If you wonder why young people today are often alienated from God, family and country, if you wonder why they are radical or depressed, if you wonder why they choose socialist experiments and reject proven free-enterprise solutions, the reason just might be their school textbooks. Some parents today are starting to read their children’s textbooks, and they are often in a state of shock at what they find.
One of my readers just sent me a book she discovered had been assigned to her high school child. It is titled “Survival: A Sequential Program for College Writing” by Robert Frew, Richard Guches and Robert Mehaffy. It is a manual to teach high school students how to “survive” in college by writing well-organized college papers.
The book methodically covers such useful skills as sentence structure, style, punctuation, library research, and different types of papers. So far, so good. But the lessons in how to write pale into insignificance next to the lessons it gives in what to write.
Any student who uses “Survival” will fill his mind with sample writing exercises that present a warped picture of America, history, morality, and private enterprise. Don’t take my word for it; let the authors reveal their biases in their own selections.
“Americans must accept government control of automobile travel, electricity, consumption, and industry.” (p. 8) “Although nuclear power seems to be the most promising source of power in the next three decades, only a few experimental nuclear power plants should be allowed during the next ten years.” (p. 13)
“Alaska’s delicate ecology will suffer now that the Alaska pipeline is in use.” (p.8) “In time, not only auto fuel but all petroleum products will disappear unless wisdom and restraint are practiced on a world-wide basis.” (p. 21)
“My general topic is oil politics. The specific question I want to answer is, did a series of early Nixon decisions favoring major oil companies lead to fuel shortages and send fuel prices soaring?” (p. 122). “California faces ecological destruction, therefore all measures must be taken to prevent this from happening.” (p. 57)
“Existentialism became the dominant philosophy of the twentieth century.” (p.53)
“In America today, a person is not human, he is a number.” (p.60) “God does not exist.” (p.75) ““An individual learns about himself when he leaves the security of home.” (p.53) “Families can be unhealthy for children and other 1living things.” (p.326)
“Browsing in the library may help you find a topic. Read recent periodicals — Time, Science, U.S. News and World Report, Playboy, Esquire, Psychology Today, Ebony, New Republic.” (pp.119-120) “He likes Playboy because the editors print interesting interviews.” (p.37)
“Liberalized views on censorship have provided the impetus for new frankness in books and films.” (p.29). “Interest in sex among women has only recently been recognized and has now begun to be exploited by several women’s magazines, for example, Viva, Cosmopolitan, and Playgirl.” (p.62) “An unliberated housewife is little more than a prostitute.” (p.7)
“Because the leaders of the Catholic Church were politically, economically, and sexually corrupt, the morals of Renaissance Italy were very loose.” (p.12)
“Mankind’s problems are abundant and complicated, but many of them can be attributed to one single cause: overpopulation.” (p.31) “We all fiust get it through our heads — prime ministers, presidents and the Pope on down to the people who have children — that our earth simply cannot support bigger populations every year. … But I believe that unless rigorous population control is instituted worldwide, and quickly, we will condemn our children to future misery, future starvation, future famine.” (p.253)
Thirty pages are devoted to analyzing in great detail a disgusting, depressing and stupid story about a female child who was abused by men, became a prostitute, had a baby alone, and then killed her baby. The lesson of the story is then explained: “If she had been given a choice, she would undoubtedly have chosen another life than that of a prostitute, but she had no choice. … By killing the child, she made herself and the men who helped make her the person she was equally guilty of murder. … In the end the author’s point becomes very clear: an adult is merely a reflection of the community in which he or she developed.” (pp.215-229)
Parents should find out what is in their children’s textbooks, and students need a handbook to help them “survive” when confronted by such propaganda.
