College Syndrome by Dean Gotcher

College Syndrome.

by
Dean Gotcher

College is where most students become 'liberal's,' i.e., socialists, i.e., learn to blame someone else for their problems, i.e., never grow up, thinking society owes them a favor. When language changed in the classroom from right-wrong to "feelings," i.e., opinions, i.e., "higher order thinking skills" in morals and ethics the culture on campus went from one of study to party. All of education has been "affected" by the use of "Bloom's Taxonomies" as the curriculum in the classroom, even in college—which was the result of a study done by Philip E. Jacob (Changing Values in College) in the 50's, who recognized that if 'change' was to take place in the culture of the nation, 'change' in communication (how the educator and the students are to communicate with one another) had to take place in the college classroom (as well as on the campus). Benjamin Bloom wrote, regarding Jacob and his work: "Perhaps one of the most dramatic events highlighting the need for progress in the affective domain was the publication of Jacob's Changing Values in College (1957)." (David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 2: Affective Domain)

Lewis B. Mayhew, who Bloom mentions in his "taxonomy," followed in Jacob's footsteps. Mayhew in his book, Arrogance On Campus, lambasted the university faculty as being "arrogant" for thinking they should direct the course of the university, controlling the students thoughts and actions (behavior). A flavor of Mayhew's agenda for 'change' (in education and therefore in the nation) is best explained by his view of "militant" students during the 60's. "It is just possible that out of the extracurricular activities in which the militants engage . . . can be found the elements which several decades hence will comprise the collegiate curriculum." His hope for 'change' in education and culture was found (in his words) "in the language and acts of student dissent." (source: https://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/921006Arc2092.html)

Benjamin Bloom made his agenda to 'change' culture (not only in the classroom but in the nation as well) clear in his first "taxonomy," i.e., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 1: Cognitive Domain. "We recognize the point of view that truth and knowledge are only relative and that there are no hard and fast truths which exist for all time and places." This is simply a paraphrase of Karl Marx's ideology: "In the eyes of the dialectic philosophy, nothing is established for all times, nothing is absolute or sacred." In the eyes of Karl Marx "To enjoy the present reconciles us to the actual." (Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's 'Philosophy of Right') In contemporary terms, "If it feels good, just do it." (Herbart Marcuse, Eros and Civilization: A philosophical inquiry into Freud) By making the students "feelings," i.e., their desire for the carnal pleasures of the 'moment' which the world stimulates, and their discontent, i.e., dissatisfaction with or hatred toward authority, which inhibits or blocks them, a part of the curriculum in the classroom, 'change' (Marxism) can be initiated and sustained in the culture. It is what 'change' is all about. As Karl Marx wrote: "The philosophers [those who are dissatisfied with how the world "is," i.e., subject to authority (as a child is subject to yet dissatisfied with the father's authority, as man is to God's), thinking about how the world "ought" to be, i.e., satisfying their carnal desires ("lusts") of the 'moment' instead] have only interpreted the world in different ways [establishing, i.e., preaching and teaching their "opinion" as the only right way, thus inhibiting or blocking others from enjoying the carnal pleasures ("lusts") of the 'moment' which they desire], the objective however, is change [the process of 'change' itself]." (Karl Marx, Feuerbach Thesis #11)

This attitude of 'change'—replacing (negating) the "old world order" of 1) preaching commands and rules to be accepted as given (by faith), teaching facts and truth to be accepted as is (by faith), discussing any commands, rules, facts, or truth that the student(s) might not understand (at the one in authority's discretion, i.e., depending upon whether he has time, the student is able to understand, or the student is not questioning or challenging his authority—with the one in authority forgiving, showing mercy, etc., to those who repent of their wrong doing, asking forgiveness and repenting when they do/are wrong themselves), 2) blessing or rewarding the students who obey/do things right, 3) chastening or not rewarding the students who disobey/do things wrong, and 4) casting out or rejecting any student who questions, challenges, defies, disregards, attacks authority, reflecting the father's/Father's authority system, with the "new world order" of students dialoguing their opinions (there is no father's/Father's authority in dialogue or in an opinion, only the child's carnal nature) in order to come to a consensus, i.e., to a "feeling" of "oneness," i.e., affirmation, i.e., the mantra of the French Revolution, i.e., "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, affectively negating the father's/Father's authority in the students thoughts and actions—was expressed (advocated) by Karl Marx himself. "Once the earthly family [with the children having to submit to their father's authority, i.e., having to humble and deny their "self" in order to do their father's will] is discovered to be the secret of the holy family [with the Son, and all following Him having to submit to His Heavenly Father's authority, i.e., having to humble and deny their "self" in order to do the Father's will], the former [the earthly father's authority, which is a system which requires children to have faith in and obey the father] must then itself be destroyed [vernichtet, i.e., annihilated] in theory and in practice [in the children's carnal thoughts and actions (behavior)]." (Karl Marx, Feuerbach Thesis #4). It is here that dialogue , i.e., "feelings" becomes the focus of attention, i.e., the means to 'change,' 'liberating' children from the father's/Father's authority—as took place in the garden in Eden (Genesis 3:1-6).

