~ Introduction ~
“Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause “ – Clarence Darrow

William Ockham died in 1349. He was an English logician who gave the world the maxim“Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” He further amplified this in his writings. He said “It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer.” The term “Ockham’s Razor” has been used for centuries by scholars as the logical solution for complex problems. The dictionary defines “Ockham’s Razor” as: A rule of science and philosophy stating that entities should not be multiplied needlessly, which is interpreted to mean that the simplest of two competing theories is preferable and that an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted by what is already known. In the vernacular of the layman, it is preferable always to use the KISS method. This means simply “keep it simple stupid.”

Education is a highly desirable and greatly admired attribute for every citizen. A country prides itself on its literacy rates. It is essential for the maintenance of a democratic society. Unfortunately it is possible to become totally immersed in a subject to the point that the mind loses the ability to view problems objectively. It is apparent in today’s academia,that the vast majority of the educational pundits have become purely subjective in their approaches and solutions to the overwhelming problems facing education in the twenty first century. The dictionary defines subjective thinking as: “existing only in the mind, illusory. Existing only in the experiencers mind and incapable of external verification.”

In the current educational climate we are deluged with frightening reports of unacceptable drop out rates,deplorable learning rates and increasingly violent and untenable behaviors. Reports are emerging from classroom teachers who are literally in fear for their lives. Schools are reported to have resorted to armed patrols in their hallways and metal detectors at the doors. It was inevitable that it would happen, we now have a school district in Texas which is granting gun permits to selected faculty. Now we have an armed and ready faculty with guns and live ammunition. Perhaps that’s a little radical but it reflects the climate of the teaching world as it is evolving. We are rapidly approaching a climax. These measures are not taken arbitrarily. The very fabric of our democratic society is being threatened. If we lose our educated populace, we lose our country. The chaos and misery around the world today accentuates the consequences of supporting and tolerating illiterate masses.

Our best minds in their infinite wisdom and profound thinking can only come up with the tired and useless bromides of the last half century. We are fed a litany of pleas for more money,better teacher education, smaller classes,more testing, better facilities, etc and etc. In all instances the bottom line is always more money is needed.

In this book I propose to think “outside the box.” The academic world has become so attuned to the psychology and philosophy that they have lost track of reality. I will propose solutions, so simple that a child will understand. The world of education has been on a downward slide since the end of World War II. We did not reach the present dilemma overnight. The remedies and solutions will not be instantaneous or magical. It will require dedication and desire in both the parental and educators minds. It will be critical to enlist the support and guidance of our elected officials. Some will think it harsh. The ACLU will attack ferociously, but the goal is worth the battle.

I propose to offer solutions that will cost very little additional monies. The benefits derived from this program will more than adequately pay for the costs. It is conceivable that the monies spent on the vapid “No Child Left Behind” concept will be more than an ample budget. When we throw in the untold billions being spent by local school boards on small but ineffectual programs and the cost is negligible. My solutions will improve the environment, reduce crime, increase literacy, decrease welfare and lower crime rates. Our country will benefit dramatically. It will attack teen pregnancy and demand responsible fatherhood. If all this sounds like the impossible dream,then you owe it to yourself to read and consider. We have tried the ways of the “experts.” They have failed miserably.

It must be noted that these remedies and solutions will not affect the 60% of students who attend school to learn. It will only accelerate and enhance the atmosphere under which the best teaching and learning takes place. It will remove the disruptive and chaotic conditions existent in today’s classrooms and restore tranquility to the educational campus. It sounds too good to be true but it deserves consideration. I would suggest that the experts have had their turn and it has proven to be pitifully inadequate. For some peculiar reason, educators during the last several years have attacked every part of the curriculum,while totally ignoring the core problems. Teachers have taken a mighty rap for poor teaching. They have been forced to teach, only dumbed-down and politically, socially correct information. I have sold textbooks to the schools for the past 30 years. I have seen the watering down of anything that even pretended to be a harsh criticism,scientific truths or politically charged fact. The publisher’s comment to charges of watered content is “It will not sell if it does not meet the prescribed curriculum of the moment.”

