Mind Control in the Classroom
Enabling students to identify and evaluate the psychological techniques used by cults can help them develop critical thinking skills — and shut down accusations of “indoctrination” in schools.
As the debate about critical race theory continues to rage across the country, resulting in asinine legislation that only serves to undermine freedom of speech (and thought) in schools, an article from National Review captured my attention — and made me shudder.
STOPPING K-12 INDOCTRINATION IS RIGHT, the headline pronounces. Author Stanley Kurtz, who holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard, joins the crusade against critical race theory and condemns “the imposition of this pernicious orthodoxy on schoolchildren.” Although Kurtz graciously permits the “discussion” of critical race theory in the classroom, he ultimately decrees that “teachers should not teach the various illiberal concepts in such a way as to inculcate them” (emphasis in original).
The implication of Kurtz’s stance, and that of the parents and politicians lobbying against the presence of critical race theory in the public school system, is that our students are proverbial sacrificial lambs being led to the intellectual slaughter by an insidious alliance of pro-CRT, anti-American teachers. The inevitable outcome of this collusion? A generation of “brainwashed” citizens that dare to acknowledge the legacy of racial injustice on American institutions, including schools, and may even advocate for sweeping reform of educational and legal policy.
While the controversy surrounding the place of critical race theory in the classroom ostensibly centers on the validity of this framework in assessing and addressing racism, Kurtz’s polemic reveals that the real driving force behind this debate involves the perceived (in)ability of American students to think critically: to gather and synthesize information, analyze and evaluate sources, weigh claims and counterclaims, and then arrive at logical conclusions.
Kurtz’s portrait of American students as feeble-minded acolytes makes for titillating clickbait, but could not be more distorted — or dangerous. My experience “in the trenches” of American public schools has shown me that out-of-touch policy wonks like Kurtz vastly underestimate the ability (and eagerness) of American youth to learn to “think for themselves.” At the same time, however, strategies for teaching “critical thinking skills” remain elusive to many educators, and even the definition of “critical thinking” can be difficult to pin down.
According to the Critical Thinking Foundation (as cited in Siebert, 2021, p. 86), critical thinking is an “intellectual discipline” that involves:
- problem-finding,
- concept clarification,
- assumption discovery,
- viewpoint consideration,
- consequence detection,
- evidence validation, and
- reflection.
Whether we’re for, against, or somewhere in between on the issue of critical race theory in schools, we can all agree that critical thinking is at the heart of teaching and learning. As educators, this leaves us with the following question: How can we help our students gain the dispositions and skills required to think critically?
One of the best ways I’ve found to engage students in the direct acquisition and application of critical thinking skills happened by chance. During our “Man and Meaning” unit, I noticed an interesting trend: many of my students were choosing to learn about the purpose of life according to various cults, including (but not limited to) the Branch Davidians, Buddhafield, Heaven’s Gate, and Rajneeshpuram. And the students who had selected to investigate the purpose of life in more “traditional” philosophies or religions (think agnosticism, Catholicism, Judaism, stoicism) couldn’t stop posing questions to their cult-investigating peers.
Wait, what did you say this group believed? Why would they think that?
Who was the leader? Why on earth would people follow that guy?
That’s crazy. I would never be a part of something like that.
And that’s when I realized that I hadn’t just created an engaging opportunity for my students to explore topics and issues that mattered to them — I had created an authentic experience in which my students were finding problems, clarifying concepts, discovering assumptions, considering viewpoints, detecting consequences, validating evidence, and reflecting: the seven components of critical thinking, but with peers.
Mind controlling had become mind-opening.
I recently stumbled across a dissertation composed by self-described former “Moonie” and current mental health professional Steven Hassan. In The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law, Hassan provides a succinct overview of psychiatrist Robert J. Lifton’s eight criteria for “thought reform,” or indoctrination.
- Milieu control, or command of the physical environment and communication within that environment.
- Mystical manipulation, or contrivance of supernatural experiences to generate fear or euphoria.
- Demand for purity, or creation and enforcement of impossibly high-performance standards.
- Cult of confession, or pressure to divulge individual “impurities” (which can include both actions and thoughts) to the group leader and/or group.
- Sacred science, or conception of the group’s doctrines — and the group’s doctrines alone — as absolute truth.
- Loaded language, or literalization of the abstract to limit critical thought.
- Doctrine over person, or subjugation of one’s experiences to the sacred science of the group (an experience that involves cognitive dissonance).
- Dispensing of existence, or exclusion or even shunning of “impure” members, non-members, or ex-members.
Guiding your students through this framework and enabling them to apply it to the institutions, organizations, and groups they encounter in their research or even their day-to-day lives (including the classroom) would not only empower them to improve their critical thinking skills, but also engage them in the inquiry process. And in spite of Kurtz’s suggestion to the contrary, our students need — and want — both.
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