Destroying America from Inside the Classroom

[twirldoggy]

Anyone who has actually worked with children knows that it is not possible to "brainwash" them with behavior modification. Kids are not lab rats and they will think for themselves.

[Varmit]

Kids behavior and way of thinking can be influnced.  Espcially by authority figures.  If it wasn't possible to modify the way a child thinks or behaves then the modification programs, bootcamps, etc. wouldn't be as successful as they are. 

Diane, shotguns were developed for people that don't know how to shoot, so that really doesn't bother me.

[Teresa]

Kids behavior and way of thinking can be influenced.  Especially by authority figures.  If it wasn't possible to modify the way a child thinks or behaves then the modification programs, bootcamps, etc. wouldn't be as successful as they are. 

I have to agree.. Kids are the most easily influenced little minds ever... scary sometimes too when you know who's behind some of the influencing..

Diane, shotguns were developed for people that don't know how to shoot, so that really doesn't bother me.

Ha ha.. scatter guns might not need a real experienced person pulling the trigger .. but they DO deliver some hurt.. so ya might want to get a little distance between you and her before you spout off.. 

[twirldoggy]

There is a differeence between influencing and brainwashing by behavioral intervention in the classroom. Yes kids are influenced , but Obama could not brainwaash in the classroom if he tried.   Dr. Spock tried to use behavior modification on his own kids and he did not suceed.  His son ended up commiting suicide as a young man. 

[twirldoggy]

Let the author of this article give step by step what is going to happen in the classroom as a child is brainwashed by behavioral methods.  What exactly is the teacher going to do ?

[twirldoggy]

There is no evidence that behavior mod programs or boot camps produce long term change.  Kids that attend boot camp do improve for a while but when out of bootcamp they start thinking for themselves and they are not brainwashed.

[srkruzich]

There is no evidence that behavior mod programs or boot camps produce long term change.  Kids that attend boot camp do improve for a while but when out of bootcamp they start thinking for themselves and they are not brainwashed.

You don't think behavior modification works on kids?  Try talking to a Marine.  They go into boot camp as scared young boys and girls and come out as confident, secure, brave young men and women. 

I took two of my boys and dropped them off at meps, when i got both of them back, they were not the same people. 
THe DI told me that of all the young recruits that he trained along with my sons, that he could tell that my sons had been raised up to be young men and his work on them was not difficult. He said all they needed was some fine tuning.  He said most of the recruits he gets they have to deprogram them from their indoctrination in the school system and then instill in them character traits that should have been done years ago by their teachers as well as their parents.  Not a good commentary on our schools or our parents in this country.

[twirldoggy]

I agree with your account of marine boot camp and the success your sons had.  I sounds true and very good for your sons.

I have worked in a child psychiatic hospital for seven years and I also have done independent private practice for ten years with children and their parents.  I am refering to the behavior modification techniques used by psychologists in the strict textbook definition.  Many of us have seen films of chickens and rats being subjected to variable interval reward and responding to that with increased behaviors of pecking a disc or running a maze correctly. But a child that is subjected to this kind of reward will react in a different way  simply because they are sentient human beings and because many other factors impinge on them at the same time the reward is offered.  Sometimes psychologists get involved in punishment as a behavioral modificatioon.  This can be cruel and the child has really negative effects. 

The author of this article is taking a simplistic view of what it takes to effect behavior change in children.  Brainwashing  in a classroom full of kids is not possible even though people in the new world order think it is and wish for it to be.  The classroom would be filled with professionals and many kids and would be chaotic.  I have a picture in my mind of a teacher running around with a bag of M&Ms asking the kid to chant the new philosophy. 

I have spent 17 years writing treatment plans for children and very few of them contain behavior modification techniques.    This article is just the author's idea of how to scare people into thinking that their child will be harmed by liberal or new world order teachers.  The teachers may have a temporary effect on the child, but teachers are not capable of brainwashing the child with behavior modification and creating long term change. Bear with me while I say it one more time:  Kids are not lab rats.   

[srkruzich]

theres a teacher in one school back in georgia that is a former Marine Drill instructor. He left the marine corp came home and thought he could do more in a school than he could at paris.  I watched him and he runs his class very well.  I think that the training that the corp gives the recruits can be adapted to a classroom setting.  It builds everything one wants in a kid.  The one rule that is the unpardonable sin in his class is giving up.  You cannot go into his class and fail and every student earns their grade.  It is amazing how he commands their attention and respect.  when he walks in the class the kids just shutup and sitdown.  IF you ask any of them what they think about him they say that he's fair but hard. They know where they stand with him. 
He teaches computer programming in the school.  And sets goals that are very hard to attain. But teaches that working as a team they can do anything.  Sounds like corp training to me   But he takes on troubled kids, any kid that wants to go to his class can, but they abide by his rules. Parents have to abide by his rules and there is no excuse for not succeeding in his class.

I find it refreshing to see his student all succeed.  Out of i think 10 years he has taught there, he has only had 3 or 4 kids not succeed in his class and if i remember right, they were kids that went in using drugs and thought they could squeek past him.  They didn't.  He nailed em, gave them a option, told them stop or get out.  They got out.

[Teresa]

Twirldoggy~~ that sounds like very interesting and also rewarding work.
I think it must have its sad moments in seeing what can happen to children with psychological problems.. brought on ..I'm sure of adult interaction.
Still very interesting career.. It would be fascinating to hear more about it. ..