School-to-Work and the Home Schooler
The cradle-to-grave agenda for our
children
by Eileen Spatz
There is a
very real threat to our future ability to home school our children, one that
many of you may not yet be aware of.
I implore you to read the information contained here on School-to-Work (STW), so that you will understand the implications to homeschoolers.
Also offered here are reference websites and book suggestions to enable
you to not only become involved in the fight against STW,
but also so you can validate these claims and know that they are accurate.
The most dangerous thing that a home
school parent could do right now is to dismiss STW as
a program that will only affect public school children. It is natural to have that reaction
initially because the program clearly will start at the public school
level. However, it is only a matter
of a short time when STW will affect every child in
private and home schools as well.
The explanation for this will follow in the text.
It is imperative that home school
families become informed about STW and vigilant in
their efforts to fight it. Already
there are signs that home schooled kids will be forced to conform to the
federal mandates. For example, a recent news item (regarding the state of
Virginia) from the Home School Legal Defense Association Court Report
(July/August 1998) entitled School-to-Work Shuts Out
Home Schoolers which states:
Community colleges across Virginia are coordinating 'Tech Prep
Consortia.' These forge 'partnerships' between local businesses and local
public high schools. These
partnerships are known as 'Work Force Endorsement Agreements.' Under these agreements, area businesses
are to give priority consideration to high school graduates for any entry-level
jobs. Some of these 'Work Force
Endorsement Agreements' effectively shut home schoolers out of entry-level
positions.
How
can these "consortia" do this?
How
could this be legal?
What
can homeschoolers do?
Read the following material on STW and you will learn exactly how the federal government
has hijacked education in order to create and control a Centrally Managed
Workforce.
(Warning: The following information is guaranteed
to cause high blood pressure)
WHAT IS SCHOOL-TO-WORK?
The School to Work Opportunities Act
was signed into law in May 1994, along with its companion legislation called
Goals 2000. The two pieces of
legislation work hand in hand, incorporating both the social agenda (Goals
2000) and the education/labor agenda into our public school system via a
systemic restructuring of the government schools. This paper will explain the effects on
home schoolers soon, but please read this background information first!
For several decades, the academic
standards and requirements in our public schools have been spiraling
downward. Simultaneously, the
emphasis on the affective domain of the children (feelings, self-esteem,
attitudes) has shifted the role of the public schools to one of social
engineering. The combined effect
has been disastrous, graduating students with no work ethic, barely adequate
basic academic skills, and bloated egos.
The results are seen every day in America, where colleges have to
remediate 50% of the entering freshmen in basic math and English, and
businesses that have to spend money to teach entry-level employees how to read,
write and compute enough to function on the job! As the effects of our failed schools
have been recognized by the public and the media, parental pressure to return
the public schools to a back-to-basics approach has ensued.
Sadly, the opposite is what is actually
being done in our public schools.
Instead of returning to somewhat rigorous standards, the new "high
standards" will have little to do with real academics. The new focus of education, via the STW/Goals 2000 legislation, will be vocational training and
more social engineering, sold deceptively as preparation for the "high
skills/high wage" jobs of the 21st century. Academics, although already woefully
inadequate in our public schools, will be even further watered down in order to
focus on job skills and "real life" education, even so far as having
students leave campus during the school day to perform tasks at local
businesses for class credit.
Already, students in South Dakota are receiving class credit for bagging
groceries and waiting tables. High standards? High skills?
School-to-Work (STW)
came about after a Department of Labor report was compiled in 1991 entitled
Learning a Living,
the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills
(SCANS). The SCANS document is at
the center of the STW legislation, it is the
hub. All states' STW programs have incorporated the SCANS language. This is important because it illustrates
that the STW system being implemented nationally is
federally dictated and designed, based on the Department of Labor's definition
of the future American worker.
WHAT ARE THE SCANS COMPETENCIES?
Click
here to read the actual SCANS report, from the Dept of Labor SCANS site.
I encourage you to visit this site,
clicking around in Publications for important, and very telling, information
regarding the federal role in defining our schools, the labor force and
business. The following are some of
the SCANS competencies:
Participates as a member of a team
Negotiates to arrive at a decision
Works with cultural diversity
Mental visualization
Self-esteem
Decision making
Integrity/Honesty
Sociability
WHAT DOES STW
ENTAIL AT THE SCHOOL LEVEL?
