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Table of Contents
1. Charlotte Iserbyt and her 2008 Video
Charlotte Iserbyt was the Bobby Kennedy of education chicanery and a senior policy advisor to Reagan. Her famous book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America — A Chronological Paper Trail, is comprehensive, full of government documents, and includes unbelievable examples of school sabotage. Chapter 3 is a summary of the YouTube interview above, where she discusses her work. She died at 91 in 2022.
2. Sources:
All are from Jim Arnold of Liar’s World Substack.
Back to Basics Reform, or OBE: Skinnerian International Curriculum (1985) by Charlotte Iserbyt.
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail (1999) by Charlotte Iserbyt.
Here’s one of her websites, where she offers the Dumbing Down book free:
Deliberate Dumbing Down | Official Website of Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
Here’s her other website: American Deception | Uncovering the Deceptively Hidden Truth
Jim Arnold purchased her material before she began giving it away. He has 441 separate files totaling 2.4 gigabytes in his archives. Some could be entire books in themselves, and others are rare materials of just a few pages.
This post is closely related to Jim’s Substack, “Fun With Dick and Jane,” which describes the globalists’ attempts to destroy reading instruction.
3. Charlotte Iserbyt: The Deliberate Destruction of America's Schools
My journey from foreign service officer to education whistleblower began with a simple request to see my children's textbooks. What I discovered was a systematic plan to transform American education from academic learning into social engineering. Through my experiences as a school board member and later as senior policy advisor in the Reagan administration's Department of Education, I uncovered evidence of a deliberate campaign to reshape American society through the classroom.
From Foreign Service to Awakening
My path to understanding education's true purpose started during eighteen years of foreign service work. I served with the American Red Cross in Guam and Japan during the Korean War, then joined the State Department, working in Belgium and South Africa. During my time in Brussels, I witnessed UN operations in the Congo that opened my eyes to the organization's true nature. These experiences abroad gave me a perspective that many Americans lack.
When I returned to the United States, I saw Joseph McCarthy's warnings about communist infiltration with fresh understanding. Conversations with people from North Vietnam and China during my travels had shown me the reality of communist systems. Their stories of identifying resistors and eliminating opposition leaders paralleled tactics I would later recognize in American communities.
After marrying and spending time in Grenada, where I witnessed a communist takeover firsthand, I returned to Camden, Maine, with two young children. I placed them in public school, unaware of the dramatic changes that had occurred during my eighteen years abroad.
Discovery of Educational Deception
My awakening began when I asked to see my children's elementary school textbooks. The principal made a crucial mistake - he gave me the teacher's manual for a program called "World and Time." This manual revealed the true purpose behind what was purported to be a “social studies” curriculum. The program was designed to implement a global education philosophy based on humanist principles that rejected traditional American values, sovereignty, and religious foundations.
The teacher's manual instructed educators to use activities that would create class consciousness and resentment. Children were to examine houses in their community - large homes versus trailers - and discuss who lived where, what they ate, and what this meant about society. These exercises were designed to introduce class warfare into the minds of elementary students.
When I raised concerns at a school board meeting about these non-academic, politically charged activities, the response was swift—I was labeled a troublemaker. This taught me how infiltrators operate - they marginalize anyone who questions their programs by spreading the word that critics are unstable or extreme.
After running for the school board three times, I finally won by a few votes. As a board member, I successfully eliminated values clarification programs and reinstated fundamental academic subjects, such as grammar and mathematics. However, when I lost re-election, the superintendent immediately called to propose a new program called "decision-making," which was simply values clarification under a different name.
Training as a Change Agent
A retired teacher suggested I attend change agent training to understand what I was fighting against. For $100, I participated in a program in Searsport, Maine, that transformed my understanding of educational manipulation. The training utilized a textbook titled "Innovations in Education Change Together" by Professor Ronald Havelock from the University of Michigan, which was funded by federal grants.
This manual contains case studies showing how teachers successfully implemented controversial programs despite community resistance. It taught participants to identify resistors in their communities - people who questioned sex education, drug education, or other programs designed to change student attitudes rather than provide academic instruction.
The training taught me to recognize that anything with "education" attached to its name - death education, sex education, drug education, decision-making education - is a red flag. These programs exist not to educate but to manipulate student values and beliefs.
