In a recent issue of The Maine Anchor, we presented a conference spearheaded by Charlotte T. Iserbyt in 2012 in which she presented “The Devil’s 7-Pronged Fork.” Charlotte was a senior policy adviser in the department of education under the Regan administration, and to many, Charlotte was a brave and unwavering truth teller, forging against a tide of what she called “a deliberate dumbing down.” To the establishment, she was a thorn in their side who would just not go away. To others, she was a hero who loved the children, and who loved the truth.

in the above-mentioned conference, Charlotte showcased seven ways our society is being attacked. One of the prongs she described was in the way our children are being indoctrinated in public schools. After many years in the field of education Charlotte was alarmed by trends she saw. However, she advised those in attendance not to worry about the ever-changing standards in education, but to focus on what she believed was the real danger: the Skinner/ Pavlovian methods that were being used. Otherwise known as operant conditioning, this is a method suitable for training animals, but not for educating human beings, she said. Operant conditioning makes it easy to manage a classroom, and it is especially well suited for computers, which can be easily programmed.

This way of educating is of course in contrast, and in opposition to a classical education. In the classical model, students learn the facts, and then learn to ask questions using logic and sound reasoning. Next, they learn how to integrate these, and to communicate how the facts pertain to and affect life. It’s been said that Classical education teaches students how to learn, whereas traditional education teaches students what to learn. One is active, the other is passive. Aristotle described the active imagination as our capacity to wonder and ask questions. In that same thread, Charlotte would say that we are at risk of becoming a nation of passive adults who readily accept what is told to them, without question.

In other words, If we never learn how to reason logically, we might easily be lured in by all kinds of false statements when the reality is sometimes completely different. For example, a journalist by the name of Heidi Przybyla recently claimed on MSNBC that people who believe human rights come from God rather than from Congress or the Supreme Court are “Christian Nationalists” who are merely interpreting what God is telling them, as opposed to the longstanding value that rights come from God. What Heidi did not mention however is that if not God, who then has the authority to make a claim on a person’s life or liberty? These are what our founders describes as self-evident, because it is obvious.

In fact, our founders worked from the principle that the government should be established to protect these rights of the citizens, not to confer rights on them. Our rights do not come from an elite class that decides what we should be allowed. Rather, we have Natural Rights and our system of government was established to protect those rights, some of which have been under increasing threat as of late.

The U.S. Founders, the authors of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were classically educated, lifelong, active seekers and learners. They read Socrates, Cicero, David Hume, and John Locke, among others, and used centuries of wisdom in creating founding documents. From these great thinkers before them, they understood Natural Law principles, and the ensuing principle of Natural Rights.

Charlotte Iserbyt understood these laws of nature too, and spent her talent and treasure trying to warn the American people. If Charlotte were still with us today, she would likely agree that we need to make it a priority now more than ever that future generations don’t get fooled into surrendering our human rights out of ignorance, and a lack of understanding. But how?

Written by a concerned Mainer who knew Charlotte personally…