Brevard Insider

Wednesday, May 10, 2000

Delphi Technique recognized

LTE by Pat Hartman

Wow.

I've been in meetings where that technique was used. Domestic terrorism. Alone in a group it is hard to combat, even if you realize what they are doing. Even if they let you talk, and they do try to stop you, what you say somehow disappears from the written record. You have to be really pushy.

Keep up the great work. Give insight on how to combat and win.

Extra funding should go into classroom

by Bob Brewster

The administrators are licking their chops because it has been the norm in Brevard to give the administrators a raise that is equal to what the teachers bargain for. This has widened the gap between administrator and teacher.

Six percent of a $40,000 teacher salary is a lot less than six percent of a $90,000 administrators salary.

I believe the teachers are under a two year contract and there will not be negotiations this year. This will give the school board more time to adjust to the new found wealth.

It will be better if the money is used to reduce class size, especially in the lower grades.

How communities are manipulated - the Delphi Technique (Part 2)

by John A. Stormer

Selling the “consensus”: In due time the community or state is flooded with a fancy, pretty "toolkit" selling the tax increase or promoting OBE, School-to-Work or a new approach to meeting the health "needs" of the community. The "consensus" may be joined or supported by the American Association of University Women, the state or local affiliate of the National Education Association, the local ministerial association, or the state or local Catholic Conference, the Chamber of Commerce, the Labor Council, etc.

The steamroller gets media support. When concerned citizens form a group for "Excellence in Education" or "Taxpayers for Fiscal Responsibility," they will be ignored or pictured as enemies of public education or "progress."

Goal of the entire process is the changing of beliefs and attitudes. That

isn't difficult today. After 50 years of progressive education and the

liberalization of most mainline churches and religious denominations, many

people aren't sure about what they believe. Even if they have a "gut" reaction that something is wrong, they have no solid foundational beliefs on which to base opposition or from which to offer creative constitutional solutions if there is a real problem.

What can be don when faced with Delphi?

Recognizing the technique and how to combat it is important. It may be

possible to disrupt the process or enable a knowledgeable individual to locate others in the meeting who are uneasy but do not realize how they are being manipulated. Here are six simple steps:

1. Know what you believe. Go to such meetings prepared.

2. If possible ask in the first general session, "Will we have an

opportunity here to discuss or question any consensus brought in from the breakout sessions?"

3. If a group of concerned friends attend, don't all sit together. Then

if when one person speaks, those in other parts of the room can rise in support.

4. When speaking or disputing, face and speak to the audience and not the "facilitator" or panel. Have friends who will speak up and agree or say,

“We want to hear more from....”.

5. If necessary, afterwards issue a "Dissenting (not a minority) Report."

In the big meeting, if the announced consensus is out of line, try to get the

floor to ask anyone who disagrees and wishes to participate in a dissenting

report to contact you. Get names, addresses and phone numbers.

6. Enlist supporters in Service Clubs, Veterans Groups, Senior Citizens

Groups, labor unions, etc. to question the announced consensus and distribute

any dissenting report.

Don’t put hopes in the courts. Concerned citizens frequently think they can look to the courts for justice. It doesn't usually happen on major issues. The 1925 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Pierce v. Society of Sisters was an exception. It held that parents have the basic right to educate their

children. Another is Wisconsin

v. Yoder which in 1972 upheld the right of the Amish to educate their

children in accordance with their religious beliefs and culture.

Otherwise, Christian conservatives haven't had much success in court on fundamental

issues - and it costs a fortune. There are, however, a growing list of

Christian law firms which handle some cases.

In the early 1980s, Alabama parents sued in federal court to have 44 textbooks banned because they promoted the religion of secular humanism. The National School Board Association's Council of School Attorneys' Annual Law

Seminar in 1988 told what happened ultimately after U.S. District Judge

Brevard Hand in his ruling said...

“If this court is compelled to purge ‘God is great, God is good, we thank Him for our daily food’ from the classroom, this court must also purge from the classroom those things that serve to teach that salvation is through oneself rather than through a deity.”

That was good reasoning and Judge Hand banned the 44 textbooks which promoted secular humanism. He wrote: 1. The systematic exclusion of references to religion from the 44 textbooks in question, in fact, establishes or supports the religion of secular humanism.

2. Inclusion in those books of information which is antitheistic,

hedonistic, antiparent, or which supports subjective value judgment, establishes or supports the religion of secular humanism.

3. John Dewey was the founder of the public education system as we know it today. In 1933 he, along with 33 other individuals, signed the Humanist Manifesto. It is his philosophy which permeates our

schools of education.

4. Our system of public education is doing a poor job of educating our

young.

Judge Hand supported the parents and banned 44 state-adopted textbooks used in home economics, history and social studies classes. It could have been a real turning point in the cultural war. However, the Court of Appeals in a unanimous opinion, overruled Judge Hand.

The proceeding was extracted from a book titled "None Dare Call it

Education" by John A. Stormer and published by Liberty Bell Press, P.O. Box 32,Florissant, MO 63032

Florida’s prisons release nearly 2,000 in March

from Dept of Corrections reports (through OPPAGA)

There were 1,986 offenders released from Florida's prisons in March 2000. Of these 1,986 offenders released, 723 or 36.4% were violent offenders.

The average number of months served by all offenders released in March 2000 was 36.3 months. The average number of months served by violent offenders released in March 2000 was 47.8 months.

Just clownin’ around - with J. D. Tucker

Frederick II, the eighteenth-century king of Prussia, fancied himself an enlightened monarch, and in some respects he was. On one occasion he is supposed to have interested himself in conditions in the Berlin prison and was escorted through it so that he might speak to the prisoners.

One after the other, the prisoners fell to their knees before him, bewailing their lot and, predictably, protesting their utter innocence of all charges that had been brought against them.

Only one prisoner remained silent, and finally Frederick's curiosity was aroused.

"You," he called. "You there."

The prisoner looked up. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Why are you here?"

"Armed robbery, Your Majesty."

"And, are you guilty?"

"Entirely guilty, Your Majesty. I richly deserve my punishment."

At this Frederick rapped his cane sharply on the ground and said, "Warden, release this guilty wretch at once. I will not have him here in jail where, by example, he will corrupt all the splendid, innocent people who occupy it."

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