The
Leipzig Connection:
Sabotage of the US
Educational System
by
Paolo Lionni |
Chapter 1. A New Domain
"Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was born in 1832 in Neckarau, in a small town in
southern Germany. Wundt entered the university at Tubingen when he was 19,
transferred to Heidelberg after half a year, and graduated as a medical doctor
from the university in 1856. He stayed on at Heidelberg for the next seventeen
years, working first as a professor's assistant, and later as a professor
himself, in the field of psychology. Psychology, at that time, meant simply the
study (ology) of the soul (psyche), or mind."
"In 1874, Wundt left Heidelberg to take a position as professor of philosophy
at Zurich. He stayed there for only a year, and then accepted a chair in
philosophy at the University of Leipzig, in Germany. He was to remain at Leipzig
for the rest of his academic career, eventually being appointed rector of the
university. Wundt died in 1920."
"Those are some of the vital statistics. What they omit is that Wundt was the
founder of experimental psychology and the force behind its dissemination
throughout the western world."
"To Wundt a thing made sense and was worth pursuing if it could be measured,
quantified, and scientifically demonstrated. Seeing no way to do this with the
human soul, he proposed that psychology concerns itself solely with
experience."
"Wundt asserted that man is devoid of spirit and self-determinism. He set out
to prove that man is the summation of his experiences, of the stimuli which
intrude upon his consciousness and unconsciousness.
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| Before Wundt, the subject of psychology was largely
philosophical in nature and dealt with the spirit, soul and mind. Wundt 's
activity "redefined psychology as a physiological rather than a
philosophical subject." Basically, everything previously considered to be
a fundamental part of Man, the spirit, mind, soul, feelings, will,
intention, hopes, and ideas, came to be ignored and explained solely as a
response to external stimuli and physiology. Per Lionni, "What was will?
For Wundt, will was the direct result of the combination of perceived
stimuli, not an independent, individual intention as psychology and
philosophy had, with some notable exceptions, held up to that time".
There is nothing inherently wrong or incorrect about investigating the
"mind" scientifically, using standard methods of theorizing, testing, and
observing results until a workable understanding is arrived at. I am not
"anti-science" or against careful analysis. The problem with "modern"
psychology and psychiatry is that the "mind" has been ignored, NEVER
investigated as a thing in itself, and instead, genetics, physiology and
the environment have been "examined" ad nauseam and incorrectly
explained to be the source of all Man's problems. The theories and
beliefs, which existed before the advent of Wundt, while largely
philosophical, and often vague, opinionated and confusing, did
often suffer from a lack of "scientific basis", but they at least
recognized the "mind" as an entity with its own functions and workings (as
distinct from physiology and the environment).
The "mind" has been studied extensively throughout the centuries in
what are today called religions such as Hinduism, Sufiism and Buddhism.
The material is often confusing, and has become interminably entwined with
religious beliefs and ideas making it difficult to separate the basic
psychological data from opinion and pure fantasy. An honest objective
involvement with any of these traditional subjects, or more modern
subjects, such as Rosicrucianism, Creative Visualization or Scientology,
to mention only a few, can usually make it quite obvious to any serious
student that the mind 1) exists and, 2) has its own nature, functions and
capabilities quite separate and distinct from the body or physiology.
Western Man's failure to understand the truths in these subjects has been
a severe loss for us all.
It is important to understand the magnitude in the change of viewpoint
that occurred with the advent of Wundt's ideas.
The spreading of Wundt's ideas had the effect of minimizing and erasing
the notion of man as being or having an inner "personality", soul, or
spirit. You are not viewed as a person with thoughts, feelings, ideas,
will, hopes, and dreams. You are never appealed to on that level.
Your "mind" is ignored. YOU are ignored. Those in control of education,
psychology, and psychiatry largely view man as an animal to be controlled
and manipulated. They view YOU as an animal. You are thought of as a piece
of meat to be placed in suitable environments and controlled accordingly.
This is the "modern", "scientific" approach.
The modern scientist wishes to find out how (human) phenomena behave
regardless of his own personal wishes, predilections and prejudices. He
idealizes impersonal objectivity. That is fine in the physical
sciences dealing with raw matter and energy, and in fact, in these areas,
science has produced tremendous results enabling control of a great deal
of the human physical condition. The problem and flaw to this is that the
nature of Man, at its very root source, involves personal wishes,
predilections, prejudices and much more. The scientist would like to
"figure Man out" and explain Man as some machine susceptible to simple
rules and laws, so Man can be predicted (and controlled). Science has no
other purpose other than to understand so as to predict and control.