Most disturbing was a journal from guidance counselors in Washington, DC that stated: "We in the death education program will use death education to change students' attitudes and values about death and dying, the same way we use sex education to change their attitudes toward sex and sexual practices." These programs existed to destroy traditional morality rather than provide education.
Inside the Department of Education
Through White House personnel connections, I obtained a position as senior policy advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement during the Reagan administration. This office oversaw testing, teacher training, and program development—the heart of American education policy.
My role involved evaluating programs that tested children's values, attitudes, and beliefs before and after implementing change programs. These assessments had no relation to academic achievement. Instead, they measured whether programs successfully altered students' moral foundations and family loyalties.
I discovered that the mandated federal tests were sixty percent focused on politically correct attitudes rather than academic skills. When states reported poor test scores, the measure was not an indication of educational failure, but rather a sign of resistance to value manipulation.
The office funded grants and contracts worldwide, implementing Soviet polytechnic educational models in which government and industry determine career paths for students as early as the third or fourth grade. This system eliminates individual choice and free enterprise. The theory was to create a planned economy where people are trained only for predetermined roles.
The National Institute of Education director, a genuine educator from the Cathedral School for Girls, was fired because he wanted to eliminate his own office. He recognized that this department served as the primary vehicle for destroying American academic education.
The Five-Pronged Attack on America
Americans have been subjected to a coordinated assault designed to make us compliant with world government. This attack operates through five primary methods:
Gradualism is the foundation - like the frog in slowly boiling water, changes occur so gradually that each generation accepts a further departure from traditional values and education. From the 1880s, when planning by Carnegie and other foundations began, to today's implementation, the process spans over a century.
The dialectical process undermines moral standards by forcing a compromise between right and wrong. Students learn that stealing might be acceptable if the circumstances seem to justify it, or that murder could be understandable if someone has been abused. This process gradually erodes all moral foundations.
Semantic Deception redefines familiar terms to mean their opposite. "Basic skills" no longer refer to reading, writing, and arithmetic, but instead to the acceptance of a world government. "Decision-making" means values clarification. The "Patriot Act" removes constitutional protections, and the "Freedom Initiative" implements mental health screening of all children.
Economic Control through fiat currency and debt manipulation makes resistance financially impossible for most families.
Regional Government eliminates local representation by creating unelected councils that redistribute wealth and resources and bypass constitutional governance.
The Broader Agenda
The education system is the primary weapon for implementing world government. Carnegie Corporation stated in 1934 that they would "use the schools to change America from a free individualistic economy to a socialist planned economy." Every president since pre-World War I has advanced this agenda, regardless of party affiliation.
Regional government represents the stepping stone to world control. The European Union is a model for combining nations into manageable units. Gorbachev described the European Union as "the new European Soviet," and similar regional structures are being established globally. The idea includes the merger of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, which would create the North American Union.
Lenin predicted that the federal government would eventually wither away and be replaced by local authorities directly connected to international organizations, such as the United Nations. Community-oriented policing, sustainable development programs, and school-to-work initiatives all serve this transition by moving control from elected representatives to appointed councils.
Solutions and Resistance
Our children face psychological warfare disguised as education. Charter schools, voucher programs, and any educational option receiving government funding will implement the same manipulative testing and curricula as traditional public schools.
True educational choice means paying entirely with private funds and rejecting all government involvement. Families must also resist having their tax money taken at the local level for education, as this funding mechanism enables federal control through mandated testing and programming.
The most effective resistance requires Americans to recognize that both major political parties serve the same agenda. The financial elite planned this deception in the late 1800s, ensuring that voters would have the illusion of choice while both parties advanced the concept of a world government.
Americans have been deliberately dumbed down through a century-long campaign, but this knowledge can serve as the foundation for resistance. We must reject the label of "conspiracy theorist" - a term designed to silence investigation and research. Every significant political event throughout history has involved conspiracy, and the Bible itself contains numerous examples.
Conclusion
The transformation of American education from academic instruction to social engineering represents the primary weapon in a coordinated assault on constitutional government and individual liberty. Through gradualism, dialectical manipulation, semantic deception, economic control, and regional governance, change agents have successfully conditioned multiple generations to accept the concept of a world government.
