Note: The following email was sent to learn-usa.com by Gladys Stefany. The article is in the color blue; her remarks follow her name; my comments are in red; my response follows in a separate email.

From: Gladys Stefany
To: learn-usa.com
Cc: K12PAVCS@yahoogroups.com, K12-SN@yahoogroups.com
Subject: K12® ... PANACEA OR PLAGUE? - Comments by Gladys Stefany in CAPS
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 22:51:33 -0400

K12® ... PANACEA OR PLAGUE?

By Lynn Stuter

June 9, 2003

NewsWithViews.com

In Homeschools, Private Schools and Systems Education, reference was made to Dr William Bennett's K12® Virtual Academy. Is K12® what it is cracked up to be?

On the homepage of the K12® website, the first full sentence states, “K12 is an education company dedicated to building a comprehensive, standards-based curriculum and learning program.”

“Standards-based” is synonymous with outcome-based or education based on outcomes. This means, in the words of the guru of outcome-based education, Dr William Spady, you start at the end and decide what you want the student to look like as a result of his/her educational experience - the end product or outcomes; then you work backward from the end product, aligning the curriculum, instruction and teaching methodologies to the outcomes wanted to insure that the student looks like the outcomes as a result of the “process” or the educational experience. What the student looks like is synonymous with ”what the child should know and be able to do” neither of which can be defined as “traditionally academic.”

GLADYS: ????? I AM VERY FAMILIAR WITH OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION AND IT IS ONE OF THE REASONS I PULLED MY DAUGHTER OUT OF OUR LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. SHE WAS LEARNING THAT OUTCOME WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAT PROCESS AND THAT THE ENDS JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. THESE ARE NOT PRINCIPLES I WANTED MY DAUGHTER TO LEARN. I CAN ASSURE YOU AS A PARENT WHO HAS USED THE K12 CURRICULUM FOR TWO YEARS THAT WHAT YOU ARE ALLEGING ABOUT K12 IN THIS REGARD IS TOTALLY FALSE. YOU CAN NOT DO AN APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF RESEARCH AND WRITE A FAIR AND OBJECTIVE CRITIQUE BASED ON YOUR INTERPRETIVE READING OF A COMPANY'S WEBSITE. I WOULD SUGGEST YOU SPEND SOME TIME ON SOME OF THE MANY EMAIL LISTS OF K12 USERS THAT HAVE SPRUNG UP AND REALLY GET TO KNOW THE PROGRAM. I WOULD FURTHER SUGGEST THAT YOU CONTACT K12 DIRECTLY WITH YOUR QUESTIONS. DID YOU DO THAT? I SUSPECT NOT. I THINK YOU READ THEIR WEBSITE WITH AN AGENDA AND TOOK WORDS OUT OF CONTEXT IN ORDER TO PROVE YOU PREDETERMINED HYPOTHESIS.

This is given further credence on the Educational Approach web page at K12®, “The K12® curriculum is designed to help you meet or exceed national and state standards. 

Those national and state standards are outcome-based, they are process oriented; they are not academic as most parents would define the word.

GLADYS: I LIVE IN A STATE THAT IS RANKED 46TH OUT OF 50 IN EDUCATION. I LIVE IN A SCHOOL DISTRICT WHERE “WRITING TO READ” WAS THE BIG PROGRAM FOR 12 YEARS BEFORE THEY DISCOVERED WHAT SOME OF US RECOGNIZED FROM THE OUTSET WHICH WAS THAT THE PROGRAM WAS TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE. IS THEIR SOMETHING WRONG WITH K12 BEING DESIGNED TO GIVE MY CHILD A BETTER EDUCATION WITH HIGHER STANDARDS? I ASSURE YOU THAT I USED A BEKA FOR ALMOST 12 YEARS AND A BEKA ALSO WAS DESIGNED TO MEET HIGHER STANDARDS AND DID SO.

Note: Gladys mentions “higher standards,” although that phrase was not used by this author. This means she has, for all her denial, bought into the mantra of “world class” which is another way of saying that America is lowering its standards to meet those of the rest of the world. Higher standards my foot!

Both the K12® Virtual Academy and Homeschool curriculums boast a link to the Core Knowledge Foundation:

“The content recommended in the Core Knowledge Sequence is one major foundation of the K12® curriculum. K12 is also built upon analysis and comparison of state standards; curricular recommendations of prominent professional organizations (such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Council for History Education); and extensive research into the cognitive psychology behind effective learning, ...”

Three things stand out in the above quote and directly affect any assumption that might be made that K12 is knowledge based: 1) The comparison to state standards. State standards in every state are process oriented. This means that knowledge is only incorporated as it is used and applied in addressing a unit theme or thematic unit focusing on a social or life-related issue.

