Study Tech in Nevade "is run by Scientology"
Chris Owen
a pivotal role in influencing the educational establishment of
Pershing County, NV. (I have to admit, my first question was "where?"
- it turns out to be about 100 miles northeast of Reno, NV, along the
I-80.)
The website should soon be even more comprehensive. Dave and I have
been collaborating on an updated version of his Study Tech essay,
which hopefully will be online shortly. It will continue to be
developed in the coming weeks and months. Two interesting lines of
enquiry are the origins of the Study Tech books (all derived from
Scientology's ostensibly religious works) and the way in which Study
Tech is used and promoted in wider society.
The Pershing County affair is a classic example of the latter issue.
While writing Narconon Exposed, and again in researching Study Tech, I
found that much of the promotion of Hubbard's "secular technology" is
conducted by shadowy networks of Scientologists. I should add that
they don't tend to lie about their affiliations - it's more a case of
those affiliations not being mentioned. The Pershing County case
turns out to have such affiliations in full measure.
According to the Lovelock Review-Miner, the study method "is called
LEAP, Literacy and Education Awareness Project and comes from a
non-profit company called Applied Scholastics". It had been introduced
into Pershing County by Special Programs Coordinator Anita Fisk and
Debra Scilacci, a Pershing County teacher. The current controversy
only came about when Pershing County High School teacher Valdine
McLean read Dave's essay and raised the alarm. Ms McLean is one of
Nevada's most distinguished teachers, having won the Presidential
Award for Excellence in 1998-99 and being named as Nevada Teacher of
the Year in 2001. When a meeting was held about the issue in Lovelock,
NV in August this year, several people from out of town spoke in
support of the programme. The Review-Miner says that they "included
LEAP staff members and Ed Fila, a representative from a Utah-based
company called Innovations in Education. Fila said that several
schools in Utah use this program including the best academic school in
Utah."
I had some problems initially in finding out anything about LEAP. The
Review-Miner seems to have misnamed it or to have been misinformed: it
is in fact the Literacy, Education and Abilities Program, based at
1440 Central Avenue, Memphis, TN. It was started by Scientology
celebritities Lisa Marie Presley and Isaac Hayes (see Lisa Marie's
page about it at http://www.lisapresley.com/philanthropy/leap.html).
It is run by Peggy Crawford, a local Scientologist and "minister of
The Church of Scientology Mission of Memphis". She wrote an article
for the Memphis Flyer on 9 February 2000 (see
http://www.memphisflyer.com/MFSearch/full_results.asp?xt_from=3&aID=2828)
in which she said:
"The Church of Scientology Mission of Memphis was opened to help heal
these breaches. Memphians Lisa Marie Presley and Isaac Hayes sponsored
the opening of this mission for the purpose of bringing the people of
Memphis together by utilizing the services that are unique to
Scientology. Our workshops, classes, lectures, and pastoral counseling
are designed to help people get along better, communicate more openly,
heal relationships, and relieve the stress and trauma of daily living.
They are open to everyone, regardless of race, religion, or
background. Scientology is non-dogmatic and does not require specific
beliefs, only an ethical conduct.
Our mission has been in Memphis for a little more than two years. It
has become a haven for people of various backgrounds to get together
and improve their lives. The Church also runs the Literacy, Education
and Ability Program (LEAP). This free program has been helping
students of all ages become more literate as well as learn vital study
tools. The program's purpose is to be a catalyst for Memphis youth to
help them become prepared to compete successfully in today's
environment."
Note her unequivocal statement: "The Church also runs the Literacy,
Education and Ability Program (LEAP)." This alone should derail the
Pershing County programme, as it raises significant constitutional
issues of church-state separation. At the very least, the county
educational authorities need to get some serious legal advice on the
matter.
There are other Scientology links as well. The Review-Miner mentioned
the involvement of Ed Fila of Utah. Dr Fila is a Scientologist dentist
who has been highly active in promoting L. Ron Hubbard's
"technologies" for secular use. On March 8, 2001, the South Idado
Press published an article which described how Fila and several other
Scientologist volunteers travelled to Idaho to promote the
Scientology-based Narconon drug rehabilitation programme. (See
http://www.southidahopress.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2001/March/08-809-NewRehabProgram7.txt
- it misspells his surname as "Fida".)
