“Our Children: The Drones” by Ann Herzer, M.A., Reading Specialist. This two-part article was written in 1984 and is reprinted here with permission of the author.
Part I With taxpayers’ money through a National Science Foundation grant, in 1968 Richard I.
Evans wrote B.F. Skinner: The Man and His Ideas. The philosophy stated in this book should be of critical interest to all people that are interested in education and value the individual. Following are some direct quotes from Skinner included in Evans’s book:
I could make a pigeon a high achiever by reinforcing it on a proper schedule. (p. 10)
When I say a concept is irrelevant, I mean that it has no bearing on the kind of analysis I am trying to develop. (p. 23) For the purpose of analyzing behavior, we have to assume man is a machine. (p. 24)
You can induce him to behave according to the dictates of society instead of his own selfish interest. (p. 42)
It is conceivable that a technique of control will be developed which cannot be discovered. The word “brainwashing” is dangerous. (p. 54)
We want him [the student] to come under the control of his environment rather than on verbal directions given by members of his family. (p. 64)
I predict that the curriculum of the future will be designed around various capacities and abilities rather than subject. (p 72)