What Parents Need to Know About Education Reform

In 1994, the Goals 2000 Educate America Act was signed into law bringing to life the eight national education goals and official sanctioning education reform from the federal level. In the same year, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act was also signed into law at the federal level.

Many states, however, began the process of education reform before 1994. In Washington State, for example, the Schools for the 21st Century Program, brought into being by SSB 5479 in 1987, established pilot schools for education reform. With the passing of ESHB 1209 in 1993, education reform was officially mandated in Washington State. The first attempt to pass legislation was made in 1991 when sister bills were introduced, one addressing education reform, the other workforce training. The legislation addressing education reform failed but ESSB 5184 passed, establishing the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.

But whether living in Washington State or another state makes no difference — education reform looks the same everywhere. Many parents, disgusted with what is happening in their local school district, believe that by moving to another town or another state, they will cure the problem. Not so. Mandated down from the federal level, through Goals 2000 and the infamous HR 6, education reform looks the same in all fifty states.

How do parents know if education reform has come to their school? If they pay attention at all to what goes on in the local school district, they will suddenly begin to hear a new lingo spoken. They will begin hearing things such as all children can learn, site-based council, consensus, decentralized decision making, inclusion, less is more, life-role or relevant education, student learning goals, what every child should know and be able to do, applied academics, higher order thinking skills, critical thinking skills, unit themes or thematic units, syllabus, assessment, teacher as facilitator, child centered learning or child-centered classroom, self-directed learning, learning by doing, integrated curriculum, interdisciplinary, writing across the curriculum, performance-based or outcome-based education, competencies, school-to-work, partnerships (with business and parents), mission statement, belief statement, accountability, quality schools — just to name a few of the more commonly used "catch" phrases.

All of this becomes quite confusing to parents who have taken for granted that the purpose of the school is to educate their child. Wrapped in aesthetic terms such as raising the standards, education for all children and all children can learn, parents generally disregard those who say otherwise until something happens that sends up red flags — whether it be a worksheet coming homing or something that happens at school.

So what do parents really need to know about education reform? Cutting to the chase, in a nut shell, education reform is easy to understand.

With Goals 2000 and education reform, the purpose of education has been officially changed. As originally established in America, education was for the purpose of cultivating and disciplining the mind of the child through "rote" and "drill" exercises to sharpen the mental capabilities and increase mental capacity; developing in the child the mental processes of thinking then challenging the child to use those mental processes to formulate a reasoned conclusion using the vast scope of knowledge which the child had learned. Over the past thirty years, this education system (known as traditional education) has been labeled by the educational establishment as a failure. What people do not realize, however, is that since 1930 this education system has been gradually replaced by another system of education that is now coming into full implementation under education reform. That education system is known as Progressive Education, generally attributed to the teachings and philosophy of John Dewey. Dewey was a socialist; his philosophy in education aligned with his socialist beliefs. Dewey spent most of his career at Columbia University — an institution responsible, in large measure, for the spread of the philosophy of Progressive Education to every teacher preparatory institution and every school in America. Most of the new lingo that parents will hear when education reform comes to the local school finds root in the philosophy of Progressive Education. Progressive Education is for the express purpose of bringing about a new social order, a new society. Outcome- or performance-based education finds basis in the philosophy and practices of Progressive Education.

Now that we have established the purpose and history of the "new" education system, what can parents expect to see in the classroom?

To begin, parents need to understand that there are three phases to outcome-based education:

Traditional In the traditional phase, the focus of the classroom remains on core knowledge or disciplines (subject matter) with exit outcomes based on core knowledge or disciplines. (objective)

Transitional In the transitional phase, exit outcomes are based on higher-order competencies (critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, communications…) that cut across disciplines with disciplines becoming the vehicle to assist in cultivating and integrating these higher-order competencies. (objective / subjective)

Transformational In the transformational phase, exit outcomes are culminating demonstrations of life-role proficiencies which generally follow the lines of self-directed learners; quality producers and performers; goal setters and pursuers; collaborative contributors; creative, complex and perceptive thinkers; innovative problem solvers; and effective communicators. In this phase, core knowledge becomes secondary to process and is only incorporated as it is used and applied in addressing social or life-related issues conceptualized in the classroom in the context of unit themes or thematic units. (subjective)

Social or life-related issues fall into four main categories: world ecology, world economy, world security and world population growth; whether addressing crime, prejudice, discrimination, life-style choices, gender equity, religion, homelessness, disease, the environment, or whatever.

