The Daily Herald reported on July 2 that BYU had officially severed its partnership with the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER). Started by openly socialist/humanist John Goodlad, the NNER’s mission is to “Enculturate the Young into a Social and Political Democracy.” FOF applauds BYU’s decision to abandon an organization whose “Agenda for Education in a Democracy” runs contrary to the mission of BYU.
Four months after the announcement, the BYU McKay School of Education Web site remains unchanged. The site still says that is “directly affiliated” with the NNER. The links, descriptions, articles, and speeches describing BYU’s involvement with the NNER continue to persist on the site.
A call to CITES, BYU’s Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling, the BYU organization with the closest ties to Goodlad’s NNER, went unreturned.
It’s very suspect as to why CITES continues its association with NNER, an association whose Key Note Speaker at a most recent convention was anti-American, SDS Radical William Ayers. The philosophy of NNER and Ayers is obvious to those of us who have reviewed and researched the educational agenda of both. I’ve enjoyed 44 years in education and have never seen such an assault on our youth’s morals and programmed efforts to destroy patriotism to the United States and its founding Fathers. NNER is all about socializing students into anti-American, anti-God, Humanist Robots. That may sound extreme, but a simple review of their educational philosophies proves exactly that. BYU should never have been involved with NNER and their philosophies which are polar opposites of the educational stand of the LDS Church. As I’ve visited more than 1500 schools and districts from coast to coast over the past 5 years, the NNER philosophy of education is alive and well. California parents have no say as to what their children are exposed to in the classroom. (See current California Education statutes passed within the past 2 years.) That is just one example. Every state I’ve visited is following the same philosophy. It’s time BYU divorced itself from NNER. Never should the NNER philosophies be taught on the BYU campus.
Dr. Rawson, thank you for your post! I would be interested in hearing more about your experiences as you have visited schools across the country. If you would like to compare notes, please click “Contact” in the upper right corner of this page.
- Jared