Whether the father is benevolent (loving, forgiving) or tyrannical (selfish, unforgiving) does not matter in this process of 'change,' the very structure of authority itself is rejected (negated) in dialogue. While dad and mom are not perfect, they may be or may have been down right tyrants, their office is perfect, having been given to them by God in which to serve Him (Hebrews 12:5-11)—engendering a guilty conscience in those under authority (when they do wrong) that they might repent and do right from then on instead (Romans 7:14-25). The guilty conscience effects not only those under authority but those in authority as well. By moving communication from preaching, teaching, and discussing facts and truth to the dialoguing of opinions to arrive at a consensus instead, right-wrong, which engenders a guilty conscience for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning is replaced with right-"badly," which lets people "off the hook."

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers both advocated this Marxist ideology, i.e., the rejection of the guilty conscience for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning—replacing the preaching, teaching, and discussing of facts and truth with the dialoguing of opinions to a consensus instead. This Marxist ideology—where pleasure, i.e., "feelings," i.e., the child's (student's) carnal desires of the 'moment' which the world stimulates supersedes, i.e., suspends, as upon a cross, i.e., negates established commands, rules, facts, and truth, i.e., the father's/Father's authority is the basis of the "new world order," i.e., socialism, i.e., the contemporary college culture and all institutions it enters into.

Abraham Maslow wrote: "Self-actualizing people have to a large extent transcended the values of their culture. They are not so much merely Americans as they are world citizens, members of the human species first and foremost." "Third-Force psychology is also epi-Marxian in these senses, i.e., including the most basic scheme as true-good social conditions are necessary for personal growth, bad social conditions stunt human nature,... This is to say, one could reinterpret Marx into a self-actualization-fostering Third- and Fourth-Force psychology-philosophy. And my impression is anyway that this is the direction in which they are going now." "Only a world government with world-shared values could be trusted or permitted to take such powers. If only for such a reason a world government is necessary. It too would have to evolve. I suppose it would be weak or lousy or even corrupt at first—it certainly doesn't amount to much now & won't until sovereignty is given up little by little by 'nations.'" "The whole discussion becomes species-wide, One World, at least so far as the guiding goal is concerned. To get to that goal is politics & is in time and space & will take a long time & cost much blood." ". . . A caretaker government could immediately start training for democracy & self-government & give it little by little, as deserved." "This is a realistic combination of the Marxian version & the Humanistic. (Better add to definition of "humanistic" that it also means one species, One World.) "Nakedness is absolutely right. So is the attack on antieroticism, the Christian & Jewish foundations." "I must put as much of this as is possible & usable in my education book, & more & more in succeeding writings." (Abraham Maslow, The Journals of Abraham Maslow)

Supporting Marx's (and Maslow's) ideology, that "sense experience" rather than doing right and not wrong according to established commands, rules, facts, and truth should guide a persons life, Carl Rogers wrote: "Experience is, for me, the highest authority." "Neither the Bible nor the prophets, neither the revelations of God can take precedence over my own direct experience." "The good life is not any fixed state. The good life is a process." "The whole emphasis is upon process, not upon end states of being" "Individuals move not from a fixity through change to a new fixity, though such a process is indeed possible. But [through a] continuum from fixity to changingness, from rigid structure to flow, from stasis to process." "At one end of the continuum the individual avoids close relationships, which are perceived as being dangerous. At the other end he lives openly and freely in relation to the therapist and to others, guiding his behavior on the basis of his immediate experiencing – he has become an integrated process of changingness." (Carl Rogers, on becoming a person: A Therapist View of Psychotherapy) Have you ever taken a test where "Strongly Agree, Mostly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Mostly Disagree, Strongly Disagree, Undecided," etc., are your selection for answers. That is the test to evaluate your adaptability to 'change,' i.e., your level of participation in "changingness," i.e., Marxism.