The reason for this falls to something known as the Gaia Hypothesis which states simply that the earth is a living breathing organism, a wholistic (or holistic) system irreducible to its parts; that what affects one part of the world affects the whole world; that in the interests of saving "spaceship earth" we must change our society. The Gaia Hypothesis is analogous with General Systems Theory, the forerunner of systems thinking — the framework of total quality management (TQM), continuous quality improvement, the learning organization, and the high performance work organization. Research reveals that OBE is TQM for children, or vice versa, TQM is OBE for adults. Whether we are talking about the Gaia Hypothesis, General Systems Theory, total quality management or outcome-based education, we are talking about a wholistic system with all systems (considered to be subsystems) interconnected and interdependent to form one global system that must, in the name of saving "spaceship earth," be kept in balance.

Parents need to go to the classroom and ask to see the unit themes or thematic units to which their child will be subjected in the course of the school year. They then need to ask to see the supplemental teaching materials and curriculums that will be used to teach the unit theme or thematic unit. If the teacher plays ignorant, parents should ask to see all materials that will be used in addressing the unit theme or thematic unit. Look at this material with a critical eye as to what it is imparting to the child. What parents have found, most generally, is that this material is not factual, is not based on scientifically validated research, but is based on extrapolations, hypotheses, best practice or best knowledge, that it is politically biased. Said material, however, is being presented to children as though it were factual. This supplemental teaching material and curriculums are intended, specifically, to bring the child inductively to believe that Western culture is bad, that we are destroying the environment, and that we must change our society to save "spaceship earth." Children are being brought inductively to believe that we must move away from individualism to collectivism; that community comes before the individual; that property, industry, and commerce should be owned by the collective in the name of the centralized government; that competition is bad, cooperation and collaboration are good; that we should move away from each according to his ability and move to each according to his needs as defined by Maslow's hierarchy of needs. What children are being taught, under the guise of education and education reform, is hard core socialism — the pale sister of communism.

All together, what the child is exposed to in the classroom is intended to enable him to demonstrate mastery of the state established student learning goals. In Washington State, these are known as the Essential Academic Learning Requirements. The state learning goals must align with the eight federal goals under Goals 2000 and the district goals must align with the state goals.

After successfully demonstrating mastery of the state essential academic learning requirements, at about age sixteen, the child will receive the Certificate of Mastery (CIM). In Washington state, the CIM will be the prerequisite requirement for entry into the workforce and/or higher education.

Two quotes come to mind —

When an opponent declares "I will not come over to your side", I calmly say "Your child belongs to us already. What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community." (Adolph Hitler; 1939).

Who wins the youth wins the future of America. (Earl Browder, former General Secretary of the Communist Party).

The purpose of the new education system is to produce a socially productive human resource unit, not too well educated, but willing to work for minimal compensation for the good of the collective whole — in final analogy, the state. The human resource unit will only be judged socially productive according to its worth to the state in economic terms. The schools are to become the primary producer of workers for partnering business. This public/private partnership for economic gain is known as corporate fascism. Any business that establishes an apprenticeship/school-to-work/workforce training program will be eligible to receive state/federal subsidies. But any business that applies for those subsidies will be required to 1) meet state/federal skill standards which will be uniform across industries; 2) be high performance work organizations — TQM; and 3) be ISO 9000 and 14000 certified. ISO 9000 certifies human resource systems; ISO 14000 is environmental certification. Any company that exports will have to be ISO 9000/14000 certified, and any company with which that company does business will have to be likewise certified, creating a domino affect.

The quiet restructuring of America is a one-way ticket to enslavement for the American people. What should parents do? The best thing parents can do right now is to remove their children from the public schools. But this only removes the children from immediate harm. Parents must become educated and involved in removing Goals 2000, school-to-work, and workforce training from their respective states. Parents can also become active in helping to get legislation written and passed that effectively separates school and state, effecting true local control; and legislation written and passed that dismantles the most powerful union in America — the National Education Association.

America stands in great peril — all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)

© December 1996; Lynn M Stuter

╪