Public schools will be transformed, incrementally
and methodically, toward the STW system in the
following way:
1. The curriculum will be designed and/or selected in response to the
Goals 2000 national standards.
These eight goals are deceptively written to sound honorable. For instance, one of the goals is that
all children will begin school ready to learn. How can the government achieve this
without becoming deeply involved in the raising of your pre-school-aged
children?
2. The curriculum and teaching methods will align themselves with the
SCANS competencies (which include behavioral components), which will act as a
blueprint for shaping the future American worker in response to the predictions
of big business to the global economy of the 21st century. Schools will focus on vocational skills
and gear school instruction toward learning job skills, utilizing work-related
reading selections, unit studies and projects across the curriculum. Even in federally designed software, the
SCANS competencies will be delivered through computer-based learning.
3. Students will be required to select a career pathway in middle
school. But each state will
designate a
career menu for its
schools to offer, severely limiting choices of occupations. Their curriculum will then be responsive
to the career track that they have selected. The idea of a liberal arts education
(the core base of knowledge covering the major academic disciplines) is out the
window. Instead, each student will
receive a watered down version of math, language arts, social studies and
science—all of which will be tailored to the Goals 2000 agenda, along
with the vocational training which pertains to their chosen career pathway.
4. National standards, and eventually a national assessment test,
will drive the restructured public schools. A board called the National Skills Standards Board will outline
the national standards and direct implementation. Already, textbooks and
standardized tests (like the Stanford Achievement Test) are aligning themselves
to this national agenda, including environmentalism, multi-culturalism,
globalism and social studies across all subjects. For instance, in the introduction to the
new Stanford Achievement Test (SAT 9), they clearly state that they have
aligned the test with Goals 2000 and the National Council for Teachers of
Mathematics (NCTM—who has promoted the new new "fuzzy" math nationally).
5. A new diploma called the certificate of initial mastery (CIM) will be awarded to 16 year olds if they have
demonstrated their competence in the SCANS behaviors, skills, and
attitudes. A test called Work Keys,
published by ACT, which is to assess workplace readiness, is already being
administered in some states.
Although the SCANS literature consistently refers to these workplace
competencies as "high performance skills" for the "high
wage/high skills" jobs of the future, the content of the Work Keys test
reveals quite a different emphasis.
The test is administered by video, with an array of workplace scenarios
that the students (age 16) are to answer questions about. Interestingly, each workplace scenario
contained in this test is "blue collar" in nature. One test scenario is about making a
submarine sandwich, one is about loading a truck, one is inspecting buckets on
an assembly line, one is taking a phone message, and one is about mopping a
floor. Also telling within the
SCANS documents, is the fact that the Dept. of Labor considers "high
wage" jobs as those paying $25,000-$40,000. High?
SO HOW DOES STW
AFFECT HOME SCHOOLERS?
Within the context of both the Goals 2000 and the STW legislation are
the constant uses of the phrase, "All children will..."
In the same documents, though, there
are claims that Goals 2000/STW programs will be "voluntary." This raises the question of how
something so systemic in nature, so thorough in its pervasiveness in the
curriculum, teaching methods, textbooks and assessments could possibly be
voluntary.
In reality, the voluntary nature of
these programs ceases the moment the state and districts accept Goals 2000
funding and STW grant money. From that point on, these programs
become federally directed. The
funding is not dispersed until the state conforms to the required "outcomes"of the Goals 2000 agenda in its grant
application and state STW frameworks. The changes at the actual school sites
have been occurring incrementally since '92 (after the SCANS report was
published). Current signs of
restructuring include block scheduling (so students will have enough time to
leave campus to perform their work duties at a local business) and class size
reduction (which sets up the correct class size to implement the computerized
learning centers).
There are three ways that STW will eventually affect homeschoolers
and private schools:
- The certificate of
initial mastery (CIM). This diploma will eventually be
necessary for our children to be employable. It has been speculated that it may
even be required in order to get a drivers license or be accepted into
college. Through the CIM, all schools, including private and home schools,
will be forced to conform to the federal agenda—using their
assessment tools, which are geared toward their (liberal) texts and STW-based curriculum. The CIM
recognizes the following "achievements":
Involved Citizen
Quality Producer
Self-Directed Learner
Constructive Thinker
Effective Communicator
Collaborative Contributor
Understands Diversity
Interpret the Human Experience
Understand Positive Health Habits
- Requiring a home
school parent to be credentialed.
