In the shadows of the Bismarcks totalitarian Germany in 1875, a little-known medical researcher laid the groundwork for a subject that in modern times was to bring American education to its knees--behavioral psychology. A latter-day disciple, B. F. Skinner, later wrote the book "Beyond Freedom and Dignity," arguing that such ancient conceptions as these are luxuries our brave new world can no longer afford. Another ardent follower--John Dewey, the "Father of American education"--took the new radical German redefinition of education to mean the reprograming of young brains and nervous systems, and applied it to his self-appointed task of creating in America the ideal socialist state. John D. Rockefeller, for purposes of his own, bankrolled what was in effect a hostile take-over of our educational establishment. "The Leipzig Connection" is a startling account of how and why these things came about. It lays out in concise detail the story of the development of the educational malaise which we have unknowingly dropped our children into, explaining not only declining SAT scores and the phenomenon of high school graduates who are barely literate, but also symptoms even more sinister: violence, prostitution and drug dealing in the schools, the self-mutilation of tattooing and body piercing, and teenage suicide.
In the shadows of the Bismarcks totalitarian Germany in 1875, a little-known medical researcher laid the groundwork for a subject that in modern times was to bring American education to its knees--behavioral psychology. A latter-day disciple, B. F. Skinner, later wrote the book "Beyond Freedom and Dignity," arguing that such ancient conceptions as these are luxuries our brave new world can no longer afford. Another ardent follower--John Dewey, the "Father of American education"--took the new radical German redefinition of education to mean the reprograming of young brains and nervous systems, and applied it to his self-appointed task of creating in America the ideal socialist state. John D. Rockefeller, for purposes of his own, bankrolled what was in effect a hostile take-over of our educational establishment. "The Leipzig Connection" is a startling account of how and why these things came about. It lays out in concise detail the story of the development of the educational malaise which we have unknowingly dropped our children into, explaining not only declining SAT scores and the phenomenon of high school graduates who are barely literate, but also symptoms even more sinister: violence, prostitution and drug dealing in the schools, the self-mutilation of tattooing and body piercing, and teenage suicide.