Collectivism 133, Part 4: All About That Rote, No Recall

PACE Revised 2002

Welcome back!

Part 4 will conclude our review of Collectivism 133!

To recap what we’ve been taught so far, from Collectivism 133 pages 1-20:

1. Every attempt at societal perfectionism improvement is the work of Satan. Don’t even try.

2. Michael, the archangel, can beat any of Satan’s demons in 1v1 combat, but Satan would beat Michael. The power difference between them is so great that Michael fears the Devil. Of course, God beats everybody. He just doesn’t, for some reason.

3. Eve is to blame for eating the forbidden fruit and screwing humanity. Satan was just acting on his impulses. You can’t blame a man for that. Eve shouldn’t have tempted him.

4. Satan actually runs all the kingdoms of the world. Sure, he also runs all the revolutions against those kingdoms, but c’mon. You can’t expect the Devil to be consistent. Amirite? Guys?

5. God ordained the kingdoms of Satan to restrain evildoers and ensure “anarchists forfeit their rights.” Satan, super famous for restraining evildoers.

Permeating this discourse is the notion that women are inferior tag-alongs in the story that stars men. That’s why they call it HIStory. Huehue.

Collectivism 133, Part 1

Collectivism 133 Part 2

Collectivism 133, Part 3

To wrap up this PACE review, I want to zoom out a little bit and use the rest of this PACE to exemplify the (lacking) quality of Accelerated Christian Education (ACE). We’ll also get Donald Howard’s perspective on the purpose and care with which he started ACE by dipping into his manifestos. Most of these Exhibits speak for themselves, so my commentary will be minimal.

Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that Donald Howard personally wrote the PACEs. I feel the need to continually reestablish this dynamic. No peer review system ensures academic quality at ACE (Ex. 67, Ex. 68). Collectivism in particular is unadulterated Donald. For good measure, check out this Exhibit from his manifesto To Save a Nation:

Exhibit 89

When Lucifer came to Jesus in the temptation, what did he offer him? He said, “Fall down and worship me and I’ll give you” what? “The kingdoms of this world.” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” They were Satan’s to give[…] You’ve heard the song, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand;” no, Lucifer has the world in his hand, for “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (I John 5:19b). Lucifer is the god of this world.

Is God real? You say, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1) Of course, He’s real. Everyone can see the evidence of God. Is Lucifer real? Is Satan real? You can see his footprints across the pages of history. From the beginning Lucifer mastered the fall of man, deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, tempted man with the vain deceitful religion of humanism[…]

He’s just the god of this world “doing his thing.”

To Save a Nation, page 136

Ignoring how terrifying that is, Donald is the only person I’ve ever heard claim the Devil’s original sin was ‘“doing his thing”’ (Ex. 64, Ex. 69). He is quoting himself when he puts quotations around ‘“doing his thing”.’ Just pathetic.

Back to Collectivism 133. Students have just completed the check-up on page 20 and the top of 21. Now we’re at the bottom of page 21 where Donald introduces Plato. On pages 21 - 26 Donald gives students a brief run down on Plato’s utopian ideas in an effort to explain various forms of governments. For this section, I want to share pictures of two pages that really emphasis ACE’s dependency on rote-recall. Read and regurgitate and forget. Here’s page 25:

Exhibit 90

Collectivism 133, page 25

I don’t necessarily have a problem with this information itself (though, that bottom paragraph is hilariously stupid). This isn’t that bad if you’re establishing these terms as a baseline to build upon, but I want to draw your attention to how easy this school “work” is. There is no obligation to actually learn anything.

Here is that mentioned chart and another example of rote-recall at it’s worst:

Exhibit 91

Collectivism 133, page 26

You don’t even have to ‘recall’ this information. With the answers inches above the questions, this is just ‘rote.’ And not for nothing, but this looks like one of those stupid Facebook memes comparing trans-people with Nazis or some shit.

What else should we expect from a school system that isn’t peer-reviewed, where the author takes pride in the cheap, expedient way the curriculum was produced and published:

Exhibit 92

In talking to one publisher, he said, “ What you want — full scope and sequence of twelve grades, and continuous progress curriculum in English, math, science and social studies — why, that will take twenty years to develop and cost 20,000,000.” My only remark was, “We must have it next September!”

Rebirth of Our Nation, page 323

He clarifies later that “next September” is 9 months away. And no, they didn’t spend $20,000,000. I don’t know why the Elon Musks of the world think cutting corners is something to brag about. I guess it sounds cool and smart to morons? ‘Experts tell us that creating this complicated thing with any sort of quality takes 20 years, but I’m gonna do it in nine months! Industry consensus be damned.’

I don’t know.

But hey, quality wasn’t the goal:

Exhibit 93

Again, we do not build Christian schools primarily to give a child the best education nor to teach him how to make a good living. Teaching him how to live and to love and serve God are our primary tasks.

World Awakening, page 214

In case you missed 1b. Before the Donald Crows, serving God is serving Donald. Donald was at least as important as Jesus, in his own head.

