I don't believe this

[Emu]

I was searching for sites that talk about educational theory becuase I like that kind of shit, and on one site I found this quote:

[center:63d9380a96]"Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as teachers to make all of these sick children well, by creating the international children of the future."
Dr. C.M. Pierce of Harvard University in a speech to teachers (1973)[/center:63d9380a96]

The site I found it on was using it to "prove" that schools were purposely trying to destroy the minds of children. The statement was so blatantly ridiculous that I couldn't believe the man had actually said it. The quote appeared in several different forms (For example, the date changed from 1973 to 1982, and the word "insane" was "mentally ill," and one site I looked at said the quote was taken from an indiscriminate 'phone call' as opposed to this equally indiscriminate 'speech to teachers' referenced here.)

I put the quote into a Google search and most of what turned up were either "Dumb Things Liberals Say" sites or sites "proving" that every single liberal is a Communist and somehow hold high ranking positions in education.

What I want to know: Does anyone have any hard evidence about this quote? Is it real? When was it said? The reason I want to know is that this quote is so blatanly stupid and has so many words changed that I can't believe it's real, but I also don't want to try to sift through all the bullshit that Google spat at me.

[Emu]

Apparently the speech they refer to is the Association For Childhood Education International seminar in 1973. But I can't find a transcript of this meeting or anything online. You'd assume since so many conservative websites quote it that there would at least be a transcript somewhere.

[Sethomas]

Although I certainly scowl at that quote's diction, I essentially agree with its principle message. Back in January I had a discussion about it with a group of multinational friends. (I was in language school in Madrid at the time) Although it wasn't implemented until about a century later, Thomas Jefferson said that public education was necessary as a tool to indoctrinate patriotism into the citizenry. I wish I could find the exact quote, but I'm sure someone else will look for it.

I think the worst case was in my high school government and economic classes, wherein I was flat-out told that virtually everyone else in the world hates their respective government and market system and wishes for them to be more American-like. Having got to know people from all over, it didn't take much effort to recognize what bullshit that is.

I actually hold that patriotism to some extent is necessary, and I have a certain love for the American people. But some methods of thought control instituted in public education are completely insane.

Edit: wrong verbiage.

[Emu]

I agree wholeheartedly. But I'm really just curious if the quote is real or not. The only sites I'm finding any evidence for its authenticity on are using it to go on a witchhunt.

[punkgrrrlie10]

Parents want to do nothing but create mini me's and sometimes it's at the expense of teaching their children to think for themselves. I think it's incumbent upon the teachers to educate children to question and to make up their own minds.

I had a friend who actually broke up with her b/f b/c when discussions turned to children she wanted them catholic and he was muslim and didn't really care but was like "well we can teach them both and let them decide" and she refused. I can only think of that as imprisoning someone within their own mind no matter how good the intentions may be.

[Abcdxxxx]

That sounds very 1973. There was a period where a lot of post-Sixties rhetoric went drastically wrong, and you could get away with saying some off the deep end statements without seeming all that radical or even out of place. Everything was meant to be progressive and lead to a raising of consciousness, through a fresh way of thinking. Wipe the slate clean, because everything we did before must have been wrong. It was the precursor for Howard Zinn's People's History, the aftermath of communal living, and communal child raising and so you really did have a small group of teachers going into 1st grade classrooms and teaching Marx & Engels. It was also a big period for experiments in education, and going against the three goldren rules. I can't place exactly what psycho babble pop-psych school this might have came from, but it sounds like there's some of that too.

What's funny is that someone would take a qoutation that's obviously incredibly dated to another time when such a mindset was still thought of as new, and apply it to current issues, as if learning institutions are running around using this as their secret war cry. I mean, is there any sort of underground teacher movement happening today!? Not really. The System has incorporated every progressive experimental learning strategy they could shove into the budget. If anything I think we go out of our way to be progressive and we miss some of the basic moral lessons about community, and even patriotism.

[conus]

It does sound very 1973 and I don't doubt that the quote is correct. If it happened today I would be slightly shocked, even though I still agree with much of it. But in 1973 it would have sounded so run of the mill I may not have even noticed it.

[kellychaos]

With many corporations going global, patriotism for a given country may turn into patriotism for a specific corporation. Perhaps the companies will have their own schools for their employees so as to program them as well.