It is a little known fact that in the real world of educational publishing the state of Texas literally dictates much of the content on the nation’s textbooks. They buy more books than any other state in the nation. They have a state board that censors and dictates content. The board traditionally is heavily weighted to the religious right, which dictates that much material of a controversial nature in both science and history has to be dumbed-down or even eliminated to pass Texas censorship. What Texas does not cover is more than amply censored by the Kansas Board of Education. Publishers claim that they cannot profitably publish two version of the same text. The result is that the rest of the nation dumbly accepts what Texas and Kansas approves. Heaven help us if our poor children were ever presented with truth and actual reality. It is time we go back to basics and remove prejudice and bigotry from our textbooks. What good is a curriculum if it cannot teach the newest and most current information from a learned society. Those of us in old age today have had to unlearn a huge amount of information that we were taught as fact in our childhood. Knowledge evolves. What is presented as fact today becomes superseded by newer knowledge tomorrow. The knowledge of 2000 years ago can be taught as history but it cannot be accepted and taught as fact in the twenty first century.

~ Chapter One ~
“Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows the censure of their colleagues and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.” – Robert F. Kennedy

The veterans came home in 1946 and during the next few years created the largest birth rate the United States has ever experienced. The babies born in that era became known as the “Baby Boomers.” This is an era that I understand explicitly. I was one of those veterans and I contributed to that “boom.” An aura of sharing and caring sprang up among this vast society of very young mothers and fathers. There was an atmosphere of togetherness which permeated as a residue of the horrors of a great World War. Everyone wanted to give their children the best possible chance in life. Entering this frantic scene of child rearing appeared the imposing figure of Dr. Benjamin Spock. In 1946 he published “Baby and Child Care.” It immediately became a best seller and ultimately sales sky rocketed until it ranked next to the Bible as an all time best seller. Its message to the new mothers was, “You know more than you think you do.” The focus before World War II was that parents should focus on building discipline and this meant a baby should not be spoiled by picking them up whenever they cried. All of this old fashioned wisdom went out the door with Dr. Spock. A new world of permissive behavior was introduced to the world and future generations would be radically affected. As a present at the compulsory “baby shower” for my wife she was presented with a copy of this new sensational book. A few nights later as we were sitting in the living room readings he threw down her new book and declared that she thought all of this new philosophy was “hogwash.” She gave the book away and never again was even tempted to read how to raise our sons as related by an eminent pediatrician.

Today those baby boomers are the retiring senior citizens of the early twenty first century. They have served their tenure as our politicians, judges, teachers, civic leaders and religious guides. They have imprinted on this society their “permissive” imprint and realistically are leaving behind a horrific mess. We are experiencing a government that has become increasingly ineffectual and sophomoric. Political correctness has gripped the leadership until they are incapable of making definitive decisions or exhibiting any moral fiber. This permissive and pacifistic attitude is infectious. The school boards of our myriad school districts have become rubber stamps. The students have discovered that they are literally in control. A major demonstration or student strike and the average school board rushes to pacify the aggrieved children. Attempts made by the occasional board to write dress codes or rules for student behavior are generally not enforced by teachers and administrators because it is not worth the strife and grief which ensues.

The world watches their televisions intently as thousands of students pour out of their schools to march in protest movements on the streets of America. The right to protest is guaranteed under the bill of rights. It is a form of activity which allows all legal citizens of our country to express their feelings. Unfortunately our civics teachers are falling far short in their teaching of legal versus illegal protests. We are a nation of laws. A massive protest march against the Vietnam War was a legitimate and proper expression of dissatisfaction with government policies. It involved the life and death of young American citizens. It was a healthy expression of civic responsibilities.