It is through his use of psychology—merging Marx with Freud, i.e., "group psychotherapy" aka Transformational Marxism—that Bloom intended upon 'changing' the classroom and thereby the world. He stated that his "taxonomies" were in fact "a psychological classification system." "We are not attempting to classify the particular subject matter or content." "What we are classifying is the intended behavior of students—the ways in which individuals are to act, think, or feel as the result of participating in some unit of instruction." "Educational procedures are intended to develop the more desirable rather than the more customary types of behavior." "Only those educational programs which can be specified in terms of intended student behaviors can be classified." (Benjamin Bloom, et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Book 1, Cognitive Domain)

The danger of such praxis is evident in Roger's own words: "We know how to change the opinions of an individual in a selected direction, without his ever becoming aware of the stimuli which changed his opinion." "We know how to influence the ... behavior of individuals by setting up conditions which provide satisfaction for needs of which they are unconscious, but which we have been able to determine." "If we have the power or authority to establish the necessary conditions, the predicted behaviors [our potential ability to influence or control the behavior of groups] will follow." "We can choose to use our growing knowledge to enslave people in ways never dreamed of before, depersonalizing them, controlling them by means so carefully selected that they will perhaps never be aware of their loss of personhood." "'Now that we know how positive reinforcement works [the dialoguing of opinions to a consensus], and why negative doesn't' [having to do the father's/Father's will] 'we can be more deliberate and hence more successful in our cultural design. We can achieve a sort of control under which the controlled [the students] though they are following a code much more scrupulously [more regulated] than was ever the case under the old system, nevertheless feel free. They are doing what they want to do, not what they are forced to do. That's the source of the tremendous power of positive reinforcement—there's no restrain and no revolt. By a careful design, we control not the final behavior, but the inclination to behavior—the motives, the desires, the wishes. The curious thing is that in that case the question of freedom never arises." (Carl Rogers, on becoming a person: A Therapist View of Psychotherapy)

In his second "taxonomy," i.e., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 2: Affective Domain Bloom admitted that his "Weltanschauung" (world view) was that of two Marxists, Theodor Adorno and Erich Fromm. It is clear to see the affect his curriculum has had on the students in the classroom—resulting in their questioning, challenging, disregarding, defying, attacking authority, i.e., questioning not only what "is," "Because I said so," "It is written:" etc., but the office of authority itself. In his own words: "There are many stories of the conflict and tension that these new practices are producing between parents and children." (Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 2: Affective Domain) Martin Jay, in his book, The Dialectical Imagination: revealed the 'change' that had taken place in America by the time Theodor Adorno published his book, The Authoritarian Personality. "The antithesis of the 'authoritarian' type was called 'revolutionary.'" "By The Authoritarian Personality 'revolutionary' had changed to the 'democratic.'"

We are witnessing this 'change,' i.e., revolution (audio), not only on college campuses but in education at all levels, i.e., at all ages, in all vocations and professions, including in private and "religious" institutions—in home schooling as well. Since the 60's organizations and institutions such as the National Training Laboratories and the Aspen Institute (PDF format) have been instrumental in the advancement of socialism in this nation and around the world. In this 'change,' "social worth" has replaced a persons unalienable rights, under God, i.e., individualism (as is experienced in the "group grade" classroom). When a persons "social worth" is carried over (from the classroom) into the courtroom, for example, there can be no true justice (the individuals unalienable rights, under God, i.e., individual rights are sacrificed at the alter of socialist "needs"—whether it is national, i.e., "race" or global, i.e., "human rights"). "Jurisprudence of terror takes two forms; loosely defined rules which produces unpredictable law, and spontaneous changes in rules to best suit the state," i.e., those in power. (R. W. Makepeace and Croom Helm, Marxist Ideology and Soviet Criminal Law) The end, i.e., socialism 'justifies' the means, i.e., "whatever it takes."

Socialism will not work because of the heart. The problem with government lies in the heart of man. Even George Washington knew this, explaining why in his Farewell Address. "The heart is deceitful above all things [thinking pleasure is the standard for "good" instead of doing the Father's will, i.e., having to set aside pleasure, i.e., having to humble, deny, die to "self" in order to do God the Father's will, i.e., in order to do right and not wrong according the Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth], and desperately wicked [hating the Father's authority which "gets in the way," i.e. which prevents, i.e., inhibits or blocks it from enjoying the carnal pleasures of the 'moment'—which the world stimulates]: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 Those of dialectic 'reasoning,' as a child of disobedience ('justifying' their "self") can not see their hatred toward God the Father as being evil because their love of "self," i.e., their love of pleasure—which the world stimulates—is "in the way," 'justifying' their hate, blinding them to the truth. All socialism can do is make manifest the deceitfulness and wickedness of the heart. Changing curriculum from preaching, teaching, and discussing established commands, rules, facts, and truth in order to do right and not wrong, i.e., moving it away from the father's/Father's authority, restraining human nature, 'liberating' the child's carnal nature from the father's/Father's authority instead, can only result in negating the guilty conscience for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning, so that all can do wrong, disobey, sin with impunity—"feeling good" about their "self" while doing or tolerating unconscionable things.