This is probably the most pressing threat to home schoolers at this
time. Last year (1998) the
National Teacher's Association (NEA) passed a
resolution (B-67) which stated that they "believe that home schooling
programs cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education
experience." They go on to state that all home schoolers should meet
all state requirements and that
instruction be by persons who are licensed by the
appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by
the state department of education should be used.
Because of the power of the NEA, and their pre-determined agenda, this is a very real
threat to home schoolers. Many home
schooling parents do not possess a college degree, and would find it impossible
to attend college while they are trying to home school their children (assuming
the federal government would allow them time to get credentialed). For parents who are college educated,
the requirement would entail a one year full-time commitment for
credentialing. The teachers'
colleges have become the starting point for NEA
indoctrination, which then pursues into teacher "in-service"
training, teachers unions publications (both local unions and NEA periodicals), and district level "consensus
building." This is a lose/lose
situation for home school parents—for those who decide not to go back to
college and for those who do.
Either way, required credentialing will severely reduce the number of
home schooling families, and have an adverse affect on those families who do
accommodate the requirement and continue to home school.
- Accreditation: Most private school accreditation
organizations are following the lead of WASC (Western
Association of School and Colleges), which accredits public schools and
many private schools. WASC is committed to workplace integration into all
areas of schooling (STW), and is utilizing a new
protocol for accrediting schools to this end entitled "Focus on
Learning." This vehicle
is defined as a total merger of academics with vocational training, using
performance-based assessment.
ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) has, over time,
earned a reputation of trust within the Christian private school
community. Sadly, at the November
1997 convention in Northern California, there were multitude signs that this
accreditation agency has fallen victim to the federal
agenda, too. There were workshops
on "Integrating workplace skills into the curriculum;"
"Cooperative learning vs competitive
learning;" "The curriculum transformed;" and "Practical
strategies for discovery learning" among other "red flag"
themes. Among ACSI's
listed priorities was that teachers are retrained, that the SCANS competencies
be integrated into the curriculum, and that the private Christian schools adopt
a certificate of mastery (CIM).
WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ON STW?
Book recommendations:
None
Dare Call It Education by John Stormer
('98)
Angry
Parents, Failing Schools by Elaine McEwan
('98)
The
Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them by E.D.
Hirsch ('97)
Outcome
Based Education by Peg Luksik ('94)
Dumbing
Down Our Kids by Charles Sykes ('95)
Websites:
Government sites (where you will see the public relations at work):
National School to Work
(original legislation available here)
SCANS (go to Publications and click away!)
National Skills Standards
Board
Other sites (these websites
discuss the negative implications of STW/Goals 2000)
Capitol
Resource Institute (CA)
Parents
Raising Education Standards in Schools (WI)
Diana Fessler,
Member, Ohio State Board of Education
Texas
Education Consumers Association
For the very curious who wonder if this is only
occurring here in the US (and, no, it isn't), go to this very
interesting (yet disturbing) site in Australia.
HOW CAN WE FIGHT STW?
Because the mainstream media has not reported
on this vast public school restructuring, most Americans are in the dark. They want to believe all the rhetoric
and promises about education reform and incoming "higher" standards. It is very difficult to convince parents
that something so immense is on the horizon, ready to completely change our
society. Folks just don't have the
information in their hands.
The steps that all home school parents
should take are:
1. Get informed! Go to
these websites, buy a couple of the suggested
books. Once you are well-versed on
the subject you can begin to share the information with family, friends, and
neighbors. Bringing it up at casual
gatherings (Little League games, Bunko parties, family get togethers)
is very effective, especially if you can offer them the reference sites to
validate your claims. Generally,
public school teachers will become defensive—they are also in the
dark. Although they are being
constantly retrained toward the STW system in inservice meetings, they don't know the big picture. Be careful not to be confrontational or
cast blame at them, they are simply the pawns in this large scheme. Do offer them a book or a website
address. They can only say no,
thanks.