Recognition of these tactics provides the foundation for effective resistance. Americans must understand that we face intentional psychological warfare conducted through educational institutions, media manipulation, and community programs. The goal has never been to improve education but to create compliant global citizens who will accept totalitarian control.
Our Constitution requires us to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The domestic enemies have captured our educational system and are using it to destroy the foundations of American liberty. Resistance begins with understanding their methods and refusing to participate in any system that receives government funding or control.
The choice remains: continue accepting the illusion of democracy while losing all constitutional protections, or recognize the systematic nature of this assault and take action to preserve liberty for future generations. The enemy operates through patience and long-term planning. Our response must demonstrate equal determination and strategic thinking.
4. Jim Arnold's recent Liar’s World Substack post about Augustin G. Rudd's 1957 book, Bending the Twig: The Revolution in Education and Its Effect on Our Children
This is a comprehensive critique of what Rudd terms "Progressive Education" or the "New Education." It offers a detailed examination of the educational “reform” movements that have been invading American schools since the mid-twentieth century. Writing during the height of Cold War tensions and social transformation, Rudd articulates the concerns of educators who called themselves "Essentialists" and advocated for traditional academic approaches over progressive pedagogical methods.
The work originates from a period when American education was undergoing significant changes in methodology, curriculum design, and philosophical orientation. Rudd's analysis traces the evolution from traditional educational practices focused on academic rigor and cultural transmission to newer approaches emphasizing “child-centered learning,” social adjustment, and preparation for societal reconstruction.
The Philosophical Divide: Progressive versus Essentialist Education
The central tension Rudd identifies concerns fundamentally different conceptions of education's purpose. Progressive educators, influenced heavily by John Dewey's philosophical framework, viewed schools as instruments for social change. According to them, education should prepare students not merely to function within existing society but to actively participate in creating what Dewey called a "new social order." This approach was a departure from traditional educational goals, which emphasized academic mastery and preparation for citizenship within democratic institutions.
Dewey's materialistic philosophy, as Rudd analyzes it, positioned human beings primarily as biological organisms responding to environmental stimuli. This worldview led to educational methods emphasizing experience and activity over abstract learning or moral instruction. The Progressive movement embraced what became known as "child-centered" education, where student interests and immediate experiences took precedence over systematic curriculum requirements or adult-directed learning objectives.
The Essentialist position, by contrast, maintained that education's primary function involved learning accumulated human knowledge, cultural values, and intellectual tools necessary for productivity. Essentialists argued that fundamental skills—such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and familiarity with historical and scientific knowledge—constituted prerequisites for meaningful participation in a democratic society. They contended that progressive methods failed to provide the rigorous intellectual foundation required for advanced learning and responsible citizenship.
Rudd documents how this philosophical divide manifested in practical educational policies. Progressive educators advocated for curriculum integration, replacing traditional subjects like history, geography, and civics with comprehensive "social studies" programs, rather than maintaining them as separate disciplines. They promoted "activity schools" where students engaged in projects and experiences rather than systematic study of academic disciplines. The progressive approach emphasized emotional and social development over intellectual rigor, arguing that traditional methods produced graduates who were passive and conformist, unsuited for democratic participation.
Curriculum Transformation and Its Consequences
Rugg emerged as an influential figure in this academic destruction. His textbooks, widely adopted in American schools, aimed to prepare students for participation in a reconstructed society rather than understanding existing American institutions and their historical development. Rugg's materials employed sophisticated propaganda techniques, systematically undermining student confidence in American economic and political systems while promoting collectivism.
The progressive approach to curriculum design followed a four-step process of indoctrination. First, students learned that change was constant and inevitable, particularly in governmental and social organizations. Second, they encountered extensive evidence of American society's failures and inadequacies. Third, the curriculum systematically challenged traditional narratives about American founding principles and historical figures, presenting them as self-interested rather than idealistic. Finally, students received instruction in collectivist planning and social reconstruction as inevitable future developments.
Rudd documents extensive evidence of declining academic performance resulting from these curricular changes. Employers reported that recent high school graduates lacked basic literacy and numeracy skills that had been routine expectations for earlier generations. Military personnel observed that many recruits struggled to perform simple mathematical calculations necessary for navigation and other essential tasks. The emphasis on social adjustment and emotional development came at the expense of fundamental academic competencies.
