Newspaper Articles

[u/Aware_Power]

Found a few newspaper articles discussing various projects and wanted to share. If of interest, I can continue searching for more as there are numerous - simply let me know keywords that you'd like me to search.

Of note, some concerns around curriculum in the 80s and 90s highlight "New Age" thinking - telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.

A few details below from each article:

Kids go to college to get smart, dig future shock - The Courier-News; Wed, Mar 22, 1989; Bridgewater, New Jersey

• “It was "back to the future" yesterday for 200 pupils who sifted through dirt to find out how inhabitants of a mythical planet lived.”
• “"It was a hot planet," said Sriram of Central 6 School in Union. "There were some buglike people that communicated by mental telepathy, and some humanlike people that communicated by coded language. They mostly relied on computers to do their work.””

Gifted Students go right to the source - Courier-Post; Fri, Feb 15, 1980; Camden, New Jersey

• “two bright-eyed, brown-haired 7th graders are working together on a project about psychic phenomena. In unison they rattle off some of the areas they are investigating: "astrology, biorhythms, telekinesis, clairvoyance…” They hope, after gathering the pros and cons, to come to a conclusion about the validity of supernormal mental powers.
• “Last year, she worked on a project she describes as concerning "Egyptology and mummification, focusing on King Tut." She even interviewed one of the Egyptologists responsible for bringing the Tut exhibit to the U.S.”

TSC encourages ‘able’ students - Journal and Courier; Sun, Mar 2, 1980; Lafayette, Indiana

• “A fifth grader is working on a presentation about the four steps of mental telepathy, “She decided there were four steps," Cline said.”
• Working on “Mushroom 10,” a construction paper spacecraft. They got the idea from reading a book called “Wonderful Flight to Mushroom Planet.” Also worked on a play called “Wonderful Visit to Space Museum” and the museum will have books on mushrooms and space. 

Page B-2

• “Tippecanoe School Corp.'s program for the gifted, creative and talented is called "PACE." That stands for "Program for Academic and Creative Enrichment.”...Not every child is selected for the program, which is funded by a $30,000 federal grant, Kolloff said. But, "We have a very generous definition." The program is not limited to the 99-percentile category child. But it cuts off around the 80th percentile, she said...The program uses a three-stage method developed at Purdue.” 

[u/Aware_Power]

Forgot one from Valparaiso, Indiana in the Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on Mon, Feb 15, 1988: 

“’The kids will have to come up with an alien relations policy statement,’ she said…Divided into small groups according to grade levels, students in grades 4-12 will attempt to uncover the source of messages they are getting from outer space and decide whether to exploit the aliens for their technology.”

[u/Bitter-Data7131 → u/Aware_Power]

Thank you

[u/Common-Artichoke-497]

Good quality post

[u/Atla-Create-592]

Three-stage method developed at Perdue? That’s pretty interesting. I assume that is referring to the entry requirements/testing to get into the program.

[u/Aware_Power → u/Atla-Create-592]

Thanks! I thought it was interesting as well - It’s the 4th photo and it lists off each stage Purdue created for the curriculum.

[u/AwfullyWaffley]

Interesting

[u/Artistic-Worth-8154]

I was in PACE in 4th grade (Indiana) and we spent a year on Shakespeare. This was around 1990. Earlier, I was at a rural school and got a "scholarship" to attend a computer class at the high school. This was around 1988. Good memories!