Every student who marched in that noble movement was correct in expressing their views. They preferred not to die for a meaningless cause. Today we have thousands of students leaving their classrooms to march for an unlawful and illegal cause. Many of the marchers are in this country illegally. They are not citizens. The students leaving their classrooms are quite often not legal citizens. It is difficult for an American citizen to watch and not react against a foreign culture,in our country, illegally flying their national flag and not be upset. I often wonder what the reaction would be if a hundred thousand American citizens descended on Mexico City and started marching through the streets flying the American flag and demanding their civil rights. Would the Mexican school children flow out of their schools and join the march in protest against Mexican immigration policies? I think not. The Mexican people are not supported in their own country by the ACLU and a myriad of other alphabet groups. They do not enjoy the Bill or Rights which supports an American citizen. That piece of paper incidentally does not support the rights of foreign citizens to invade our country.

In the 1960’s our country experienced civil unrest among the young adults of college age. They had a legitimate cause and they knew exactly what they were fighting for. Their very lives were at stake. Unfortunately in the heat of passion-crimes were committed and people were killed but the cause was just. Their government failed them and they fought back. In their passion they achieved victory but managed to destroy the last vestiges of control over sexual conduct and dropped the bars for public dissemination and discussion of every kind of personal depravity and human inadequacy. In a very short period they exposed to the six year old child more information about sexuality than a High School senior would have possessed prior to World War II. The history of ancient cultures demonstrates a predominant reason for their decline and fall.

Almost without deviation it describes a pathway of decreasing morality as the populace became more affluent. Too much leisure time invites boredom. In the young this increasing loss of guidance and a tendency to permissiveness spells trouble.

The experts in their sorry attempts to control, adjust or contain the social ills of society have fallen far short. Instead of lowering the numbers of welfare recipients they are growing exponentially. The country now has second and third generation welfare citizens. The children grow up seeing the welfare check food stamps, free medical and free or highly subsidized housing. The welfare program never furnishes luxury but it does afford enormous amounts of free time with no responsibilities. The person exposed to such freedoms from responsibility tend to become indolent and slovenly. The welfare addict typically has no goals or ambitions. Morals are lowered pride is vanquished and the models of crime and depravity are born.

The welfare society which we have created through our magnanimous desire to help and assist is a magnificent failure. Our very acts of benevolence are providing certain pathways to failure. The problems of our educational system are directly traceable and in exact proportion to the population numbers of our community living on poverty incomes and welfare handouts. We are perpetuating a perfect Catch-22 scenario. The poor become victims of apathy. They have no self discipline so they offer no guidance to their children. The children grow up with very little self respect or self discipline. They cannot or will not wake to an alarm clock and report for school or a job. They have never learned the concept of responsibility. The children become the habitual truants who are recorded on school records. They swell the drop out roles. In their leisure time they create a new culture. They develop a new language,they create a new music and they defy personal hygiene and acceptable dress codes. They are rebels and they become losers. Deep in the sub-conscious they recognize their deficiencies. The more they realize the greater the rebellion of the child.

The gang becomes the family figure for the misguided child. They create larger than acceptable birth rates. They do not have the self discipline to control their sexual activities. The consequence is that with each generation the welfare roles increase and the sub-culture becomes more powerful. Eventually the country becomes a third world country without an educated core.

In this book I will use facts, figures and examples from one state. To use more states is to confuse with an over abundance of statistics. New Mexico ranks very far down on the lists of educational progress. It ranks some what above the average in drop out rates and habitual truancy. It is worse than some and better than others. What is true in this specific state is representative of what’s happening in your state. What we will report is taken from statistics furnished by the New Mexico Board of Education for the 2006-2007 school year. Some of these facts may be shocking but are totally verifiable. The educational system in our country may be in much worse condition than you may have realized.

Submitted to the Federal Observer for publication, by the author, Frank Newby, August 17, 2011.

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