Again, that is fine and well, and obtains positive results when this
scientific activity remains in the realm of the physical sciences. It
isn't well when dealing with human beings and their minds. Any man need
only change his mind, set upon a new course of behavior, and
violate every notion of modern behavioral engineering. What the modern
scientist fails to understand is that any man can, at any moment,
choose to change his mind at any time, regardless of environment, heredity
or biochemistry. I am sure this drives them wild, as it prevents them from
exerting ultimate control, which some of them admit desiring above all
else.
Past and current theories about man's soul, spirit, or "self" involve a
wide range of religious beliefs, psychic phenomena, mystical writings,
philosophical speculation, and today, New Age ideas. Your agreement or
disagreement with these subjects is not the point. The point is that
whatever you and your mind actually ARE, and we don't need to know
exactly, the realm of the mind has been relegated to no
importance at all by modern psychological theories and psychiatric
practices. This is wrong, scientifically and morally, and has had dire
consequences.
See the Definition of
Psychology the for more on this.
Personally I don't like being told I am an animal, only subject to
environmental forces, with no self-determinism and no personal
responsibility. I find it absurd and demeaning that a "science" can decide
and tell me my thoughts, feelings, ideas, intentions, hopes and dreams are
of no value and don't exist as far as they are concerned. This IS the
practical result of applying modern behavioral and psychiatric theories to
real life situations. If they were simply a bunch of philosophizing
pedants, cloistered off in an office in some major university, it wouldn't
matter, but the problem is that this group, with their degrading viewpoint
of man, currently enjoys much power, control and influence over education,
health care, medicine, government, police, and social
institutions. |
|
"Wundt established the new psychology as a study of the brain and the central
nervous system. From Wundt's work, it was only a short step to the later
redefining of the meaning of education. Originally, education meant the drawing
out of a person's innate talents and abilities by imparting the knowledge of
languages, scientific reasoning, history, literature, rhetoric, etc. - the
channels through which those abilities would flourish and serve. To the
experimental psychologist, however, education became the process of exposing the
student to "meaningful" experiences so as to ensure desired reactions:
" ...learning is the result of modifiability in the paths of neural
conduction... The situation-response formula is adequate to cover learning of
any sort, and the really influential factors in learning are readiness of the
neurons, sequence in time, belongingness, and satisfying consequences.
"If one assumes (as did Wundt) that there is nothing there to begin with but
a body, a brain, and a nervous system, then one must try to educate by inducing
sensations in that nervous system. Through these experiences, the individual
will learn to respond to any given stimulus, with the "correct" response."
"Wundt's thesis laid the philosophical basis for the principles of
conditioning later developed by Pavlov (who studied physiology in Leipzig, in
1884, five years after Wundt had inaugurated his laboratory there) and American
behavioral psychologists such as Watson and Skinner; for lobotomies and
electro-convulsive therapy; for schools more oriented toward the socialization
of the child than toward the development of intellect; and for the emergence of
a society more and more blatantly devoted to the gratification of sensory
desires at the expense of responsibility and achievement."
(end of chapter 1)
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Analysis/Comment
Wundt's theories had the effect throughout all philosophical and
psychological thought of over-emphasizing the environment and its effects
on the person. Of course, it is very true that the environment and one's
experiences do play an important role in a person's development and
life. Nobody can deny the effect the external world has on each person.
Sometimes the role of the environment is major as with traumatic
experiences, and has lasting deep-seated effects. But the error in
thinking here had the effect of totally ignoring that thing that the
environment acted upon, the person himself. Instead of paying
attention to and investigating the nature of the thing that is acted
upon and responds (a mind), with an aim to solving, helping and
improving individual minds, the modern approach is to exert
control on individuals to bring about social order.
There is a something there, which is aware, perceives, has a
viewpoint, feels, laughs, cries, intends, imagines, hopes and dreams.
Something is there and is self-conscious. It is NOT all
stimulus-response patterns imprinted on your genes and "nerve pathways"
(whatever that means...) by environmental influences. Reducing all of
these things and the "person" to nothing has been the direct result of the
influence of Wundt's theories and practices.