This sort of thing is, unfortunately, entirely typical. A Hubbard
"secular technology" programme appears in a community at the prompting
of a local official or local Scientologists. Behind them is a "secular
technology" group such as Narconon or Applied Scholastics, or perhaps
an offshoot such as LEAP or Education Alive. Such organisations are
invariably run and funded by senior Scientologists and have
Scientology celebrities on their boards. Behind them is the
Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), the body which
supervises the use of Hubbard's "secular technology". Its membership
is entirely drawn from Scientology's elite Sea Org and its offices are
often co-located with Scientology offices around the world. Although
separately incorporated, ABLE is itself a component part of the
Scientology conglomerate - it is officially one of the "sectors of
Scientology" and it is represented on Scientology's highest management
bodies. And behind ABLE is the secretive senior management of the
Church of Scientology and Church of Spiritual Technology, which owns
all of the supposedly secular Study Tech books under its business
alias of the "L. Ron Hubbard Library".
I was interested also to read some of the statements quoted by the
Review-Miner, many of which show significant misunderstanding (and
perhaps misinformation) about Study Tech:
> Fisk said that the study is used across the United States in private
> and public schools.
It is certainly used in a number of private schools, in particular
those run by and for Scientologists. However, I'm not aware of any
widespread adoption by public schools. Study Tech has repeatedly run
into problems when it has been introduced into the public education
system. These problems have most often concerned church-state legal
issues, but have also involved Study Tech's questionable theories and
lack of support from non-Scientologist educators.
> She said that the books used in the program do not proselytize for
> any religion.
True, they don't, but they do present and promote Scientology
doctrine. Hubbard himself said that Study Tech is part of the
religious work of Scientology: "The Tech of Study is new and is part
of the Tech of Scientology" (Hubbard, "The Tech of Study," LRH
Executive Directive 11 EU of 20 July 1974).
> She explained that if any funding were being diverted from Applied
> Scholastics to any religion, it would not be non-profit.
This seems to be a rather confused misreading of Applied Scholastics'
501(c) status, obtained by the Church of Scientology in 1993 under its
dubious deal with the IRS. Applied Scholastics' funding does in fact
go to "any religion" via ABLE, a constituent part of the Church of
Scientology, and to the Church of Spiritual Technology and its L. Ron
Hubbard Library business alias.
> She said that she was told that if Hubbard's name wasn't on the book's
> cover and the words used in the program were changed to not be so similar
> to those words used in Scientology, the program wouldn't be as objectionable.
Not so. The three key objections to Study Tech are:
1) Its theories are very dubious indeed (if not outright crackpot) and
there is very little convincing evidence to support its backers'
claims.
2) It is drawn *entirely* from Scientology religious texts and
lectures (a significant constitutional problem).
3) It is promoted by Scientologists as a means of eradicating
psychiatric influence from schools (an improper sectarian motive).
If Hubbard's name wasn't on the cover and the words were changed,
these three objections would remain.
> PCMS Principal Charles Safford said that he has looked through the books
> and has determined that they are secular.
Which they emphatically are not. I've systematically analysed the
books and found that without exception, the text comes from
Scientology bulletins, policy letters and lectures that the Church of
Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard himself have said constitute religious
scriptures.
- Chris Owen
Tilman Hausherr
wrote in <f758becc.03090...@posting.google.com>:
>> PCMS Principal Charles Safford said that he has looked through the books
>> and has determined that they are secular.
>
>Which they emphatically are not. I've systematically analysed the
>books and found that without exception, the text comes from
>Scientology bulletins, policy letters and lectures that the Church of
>Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard himself have said constitute religious
>scriptures.
That is very tricky. If you show these texts alone to a jury, they would
also find that it is secular (because an ordinary person expects
something like a God or higher being in a "religious" text). That is why
Susan lost her court case. But it you would show these texts, together
with the scientology policies, to a jury, the decision would be
different.
--
Tilman Hausherr [KoX, SP5.55] Entheta * Enturbulation * Entertainment
til...@berlin.snafu.de http://www.xenu.de
Resistance is futile. You will be enturbulated. Xenu always prevails.
Find broken links on your web site: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
The Xenu bookstore: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/bookstore.html
Lawrence
news:f758becc.03090...@posting.google.com...
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Chris:
All it takes is one smart school teacher to spot a cult in the wings. Think
of how hard people like Bennetta Slaughter and crew worked to make this a
success in Nevada! It will never get brought back into the school system
because it is Scientology in disguise. What else is new about that fucking
church?
Lawrence