(Edit 7/18/2024: Found this New Jersey newspaper article from 1978 I want to share.

Exhibit 117

Many of the schools involved in lawsuits over state regulation use a curriculum designed by Accelerated Christian Education in Garland, Tex.

[…]

“They teach history as Biblical history, Biblical science, and so forth,” said one critic who asked not to be named. “It’s very sincere, but just doesn’t equip a child for the world today.”

Asbury Park Press, July 28, 1978, Page 19

END EDIT

---

1b. Before the Donald Crows

With that in mind, check out how many errors resulted from allowing one asshole to rewrite Christian education:

Exhibit 94

On July 7 6 of that year, Sir Thomas More was beheaded. [1, 2]

Collectivism 133, page 28

---

In this one, notice how he presents Fourier:

Exhibit 95

Fourier

Francois Marie Charles Fourier (1772-1847 1837) was born at Besancon, France, on April 7, 1772. He was an exceptionally lonely man who was little more than insane.

Collectivism 133, page 36 [1, 2]

He really goes after Fourier in this PACE. I think it’s because Fourier was a staunch feminist, actually coining the term “Feminism” in 1837. Donald hated those.

---

Now he’s talking about Voltaire:

Exhibit 85 [sic]

The next five fifteen years were consumed in an immoral liaison with the Marquise du Châtelet, a woman some years his senior junior. Upon the demise of Madam du Châtelet, in 1749, Voltaire accepted the longstanding invitation of Fredrick II of Prussia to take up residence in Berlin.

Collectivism 133, page 32 [1, 2]

That’s a twofer.

We constantly see Donald’s emotions get the best of him in his manifestos, and it’s no different when he’s writing education. This extends to his description of “Marquise du Châtelet, a woman.” He’s referencing Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise Du Châtelet-Lomont[1, 2], a published scientist and known philosopher who had a relationship with Voltaire that went beyond sex. They did science projects together and she hid him from legal persecution. They had a whole life outside of shared orgasms. Presenting this as some sex-crazed debauchery is just a means to dismiss the contributions of “a woman,” and paint Voltaire as some man slut.

Donald intentionally writes about these philosophers in ways that exploit the emotions of his young Christian students. Donald doesn’t (can’t) explain why their ideas are ill-conceived by dealing with their published works. His only chance of discrediting these people is to ad hominem their mental illnesses, or blame it all on the work of Satan (Ex. 64, Ex. 71, Ex. 72, Ex. 73. Ex. 78), or refer to qualified scientists as “a woman.”

These next two are just on presentation:

Exhibit 96

Early in his youth, Voltaire openly rebelled against his parents, left home, and came under the influence of freethinkers and would-be revolutionaries, thus setting the overall tone for his not altogether savory lifestyle. Voltaire spent most of his life aimlessly darting about Europe, hobnobbing with the various liberals, libertines, and libertarians of his day. Almost everywhere he went, Voltaire managed to get into trouble with authorities and was eventually forced to flee.

Collectivism 133, page 31

Well that was informative…

This one is about Saint-Simon:

Exhibit 97

The rest of his life was a series of financial ups and downs coupled with moral laxity and fits of depression. In 1823, Saint-Simon attempted suicide with a pistol, but only succeeded in putting out one eye. He died in the city of his birth on May 19, 1825.

Collectivism 133, page 35

Cool.

This one includes another example of the rote without the recall:

Exhibit 98

Collectivism 133, page 36

---

Back to errors, here he is on Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

Exhibit 99

The remainder of his life was spent wandering around Europe, often without purpose. For a brief period, Rousseau studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood, but gave it up to become a vagrant once again. In 1741 1742, he settled in Paris and remained there for fifteen fourteen years[…]

In 1770 1767 he returned to France under an assumed name.

Collectivism 133, page 33

That’s a three-fer!

Seven errors clocked in eight pages. Each of these errors alone are not a very big deal, but this many in one PACE reviewed by me this idiot? Consider that this PACE was written in 1981, and last revised in 2002. If there is a team of writers that work on ACE (Ex. 67), what in the actual fuck are they doing over there? Pile on all the manipulated Scriptures from Parts 1-3, and the way he presented figures like Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, and it becomes clear that a student would benefit more by wiping someone else’s ass with this PACE, rather than completing it themselves.

In light of these errors, and this pathetic display of philosophical analysis, Donald’s description of ACE’s production quality and purpose (Ex. 92, Ex. 93 above) makes total sense. Which, honestly, if he left it at “we do not build Christian schools primarily to give a child the best education,” sure, fine, I hate it, but whatever. I’d at least credit him with owning that aspect of ACE.

But! he tries to have it both ways, as always:

Exhibit 100

Teen Turmoil, page 173

Rake, meet Donald’s face. Shwing-POW!

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Donald was just an unqualified idiot that decided to get into the “educatgion” business. He had nothing intelligent to add to any conversation, and Accelerated Christian Education is the result. ACE really is a “return to the basics” race to the bottom.