Qualities and functions of a mind, such as thinking, imagining,
analyzing, placing attention, will, conceptualizing, moral choices, and
intention are "things", which have been largely ignored, never adequately
investigated, and omitted completely from the current "study of the mind"
known as modern psychology. Doesn't it seem strange to anyone besides me
that the "official" study of the mind (modern psychology) currently has
very little to do with the mind and never in its history adequately
examined the make-up and functioning of the mind? (See A Legitimate
Study Science of the Mind)
Ignoring the inner mental and emotional functioning of man, psychology
has instead concentrated on observable physical behavior of the human
organism almost exclusively. The environment (as cause) and the resultant
human behavior (as effect) are the current accepted way to view and
understand man and society. Who cares how YOU fit into the picture! Your
personal thoughts, feelings, intentions, and abilities don't exist to them
within their "professional and scientific" view.
The elitist psychiatrists, sociologists, and educators have no moral
problem with doing anything at all to you as long as it brings about
"world peace", "harmony", "order" or any of the other vague conceptual
generalities they concern themselves with while completely ignoring the
actual individual human being. Under the "modern" view of
psychology man is to be controlled because he is an animal, understandable
only and completely by stimulus-response factors.
The philosophical basics of Wundt's theories have spread throughout all
subjects and form a subtle ideological underpinning to the accepted views
of the modern world. It is part of the "world-view"
unconsciously accepted by most people. It is important to realize
these ideas and related practices are invalid, severely biased, based upon
opinion presented as fact, and have had disastrous effects upon modern
society in the areas of morality, crime, education, family, politics,
economics, and health.
Since Wundt and his successors' theories deny self-determinism, it
naturally follows that there is no possibility, within this system of
thought, for the notion of personal responsibility. The actual source of
responsibility, creativity, originality, morality, decency, integrity, and
even devotion, is swept under the rug. YOU are swept under the rug.
If a person's decency, responsibility, creativity and self-determinism
are acknowledged and encouraged, these things have a tendency to appear
and expand. But reversely, if these things are ignored and denied, they
atrophy and die seeming to never have existed at all in the first
place. This is one of those funny things about the mind, which gives
it a very different type behavior than anything else in the visible
universe of experience. It is not a constant unchanging thing or object
like a rock, photon, atom or star. If you treat a mind one way, it acts a
certain way, and if you treat it another way, it then acts in another way.
What is it really then? That depends more on how it is considered
and treated than on any "objective and scientific" understanding about
it.
Therefore, the implementation of oppressive psychiatric theories and
practices has actually caused situations that tend to "prove" the theories
out. If you take any 100 people, place them in a prison, deny them
freedom, treat them with no respect, deny all human decency, and allow no
education, joy or creativity, any observer of these people will come to
the conclusion that Man inherently is degraded, hopeless, and undeserving
of respect and decent treatment.
Similarly, spreading the belief that man is nothing more than an animal
only to be appropriately controlled has had the effect of creating a
reality where this seems to be true! Watch what you believe and practice,
because it tends to create the situation whether actually true or not.
Environment does influence people. But it's not the whole
picture. And it's not an approach that will uplift Man and his societies.
Decent, uplifting, positive, and nurturing environments tend to result in
happy, successful people. Negative, decadent, immoral, and self-denying
environments tend to result in unhappiness and failure. The implementation
of psychological theories and psychiatric practices lead directly to the
second example above.
Lastly, the current behavioral approach to psychology implies someone
or somebody to control the behavior. Who decides what children should do
and act like? Who decides what ideas should be allowed to exist and what
ideas shouldn't? Who decides what is desirable as a future society?
I guarantee that the answer to these questions does not include you or
your opinions. |
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Following are links to information from other chapters in
Lionni's book:
Chapter 2.
The Impress - Wundt produces the first generation of researchers,
professors, and publicists in the new psychology, all forwarding the new notion
of the "physiological man" devoid of responsibility and creative capability.
Cast of characters include G. Stanley Hall, John Dewey, and Edward Lee
Thorndike.
Chapter 3.
Positioning - American James Keen Cattell, Wundt's first assistant, returns
to the U.S., ending up as Columbia University's professor of psychology and head
of the new psychology department. He begins numerous publications promoting the
new psychology. Teacher's college, a part of Columbia, becomes the leading
trainer of teachers, and heavily influences the direction of education in the
United States.
Chapter 4.
Mice and Monkeys - Edward Lee Thorndike, first generation trainee of Wundt's
protégés, joins Columbia Teacher's College staff and becomes the first
psychologist to study animal behavior in an experimental psychology lab. He
applies the same techniques to children and youth. Within half a century
juvenile delinquency would run rampant, illiterates would pour out of the
schools, teachers would no longer learn how to teach, and generation after
generation of adults, themselves cheated out of the fruits of a good education,
would despair of any solution to the morass of "modern" education.
