Dr. Robert S. Westcott

Dr. Westcott was born in the Belgian Congo in 1934 of American medical missionary parents. While growing up he witnessed the great needs of the people in emerging nations and also witnessed the abuse of the citizens of the colonial nations by those who were trusted with the responsibilities of governing the people. When he was a teenager he determined to always stand on the side of the innocent and resist the bully tactics of those who misused their position to victimize those under them.

Dr. Westcott received his education in the United States enrolling in the Eastern Michigan University for the first two years and transferred to Wheaton College in Illinois where he graduated with a BS in Science in 1956. He earned his Masters of Theology degree (Th.M.) from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, in 1960 with a strong emphasis in the original Biblical languages, and was ordained into the Ministry in 1960.

After graduation from Dallas Theological Seminary Dr. Westcott and his wife, Charity, moved to rural north Georgia where they worked with children predominantly from poor families. The following years were the years of turmoil when the Constitution was being enforced and black citizens were allowed to take their rightful place in the United States and receive all the benefits and rights that the Constitution of the United States guaranteed the citizens of this country. The efforts of the Westcotts’ began with work in ministering in local churches, but at this time the southern culture did not allow the ”black” children to attend the programs where “white” children attended. The Westcotts, therefore, started the Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. on their own property where they could help any child who was willing to attend the meetings and wanted the teaching regardless of the ”racial” or ethnic origin of that child. Dr. Westcott supported their efforts by teaching in a North Georgia school where there were many needy children. To overcome the racial problems in the school Dr. Westcott established an African-American Club to protect the black students in the school against abuse from both bigoted students and teachers. He also started trying to overcome the educational needs of all students in reading, study skills, and the solving of educational problems related to poor teaching and awkward curricular development.

Dr. Westcott was also awarded a Ford Foundation Scholarship in graduate science, studying in Florida State University in 1967 to 1968. On returning to north Georgia Dr. Westcott designed a school within a school program for willing learners to help adjust the changes occurring in the first years of the integration of schools in the south. In order to analyze the educational and cultural diversity problems of the students, Dr. Westcott began to chart and sequence intellect functions as related to effective learning and problem solving processes, and used these charts and processes to address the intellectual problems of the students. He developed a series of related intellectual exercises he called Intellect Calisthenics to teach how to use these intellect functions and strengthen the learning patterns in his students. This development also led to his teaching the North Georgia Gifted Program until 1973.

In 1972 to 1975, Dr. Westcott was a member of the National Gifted Child Committee. During that time the committee discussed alternative approaches to identify highly intelligent, culturally divergent gifted, talented, and creative students other than standard IQ tests which demonstrated cultural bias and rendered invalid results for these divergent students. Upon investigating 52 different intellectual responses, Dr. Westcott determined that one of the most revealing responses of these students was in the area of self generated humor. He found this self generated humor highly significant in discovering these students who would be normally ignored through other selection criteria.

In the summer of 1973 the Graduate School of the University of Georgia recruitedD. Westcott to join the Graduate School and to enter the Ph.D. program related to Cognitive Field Psychology. Dr. Westcott helped develop and taught in the Competency Based Teacher Training program of the University of Georgia until 1975 when he completed his requirements for doctoral studies. He also developed a diagnostic-prescriptive approach to ensuring that his university students achieved mastery learning. His dissertation was Self-Generated Humor as an Alternative in Identifying Potentially Gifted, Talented and Creative High School Students: An Exploratory Study.

In 1975 to 1977 Dr. Westcott served as a psychologist at May Sands Department of Special Education, Key West, Florida, developing and adapting his diagnostic-prescriptive approach to identifying special educational problems and analyzing the needs of special educational students, diagnosing and prescribing special individualized exercises and educational approaches for special educational teachers to individual student deficiencies. He also used this diagnostic-prescriptive approach in teaching the Key West Gifted Program during this time.

In 1977, Dr. and Mrs. Westcott moved back to their home in Rossville, Georgia. He began traveling to emerging nations and training leaders and teachers, helping develop training curricula, establishing schools and training programs, counseling and consulting with problem solving teams in local areas around the world.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton was planning to invade Haiti to reinstall President Aristide who was deposed previously. In 1915, the last time Haiti was invaded by the USA, 50,000 Haitians were killed. The Haitian leaders were extremely bitter and resistant to any interference by the USA because of former relations with the leaders of the United States and their duplicitous nature of betrayal of what had been promised. Because of Dr. Westcott’s work in Haiti and his contacts into the Pallaise National, he and his team were able to appeal to President Jonnaisant and Prime Minister Cedras to accept President Jimmy Carter and his team to arbitrate a clean transition of power in Haiti without firing a single shot.

He continued his work with pastors and educators until his death in 2015.

Dr. Westcott is a member of Phi Delta, Kappa and a former member of the National Gifted Child Committee.

His publications are:

Westcott, R. S. The Use of Musterion in Ephesians, Dallas Texas: Dallas Theological Seminary, 1960.

Westcott, R. S. What the Bible Really Teaches About Race Relations, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1964.

Westcott, R. S. A Field Study Guide in Marine Biology: Summer Study of the SWMYF, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1965.

Westcott, R. S, A Syllabus Guide for required learning in Cell Biology, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1965.

Westcott, R. S, A Syllabus Guide for required learning in Embryology, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1965.

Westcott, R. S, A Syllabus Guide for required learning in Scientific Classification of Living Things, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1965.

Westcott, R. S,A Syllabus Guide for required learning in HumanAnatomy, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1965.

Westcott, R. S, Syllabus Guide for required learning in Comparative Anatomy, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1965.

Westcott, R. S. A Report of the Marine Biology Bible Camp Summer Course in the Florida Keys of the SWMYF, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1966.

Westcott, R. S. Blooming Geniuses or Budding Idiots: Athens, GA: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1975.

Westcott, R. S. Test-Subtest Similiarities With Corresponding Guilfordian Intellect Functions, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1976.

Westcott, R. S. A Biblical Church Constitution, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1978.

Westcott, R. S. Techniques of Bible Study, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1978.

Westcott, R. S. Educational Psychology (Spanish ): Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 1979.

Westcott, R. S. Self-Generated Humor as an Alternative in Identifying Potentially Gifted, Talented and Creative High School Students: An Exploratory Study, Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia, 1983.

Westcott, R. S. Astrophysics and Creation, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 2002.

Westcott, R. S. Genetics: The Finger Prints of God, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 2006.

Westcott, R. S. Fossils: The Evidence Reevaluated, Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 2006.

Westcott, R. S. Paleo-Anthropology and Creationism: Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 2006.

Westcott, R. S. Mental Rigidity: Rossville, Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 2006.

Westcott, R. S. Paleo-Anthropology and Creationism: Rossville Georgia: The Sanford Westcott Memorial Youth Foundation, Inc. 2006.