars in his neighborhood for UNICEF.

2.  Each family on his block donated to this worthy cause.

3.  Every donation will help those children who need help.

Changing attitudes to prepare our children for living in an atheistic, socialistic society requires a devastating curriculum. Barbara Morris details some school courses which devalue our children's lives and leave them open to corruption. Values clarification, sex education, and death education are a few of these courses designed to eradicate traditional values and replace them with Humanistic ones. No moralizing, no "neurotic" attitudes are allowed respect in these courses.

Values clarification is meant to instruct children that no one should have values imposed on him. Sidney Simon, author of a values clarification handbook, despises Christianity; he is widely read by teachers in government, private and religious schools alike. Once again, students are asked to bare their souls or rate from 1 to 10 the importance of, say, the value of prayer. The critique of an attitude is left up to the whole class, and the influence of classmates' opinions is tremendous.

The excuses used for promoting sex education are well known: the epidemics of venereal disease, teenage pregnancy, and overpopulation must be halted. Courses detailing the "how" of sex are instituted. Often representatives of Planned Parenthood are invited to the classroom, where they proceed to show the benefits of contraception and abortion. Of course, VD and teenage pregnancy have increased, and the students are not told the truth about the physical or spiritual dangers of contraceptive devices or the realities of abortion. Mrs. Morris quotes change-agent Sidney Simon, "The schools must be allowed to continue fostering the immorality of morality. An entirely different set of morals must be nourished." Now sex education has been proposed for use in Catholic schools in the U.S.

The author tells the reader how death education and drug education, with the aid of a non-moralizing teacher, improve the chances that our children will also have dangerous attitudes about suicide, euthanasia, abortion and the legitimacy of using drugs.

After our children are "renewed" with proper values, what will the Humanists gain? According to The Humanist Manifesto II, world government is an important objective. To this end, "citizenship education," "global education," and "peace studies" (as it is called in Catholic schools) are the means by which our children learn to become citizens of the world. The Humanists believe that a goal of education should be to end nationalistic patriotism and promote international interdependence. They would like to emulate the Communist Chinese system, which produces peaceful citizens. Again, Mrs. Morris lets the Humanist educators tell you all of this themselves. Until they have achieved their Utopian state, we are forced to suffer sex-, drug-, and violence-oriented children and adults who have been tricked into being removed from God's grace.

Mrs. Morris knows that all teachers are not conscious of the threat they present. Young and old alike have been steeped in the Humanistic philosophy through their ongoing training. They are willing to accept the lowering of standards on national tests so that the general public is not aware that students are not learning. Even when enlightened about the Humanist procedure almost all teachers and administrators in private, church or government schools will ignore the danger because of fear for their own job security.

For years the Humanists, the change agents, have been allowed to insinuate their philosophy quietly and without objection, but with the publication of Change Agents in the Schools and other books on the subject, parents have an opportunity to learn the truth about our schools. Mrs. Morris has done a great service by compiling and presenting all of this information. At the end of her book she says:

What can be done? I haven't beaten around the bush thus far, and I won't start now. So I'm going to come right out and say it: Parents who really care about what happens to their children will take them out of government schools as quickly as possible. I realize that's easier said than done, but it must be done and it can be done if parents make up their minds to do it.

Parents are warned also to check into textbooks and curricula of private and church schools, for many of them follow the Humanist program. Barbara Morris recommends a third alternative, home education, and offers addresses so parents can obtain more information on it.

The Lord has entrusted us with the souls of our children. At the very least we should read Change Agents in the Schools and encourage others to become familiar with the problems it discusses. In the government schools, the problem exists in the most rural community, as we found out. These problems are manifested in the classroom every day. In our local parish school they exist. We must not be influenced by quizzical looks and words of educators and friends; rather, we should have an ounce of the courage of Barbara Morris and protect His little ones from corruption.

Mrs. Rutledge is active in a number of patriotic causes. She and her husband are the parents of four young boys. They attend St. Michael's Mission, the chapel of the Society of St. Pius X in Atlanta, Ga.