Chapter 5. A
Gift From God - It took hundreds of millions of dollars to turn American
education around from good to bad in that short period of time. Enter into the
picture John D. Rockefeller, Sr., the richest existing vein of American wealth
and philanthropy. Forming this alliance the new psychology won for itself the
backing of almost unlimited funds.
Chapter 6.
Molding Hands - John D. Rockefeller Jr. hooks up with Frederick T. Gates,
starts the General Education Board, and begins a massive program of educational
change throughout the American school system. Gates' writes, "In our dreams, we
have limitless resources and the people yield themselves with perfect docility
to our molding hands". The elitist aim at complete social control is obvious.
Read this section - it gets worse.
Chapter 7.
Round Numbers - A large grant from Rockefeller allows Columbia to expand
facilities, train more teachers, and secure its position as the "leader" of
educational psychology. John Dewey, after a decade of experimenting with
children, joins Columbia in a joint membership of the philosophy and education
departments. With other key staff Dewey set the ball rolling for an amalgam of
"educational" psychology and socialism - enter "progressive education".
Emanating from Columbia's Teacher's College for the next half century, it slowly
became commonplace in every school in the country.
Chapter 8. A
Showplace - Abraham Flexner, ex-Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Learning researcher, joins the Education Board. Educated at Johns Hopkins
University, he and Gates secure $1.5 million in a Rockefeller endowment for the
Johns Hopkins Medical School. Gates was strongly interested in German medicine
(chemical-oriented), and was opposed to the traditional homeopathic medicine
used by Rockefeller's personal physician. Over the years (until 1960), the
General Education Board would give a total of over $96 million to medical
schools, which like Johns Hopkins, disregarded naturopathy, homeopathy and
chiropractic in favor of medicine based on the use of surgery and chemical
drugs. In this way, the Rockefeller family fortune funded German theories and
practices in psychology, education and medicine. With little competition against
this massive fortune, these ideas spread across America, and German medicine and
psychology eventually formed the merger you know today as modern psychiatry!
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| Note: Rockefeller money has directed the evolution of
and currently controls large segments of the banking, oil, and drug
industries; chemical and surgical medicine, psychology, psychiatry and
education. That's a tremendous amount of control and involvement for one
group! What if the theories and practices they funded and continue to fund
are fundamentally flawed and don't lead to the best possible situations in
the various fields mentioned? Well, the views in most of those areas ARE
fundamentally flawed and they DON'T lead to the best solutions in "mental
health", education, medicine, sanity and happiness. But, most likely,
despite all "humanitarian" posturing, they were never intended to. |
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Chapter 9.
Favoring Breezes - The last stand against progressive education on the floor
of the US Senate. Progressive education spreads rapidly after 1917. Wundtian
psychology and Rockefeller money combine in a "model school" whose goal was "the
construction of new curricula and the development of new methods". Rockefeller's
own children attend the Lincoln school with the result Laurance wishes he could
have learned to read and write better, and Nelson admits reading is for him a
slow and laborious process. The Lincoln School closes and Teacher's College
replaces it with the Institute of School Experimentation.
Chapter 10.
A New Social Order - Heirs of Wundtian educational psychology aim to
influence the social attitudes, ideals and behavior of the coming generations,
in an attempt to eradicate capitalism, agreement with competition, and
"exaltation of the profit motive". Education's role further involves changing
ideas on a mass level to bring about a new social order. Attacks on Maria
Montessori's emphasis on individuality and personal attainment. The direction of
US education directed by the progressive movement through control of textbooks
and educational testing. General Education Board continues to fund Teacher's
College, as well as the Progressive Education Association, the National
Education Association (NEA), and others to the tune of $324 million. Despite the
billions of dollars foundations and now the federal government also pour
into education, the situation with education continues to worsen. What's wrong
with this picture?
Research Notes - Idea
of mass (public) education as a state-supported agency for direct social control
and manipulation. Government involvement with education not the real problem,
but the "progressive" educational ideas held by those directing the tremendous
education funds are the true problem. Both national leaders and the public have
been miseducated on the subject of education for years.
Get The Book!
The
Leipzig Connection by Paolo Lionni - the complete book with more details
& facts about the scam known as modern education and psychology.
Suggested Reading
List - the Demise of the Educational System - OBE (Outcome-Based Education),
NEA (National Education Association), educational psychology, German psychology
& influences, demise of public education, educational sabotage, Wundt,
Pavlov, Dewey, Skinner, Watson.
Say NO To
Psychiatry!
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