Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Learning to learn
Jeannette Walls of MSNBC writes: With the help of John Travolta, educational techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard are being used in a Louisiana public school, according to Florida’s St. Petersburg Times.
In the mayhem that followed Hurricane Katrina, celebrity Scientologists, including Travolta and Isaac Hayes, “played key roles” in persuading Prescott Middle School in Louisiana to adopt a Hubbard program called Applied Scholastics, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Defenders of the program say that students’ scores have improved since it has been put in use — and insist that Applied Scholastics has nothing to do with Scientology, other than the man who created it.
Critics, however, disagree. Teaching the studying technique is “covert religious instruction” Dave Touretsky, a research professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told the Times, and he said that using it in schools could be unconstitutional.
Cotolo Chronicles tried to reach Travolta, Hayes, Tourestsky and, just for the hell of it, Julie Christie (who is aging so well that we would love to tell her; pictured) but none have responded. If you have an opinion about this, please write to us.