As expressed in the work done by Kenneth D. Benne, Human Relations in Curriculum Change, "A change in the curriculum [method of teaching] is a change in the people concerned—in teachers, in students, in parents ....." "[We] must develop persons who see non-influencability of private convictions in joint deliberations [where teachers, students, and parents, holding onto established commands, rules, facts, and truth, insisting their students, peers, children obey them, get in the way of the consensus process] as a vice rather than a virtue." "Re-education aims to change the system of values and beliefs of an individual or a group." "Curriculum change means that the group involved must shift its approval from the old to some new set of reciprocal behavior patterns."

Forty years after the publication of his first "taxonomy" Benjamin Bloom admitted that he had "adopted Ralph W. Tyler's idea of an educational objective as a change in behavior; ways of acting, thinking, and feeling, [which included] covert as well as overt states and responses." (Bloom's Taxonomy: A Forty Year Retrospect) Benjamin Bloom explained how this is done—through the use of the "group psychotherapy," facilitated,' Transformational Marxist, soviet, brainwashing, "safe zone/space/place," "positive," dialoguing opinions to a consensus, "snowflake"/"avalanche" creating classroom. "To create effectively a new set of attitudes and values [where "feelings," i.e., "sense experience"—not established commands, rules, facts and truth—directs the individuals thoughts and actions], the individual must undergo great reorganization of his personal beliefs and attitudes and he must be involved in an environment which in many ways is separated from the previous environment in which he was developed." "...many of these changes are produced by association with peers who have less authoritarian points of view, as well as through the impact of a great many courses of study in which the authoritarian pattern is in some ways brought into question while more rational and nonauthoritarian behaviors are emphasized." (David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 2: Affective Domain)

By replacing the guilty conscience, which is engendered by the father's/Father's authority system, with the "super-ego," which is subject to the students "feelings" of the 'moment,' Bloom was able to 'change' the student's response toward authority, rejecting authority, replacing it with their, i.e., the student's carnal desires of the 'moment,' which are subject to the affirmation of men, i.e., "the group." "The superego is conceived in psychoanalysis as functioning substantially in the same way as the conscience. Superego development is conceived as the incorporation of the moral standards of society [group approval, i.e., affirmation]. Therefore the levels of the Taxonomy should describe successive levels of goal setting appropriate to superego development." (Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 2: Affective Domain)

Kurt Lewin best summed up the students classroom experience: "The child [college student] takes on the characteristic behavior of the group in which he is placed. . . . he reflects the behavior patterns which are set by the adult leader of the group." (Kurt Lewin in Wilbur Brookover, A Sociology of Education) "The individual accepts the new system of values and beliefs by accepting belongingness to the group." (Kurt Lewin in Kenneth Benne, Human Relations in Curriculum Change) Those students who refuse to conform will face the wrath (rejection) of the professor (and the group). "I have found whenever I ran across authoritarian students that the best thing for me to do was to break their backs immediately." "The correct thing to do with authoritarians is to take them realistically for the bastards they are and then behave toward them as if they were bastards." (Abraham Maslow, Maslow on Management) It is here that the difference between discussion and dialogue come into play. In the rejection of discussion socialism (both national and global) raises its head, not only in the classroom but in the nation as well.

Welcome to the contemporary classroom, with "educators" "helping" students 'liberate' their "self" from the restraints of authority, claiming they are being victimized when they are told to do something that is not "fun," i.e., that they do not "feel like" doing, i.e., that will get in the way of "group approval," i.e., affirmation. For Marx, education, i.e., 'changing' the educator and the teaching environment (from doing right and not wrong to diversity/deviancy in unity) was the answer (which he had no control over in his day): "Education as yet is unable and unwilling to bring all estates and distinctions into its circle. Only Christianity and morality are able to found universal kingdoms on earth." (Karl Marx, The Holy Family) "Concerning the changing of circumstances by men, the educator must himself be educated." (Karl Marx, Thesis on Feuerbach # 3) This is the agenda of those using "Bloom's Taxonomies" as the curriculum in the classroom. Some five hundred years ago (long before Karl Marx was born) Martin Luther warned us of where this 'change' in curriculum would take us: "I greatly fear that the universities, unless they teach the Holy Scriptures diligently and impress them on the young students, are wide gates to hell." (Luther's Works: Vol. 1, The Christian in Society: p. 207)

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;" Romans 1:28

"The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself [his "self"] in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." (Psalms 36:1-4)

"And for this cause [because they, as "children of disobedience," 'justify' themselves, i.e., 'justify' their love of "self" and the world, i.e., 'justify' their love of the pleasures of the 'moment' (dopamine emancipation), which the world stimulates over and therefore against the Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth, thereby 'justifying' their hatred toward the Father's authority] God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie [that pleasure is the standard for "good" instead of doing the Father's will]: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth [in the Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ], but had pleasure in unrighteousness [in their "self" and the pleasures of the 'moment,' which the world stimulates]." 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12