The transformation of reading instruction exemplified these broader problems. Traditional phonetic methods, which had successfully taught literacy for centuries, were abandoned in favor of "whole word" or "look-say" approaches that required students to memorize entire words rather than understanding the relationship between letters and sounds. This resulted in widespread reading difficulties and spelling problems that persisted into adulthood. (See Fun With Dick and Jane for a comprehensive treatment of this.)
Discipline, Character Formation, and Behavioral Theory
Progressive educational theory's approach to discipline and character development was more value destruction. Drawing from Herbert Spencer's naturalistic theories and later behaviorist psychology, progressive educators advocated for "natural consequences" rather than adult-imposed discipline. Students were expected to learn appropriate behavior through direct experience of pleasant and unpleasant outcomes rather than through moral instruction or adult guidance.
This reflected the progressive movement's disagreement with traditional moral and religious teachings. Progressive educators claimed conventional character education was indoctrination that inhibited students' natural development and creativity. They advanced "value-neutral" educational environments where students could develop ethical frameworks through experience and reflection.
This approach to discipline was both impractical and harmful. Children could not safely learn all important lessons through direct experience because the consequences of certain behaviors were too severe for experiential learning. Moreover, the naturalistic approach failed to develop the sense of duty, sacrifice, and service to others that traditional character education cultivated. Instead, it produced people motivated primarily by self-interest and immediate gratification.
The behaviorist influence in progressive education, particularly through the work of Edward Thorndike and later B.F. Skinner introduced systematic conditioning techniques into classroom management. Teachers were trained to reinforce desired behaviors through rewards and eliminate unwanted behaviors by withdrawing positive reinforcement. This treated students essentially as sophisticated animals responding to environmental stimuli rather than as rational beings capable of moral reasoning and self-discipline.
Rudd contends that these conditioning techniques, while potentially effective for training animals, were inadequate for developing human character. The system trained students to expect external rewards for appropriate behavior rather than internalizing principles of right and wrong. Students conditioned through behaviorist methods often struggled to function effectively when external reinforcement systems were absent. They lacked the internal motivation and moral compass that traditional character education develops.
International Perspectives and Historical Precedents
Rudd analyzed the Soviet Union's experience with progressive educational methods. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, Soviet educators imported American progressive education theories almost wholesale, viewing them as tools for eliminating traditional family structures, religious beliefs, and bourgeois values. Lenin and his henchmen saw progressive education as a means of creating new Soviet citizens unconstrained by pre-revolutionary cultural attachments.
The Soviet experiment with progressive education was disastrous. By 1920, Russian educators saw widespread chaos in schools where traditional discipline and systematic instruction had been abandoned. Students emerged from the progressive system unable to read, write, or perform basic mathematical calculations. More troubling still, many young people developed no loyalty to family, country, or any moral principles, becoming essentially rootless individuals unsuitable for productive participation in organized society.
Soviet authorities recognized the failure of progressive methods and officially abandoned them in 1932. Government directives explicitly called for the restoration of discipline, systematic instruction, and teacher authority. The Soviet experience demonstrated that progressive educational theories were impractical when implemented over extended periods.
This international precedent provided American critics of progressive education with powerful evidence about the likely consequences of continued reform along progressive lines. While American progressive educators continued advocating for methods that the Soviet Union had already tested and rejected, American students were experiencing declining academic performance and behavioral problems similar to those that had prompted Soviet policy reversals.
Institutional Influences and Financial Support
Rudd's investigation revealed financial support for progressive educational initiatives from major American foundations, particularly the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations. These tax-exempt institutions provided millions of dollars to promote progressive educational research, teacher training, and curriculum development. The financial resources available to progressive educators vastly exceeded those supporting traditional academic approaches.
This foundation funding enabled the establishment of progressive teacher training programs at major universities, particularly Teachers College at Columbia University. These institutions became centers for developing and disseminating progressive educational theories, training thousands of teachers and administrators who carried progressive methods into school systems throughout the country. This concentration of resources behind progressive education created a self-reinforcing system where educational professionals advanced their careers by embracing reform initiatives.
The influence of these foundations extended beyond direct financial support, encompassing research projects, publications, and professional conferences that significantly shaped educational discourse. Progressive educators gained access to prestigious platforms for presenting their ideas, while traditional educators found fewer opportunities for articulating alternative perspectives. This imbalance contributed to the perception that progressive methods represented inevitable modernization rather than contested educational philosophy.
