A Big Lie

The great masses of people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. -Adolf Hitler

The Church of Scientology claims that

"Scientologists have taught some 1.5 million children in South Africa how to read and learn, based on the educational technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard!"

However, the South African government is unaware of this.

Tony McClelland, President of CultAware (now closed), provides the following description of his attempts to confirm Scientology's claim of teaching 1.5 million South African children to read.

[Links added -ed.K]

Note: "KoreenB" is Cory Brennan. At the time of Mr. McClelland's A.R.S. posts in the mid-1990s, she was Director of Community Affairs and/or Legal I/C, Church of Scientology, Los Angeles.

Please note the CofS claimed 1.5 million children. KoreenB (Scientology spokesperson) increased the stakes to 2.5 million and claimed it was fact and no research had been carried out to disprove the claim.

1) Time Magazine Article - The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power [outlink]

The article published by the Time Magazine was arguably the most significant exposé of the CofS in its history. As a consequence the CofS published a book with approx. 80 pages, titled Fact vs. Fiction [outlink]. On page one of Fact vs. Fiction the CofS said, Time focused on negatives and did not report the good work done by the CofS.

One of the four points referred to the CofS educating 1,500,000 children in South Africa to read and write.

2) S. African Embassy reply regarding - Fact vs. Fiction

In response to my request for information about the claim re 1,500,000 children.

Electronic copy of letter received from the South African Embassy.

South African Embassy
Canberra

ac 8/74
7 April 1992

MR Tony McClelland
[Private address withheld]

Dear MR McClelland,

Church of Scientology

Your fax ref. tm0506 dated 5 June 1991 regarding possible Church of Scientology school education in South Africa.

The matter has been taken up with the Department of Education and Culture as well as the Department of Education and Training who are responsible for school education in South Africa.

Both denied any knowledge of the Church's involvement in formal education in South Africa.

According to the Department of Education and Training, the Church of Scientology tried to use a front organization in 1989, the so called "Education Alive" but was not allowed to get involved in the Department's schools.

I am afraid their claim of teaching 1.5 million children in South Africa to read is just another fabrication.

Yours sincerely
Johan Klopper
Second Secretary

3) ANC reply re - Fact vs. Fiction

My visits and letters to the ANC for verification of the claims made by the CofS about 1,500,000 finally resulted in a reply from an ANC representative ("Hlubi"), a solicitor who states that this training did not happen. (Name withheld but provided on request.)

4) South African Education Department reply

Many phone calls I made to the South African Education Department in Pretoria were unsuccessful in seeking information to verify the claim.

5) Time Magazine reply

I sent a copy of my correspondence to the Time Magazine. I received a prompt reply but they did not add to my information.

6) Letter to Church of Scientology (Australia)

I have not received a reply to my letter (listed below), but a threat was made to my Internet Node provider by a senior office holder of the CofS Australia.

18 August 1994

CULTAWARE
Tony McClelland
Locked bag 1000
GRANVILLE NSW 2142

Mrs. V Hanna
Church of Scientology
201 Castlereagh Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000

Dear Mrs. Hanna

Following the publication of an article "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" by the Time Magazine on 6 May 1991 the Church of Scientology in Australia distributed a correction booklet titled Fact vs. Fiction. On the first page of Fact vs. Fiction the Church of Scientology claimed that Time Magazine did not publish any of the good work done by the Church of Scientology. Four bulleted points were used to highlight major achievements of the Church of Scientology. One of the four points referred to educating 1,500,000 children in South Africa to read and write. Can you please advise:

When the education was done?
The time allocated to each pupil by the Church of Scientology?
The benefits to the pupils?
How were the results measured?
How many Scientology educators were used in the program?
Did the South African Government assist with the program?
Were the pupils also instructed in Scientology?
Size of classes? Number of class rooms?

Since the publication of Facts vs. Fiction the South African Government and the ANC have not been able to verify the claim. Could you please advise of the facts that support the claim about education in South Africa in Facts vs. Fiction.

Yours sincerely

W A McClelland (Tony)
CultAware
Australia

Note: Although Jentzsch is still identified as President of the Church of Scientology International on Church web sites, he has not been seen in public for some time, prompting rumors of his removal..

In addition, I have written to the CofS in South Africa, USA and also Heber Jentzsch [offsite] — no reply from any of these.

In addition to the information Mr. McClelland gathered about "Education Alive", Kim Baker provides the following:

Subject:
 Re: Scientology: Logic and discussion
From:
 Kbaker@uctlib.uct.ac.za (Kim Baker)
Newsgroups:
 alt.religion.scientology
Date:
 Fri, 3 Feb 1995 22:56:58 -0500
Message-ID:
 <MAILQUEUE-101.950204112658.320 @uctlib.uct.ac.za [offsite]>

In a previous posting, Ron Newman (rnewman@media.mit.edu) writes:

Let's start by testing and establishing the truth of the following datum, which representatives of the Church periodically state:

"The Church of Scientology has taught 1.5 million South African children how to read."

Martin added:

The population of South Africa was 23.7 million in 1980; are there even that many illiterate school-age children, (let's say between six and twelve) in South Africa? I think not. I find it hard to believe that something approaching 100% of South Africa's children are illiterate!

And this is quite a point. They said they had "educated" the kids. Careful of the distinction here — we don't want to be guilty of the same thing.

My research has uncovered (and I am confident of these facts):

  • Education Alive is the only Church-linked organisation in SA to do any "educating."

  • Therefore when the Church says they have educated the kids, they mean Education Alive has. Which means they confirm that Education Alive is a branch of the Church of Scientology.

  • Education Alive has 3 branches — in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. All are franchised. They teach the Basic Study Course, and a Grammar course. That is all that they teach.

  • Both of these courses presume literacy, so they can only teach them to children who can already read.

  • The courses are NOT delivered free of charge. They have to be paid for. I am still trying to establish how much the courses cost, and who pays for them.

  • I am STILL trying to get statistics, which will be available in their Annual Reports, on how many children have been taught these courses.

  • The Church claimed they had "educated" these children. Perhaps they should clarify exactly what they mean by "educated". If they had stated they had taught courses on STUDY TECHNIQUES, I would have no problem with that.