2. Send an email, fax, letter or call your
legislators. Many Republican legislators
have bought into the STW system, maintaining their
ties to big business. They need to
understand that they are an accessory to the crime for helping to install a
socialist system that will have detrimental effects on our freedoms. You need to be firm in your denouncement
of STW, and ask them to begin the process of
repealing the bill. Although we are
all so busy, this is a crucial step in the fight to end the ongoing
implementation phase of STW. Politicians, who care deeply about
holding onto their jobs, will take notice if enough of us make the effort to
contact them. Please make the time
for this. Click on the links to
find out how your US Representatives and
Senators are voting on education
issues. Let's identify the
politicians who are selling out this country to socialism via the education
system. If they voted in favor of
the Workforce Investment Act of August 98, for example, that would be a
bad sign.
3. If you are home schooling under an umbrella school or academy,
contact the administration and ask them what steps they are planning to take to
side-step the certificate of initial mastery (CIM)
and the federal STW agenda. You will likely find that they are
uninformed about it. Make it your
job to mail them some information or forward this to their email address. They must not be taken by surprise when
the system is fully implemented.
4. Senator John Ashcroft has been very active in fighting for the
repeal of STW/Goals2000. He is one
of a few Republican legislators who has been outspoken about it (Henry Hyde is
another). Please send these men a
note of gratitude and encouragement so that they will continue to fight. Click here to send Senator Ashcroft an
email.
5. Contact the Home School Legal Defense
Association and insist that they present more information about STW in their bi-monthly publication to members, the Court
Report. Home school families
are, generally, not aware of the impending threat to our children if the STW system is allowed to be fully implemented. It should be a major focus of HSLDA, so that home school families will heed the call when
action is needed to prevent STW from marching
forward. If home school parents are
complacent, thinking that STW is only going to affect
the public school children, we will be sorry. Contact Mike Farris and strongly suggest
he make STW a more prominent subject in his
literature.
6. If any of your children attend a private school, schedule a
meeting with the administrator/principal to discuss the STW
issue. Question him about whether
he will consider dropping accreditation if that is the only way to fight off STW in the school.
Ask him if the teachers are adopting the public school methodologies
(group work, integrating job skills throughout curriculum, using books which
promote globalism, secular humanism (yes, even at a Christian school you ll find these).
Find out if their math books are traditional (like Saxon) or utilize the
NCTM (fuzzy) math standards. Ask if the basal reading program is
truly phonics based (Open Court or ABeka, for
instance) or if they are using a whole language based program (Harcourt Brace
or Houghton Mifflin). These are
important questions to get answers to, as they signify whether or not your
expensive private school is being sucked into the federal "seamless web of
lifelong learning."
7. Get politically involved.
Eagle Forum is a conservative action group based in Washington DC that
has been following this for many years.
Contact them to get
your state's Eagle Forum contact group.
This organization is reputable and effective! I strongly recommend contacting them and
offering your help to get the word out.
They also have informative videos and booklets available which are quite
effective in a neighborhood meeting.
Make copies of this webpage to pass out to others, too.
8. Most importantly, continue to instill the importance of a strong
work ethic, and to impart knowledge, skills, and religious truths to your
children. No matter what else
happens in this society, if your children have been taught, through your own
example, to work hard to his/her potential, to be an independent thinker, to
absorb knowledge, to refine skills, and to live by moral absolutes, they will
flourish. They will be the
leaders—not the group thinking, barely literate, compliant products of
the government schools.
PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH YOUR QUESTIONS!
For anyone who wants clarification of
School-to-Work, needs ideas for holding group meetings or community meetings to
enlighten others about STW, or would like a copy of
an analysis of Goals 2000/STW from the Claremont Institute mailed to them,
please contact Eileen Spatz.
I encourage all home schoolers to take
this issue very seriously and to become actively involved in exposing and
fighting it. Thank you for
reading these pages and sharing them with others.
Eileen Spatz is the mother of three
children whom she home schools in San Clemente,
CA. After becoming alarmed at the
weak academic content used at the local public school, along with her
abhorrence of the social agenda being infused throughout the textbooks and
curricula, she pulled her children out and enrolled them in a private Christian
school.
That same year (1994), she became aware
of the new federal education programs just signed into law, School-to-Work and
Goals 2000, and became an instant activist against them. Eileen began writing op-ed columns on
education issues in 1996 that have been published in the Washington Post,
Investors' Business Daily, The Orange County Register,
the LA Times, and the Washington Times.
Financial strains caused the family to
move from private schooling to home schooling in 1997, which was the best thing
that ever happened to them.
© February
1999
╪