Foundation support also enabled progressive educators to weather criticism from parents, employers, and community members who observed a decline in academic performance. When local communities attempted to restore traditional educational methods, progressive educators could draw upon extensive networks of professional support and financial resources to resist these efforts. The result was often prolonged conflict between academic professionals and the communities they served.
The Essentialist Alternative and Restoration Principles
In response to progressive educational theories and their practical consequences, Essentialist educators articulated a comprehensive alternative vision for American schooling. They emphasized intellectual development over social programming, academic rigor over student comfort, and cultural acquisition over propaganda. Essentialists argued that effective education required systematic instruction in fundamental disciplines, clear behavioral expectations, and respect for accumulated human knowledge and wisdom.
The Essentialist program advocated for the restoration of traditional subject-matter divisions, particularly the teaching of history, geography, and civics as separate disciplines rather than integrated social studies. They insisted on phonetic reading instruction from the earliest grades, systematic mathematics education on computational skills and practical applications rather than abstract concepts unsuitable for young learners, and extensive practice in written composition, with systematic attention to spelling and grammar. History instruction should present American achievements and ideals alongside acknowledgment of historical problems and failures.
Essentialists favored traditional classroom organization, characterized by clear teacher authority, regular homework assignments, and academic promotion based on demonstrated competency rather than social considerations.
Character education occupied a central place in Essentialist thinking. Rather than relying on natural consequences or behaviorist conditioning, Essentialists advocated for explicit moral instruction based on principles drawn from religious traditions and philosophical reflection. They argued that human beings required guidance in developing ethical frameworks and that leaving moral development to chance or experience produced individuals unprepared for the responsibilities of citizenship and family life.
Essentialists also emphasized the importance of local community control over educational policies and practices. They argued that schools should reflect the values and expectations of the families and communities they served rather than implementing educational theories developed by distant professionals. Parents should possess both the right and the responsibility to evaluate and criticize educational practices that affect their children.
Conclusion
Rudd's analysis presents progressive education as an attempt to reform American schooling that resulted in academic and social deterioration. His critique suggests that progressive theories failed to account for fundamental aspects of human nature and learning processes. The emphasis on experience over instruction, emotion over intellect, and social reconstruction over cultural transmission produced graduates inadequately prepared for life’s tasks.
The work argues that effective education requires recognition of certain permanent principles about human development, learning, and social organization. Children do best with systematic instruction by knowledgeable adults rather than undirected exploration of their environment. Academic disciplines possess valuable internal logic and structure. Character development requires moral instruction rather than reliance on natural processes or environmental conditioning.
Progressive education's emphasis on social reconstruction, rather than learning about culture, disconnected American students from their historical inheritance and the intellectual resources necessary for maintaining democratic institutions. The Soviet experience demonstrated that educational theories promoting radical social change produced social instability and individual confusion.
Rudd's Essentialist alternative was an attempt to preserve educational practices that had demonstrated effectiveness over extended periods while remaining open to genuine improvements in teaching methods and school organization. The goal was to distinguish between innovations that enhanced the fundamental purposes of education and those that undermined them.
References
Rudd, Augustin G. Bending the Twig: The Revolution in Education and Its Effect on Our Children. New York: New York Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, 1957.
Dewey, John. The School and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1900.
Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan, 1916.
Rugg, Harold. The Great Technology. New York: John Day, 1933.
Rugg, Harold. Building a Science of Society for the Schools. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934.
Kirk, Russell. A Program for Conservatives. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1954.
Demiashkevich, Michael. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: American Book Company, 1935.
Hearnshaw, F.J.C. A Survey of Socialism. London: Macmillan, 1929.
McCluskey, Neil G. "Progressive Education: A Critical Analysis." America, December 1, 1956.
Almack, John C. "Educational Philosophy and Practice." San Francisco Examiner, October 13, 1942.
Lauchner, A.H. "How Can the Junior High School Curriculum Be Improved?" Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1951.
Conclusions and synthesis
For nearly a century, the US education system has been devolving into a nightmare. Useful idiots play a role, while intelligent people with no moral compass facilitate the decline. However, it is the Cabal that keeps the pressure going and the money flowing. Our only hope is to spread the truth and homeschool those we can.
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