GLADYS: AGAIN, ONE LOOK AT THE K12 CURRICULUM WITH AN OBJECTIVE EYE AND MORE THAN A QUICK LOOK AT THEIR WEBSITE FROM THE POSITION OF YOUR OWN AGENDA WOULD TELL YOU THAT YOUR ABOVE ASSUMPTION IS FALSE. K12 IS A CLASSIC CURRICULUM. IT IS MULTISENSORY WHICH I LIKE TREMENDOUSLY. IT ALSO IS WELL RESEARCHED AND SEEMS, TO THIS USER, TO BE BASED ON THE VALUES, PRINCIPALS, AND EDUCATIONAL PRIORITES I KNEW WHEN I GREW UP IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL WHERE I FIRST HEARD THE 23RD PSALM BEFORE MORNING PRAYERS. DO YOUR RESEARCH MORE THOROUGHLY. LOOK AT THE CURRICULUM FIRST HAND. CALL K12 AND ASK IF YOU CAN MEET WITH THEIR STAFF AND SOME OF THE PARENTS AND THEN WRITE YOUR CRITIQUE. OTHERWISE, YOUR ARTICLE IS TOTALLY BASELESS BECAUSE IT IS SOLELY AN EXPRESSION OF YOUR OPINIONS WHICH YOU HAD ALREADY FORMED BEFORE RESEARCHING FOR THE ARTICLE. YOU ONLY APPEAR TO HAVE USED THE K12 WEBSITE TO EXTRACT PHRASES OUT OF CONTEXT AND PUT A SPIN ON THEM THAT WOULD MAKE THE CASE YOU HAD ALREADY DECIDED TO DEFINE. YOU SURELY AREN'T DWELLING IN THE “NO SPIN ZONE”, MS. STUTER.

2) The curricular recommendations of the prominent professional organizations listed above were made as a direct result of the federal Goals 2000 law and are, therefore, also process oriented. 3) The use of the term “effective learning” would appear to be synonymous with the term “effective schooling” (more on this later) and all the outcome-based standards related thereto. Bennett is a known proponent of effective schooling practices.

GLADYS: WOULD YOU PREFER THAT HE WAS A PROPONENT OF INEFFECTIVE SCHOOLING PRACTICES? ;O)

Note: It is questionable, at this point, whether Gladys really is this ignorant, whether she wants to appear this ignorant, or whether she's trying to divert attention from what “effective schooling practices” are.

Both the K12® Virtual Academy and the K12® Home School curriculums are accompanied by “assessments.” An assessment is an opinion of the quality of the child's work as compared to a rubric scale which is looking at how well the child demonstrates the wanted process. The scale is benchmarked to the grade level indicated. An assessment is not an objective measure; it is a subjective measure open to the likes and dislikes, mood and temperament of the one doing the assessing (the assessor). Assessments are the tool used to determine if the curriculum, instruction and teaching methodologies are moving the students to look like the outcomes established as the end product or goals of the educational experience.

GLADYS: AGAIN, THIS IS TOTALLY FALSE!!! I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU DID YOUR RESEARCH, BUT YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY NEVER SEEN A K12 ASSESSMENT. THE ASSESSMENTS WHICH I GIVE MY CHILD ALMOST DAILY ARE AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF HER COMPREHENSION OF THE MATERIAL PRESENTED TO HER. FOR EXAMPLE, AT THE END OF A HISTORY LESSON SHE MIGHT BE ASKED “WHICH OCEAN DID THE PILGRIM'S CROSS TO REACH AMERICA?” AT THE END OF A SCIENCE LESSON “WHAT THREE ITEMS TO ALL LIVING THINGS NEED?” AT THE END OF A MATH LESSON “LOOK AT THE TWO PILES OF COINS. WHICH ONE CONTAINS THE MOST MONEY? WHICH ONE CONTAINS THE LEAST?” ARE THESE WHAT YOU WOULD CALL OPINIONS?

What is the end product of the educational experience? According to High Skills, High Wages put out by the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, Washington State, in 1994, the end product is that students are proficient in “teamwork, critical thinking, making decisions, communication, adapting to change and understanding whole systems” (Page 65). These, of course, are a direct outreach of the work of the Secretaries Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills or, as better known, the SCANS competencies. Some might find it of interest that Elizabeth Dole, Bob Dole's wife, was President Bush Sr's Secretary of Labor when the SCANS commission was established and the SCANS competencies and reports were written and published.

GLADYS: YOU KEEP REFERRING TO THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. IS THAT WHERE YOU LIVE? I HAVE SPENT A DEAL OF TIME IN WA VISITING MY NIECE IN OLYMPIA WHO IS A GRADUATE OF EVERGREEN STATE. IF EVERGREEN STATE IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN WASHINGTON, NO WONDER YOU ARE PARANOID. TRUST ME. THE REST OF AMERICA IS NOTHING LIKE THAT.

Note: Obviously, Gladys has never heard of the Pennsylvania EQA, and obviously, Gladys knows nothing about where her state is in this process.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, you can pretty well figure it's a duck. K12® fits the bill (no pun intended) of outcome-based education (aka, systems education).

GLADYS: YOU HAVE YET TO PROVE YOUR CASE BASED ON FACT. SO FAR ALL WE HAVE READ ARE YOUR OPINIONS. WHAT QUALIFIES YOU TO ASSERT THEM? WHERE ARE THE FACTS?

But this is not all. Dr William Bennett, author of the Book of Virtues acknowledged, in a New York Times article in 1985, that the most difficult time in his career was “the death of my friend, boss, and mentor, Charles Frankel.” Frankel served on the editorial board of The Humanist with such notables as B. F. Skinner and Betty Friedan, both of whom are signers of the Humanist Manifesto II, 1973. This might explain why the virtuous Dr Bennett has no reservations about his $18 million gambling habit.

GLADYS: YOU ARE REVEALING YOUR AGENDA MORE AND MORE. YOU, OBVIOUSLY, HAVE A PERSONAL PROBLEM WITH DR. BENNETT. THAT IS YOUR RIGHT AND I'M NOT HEAR TO DEFEND HIM. (BTW IT WAS $8 MILLION NOT $18 MILLION. IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN PRINT. - “LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE”) DID DR. BENNETT SIGN THE HUMANIST MANIFESTO II? IF NOT, WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT HE DID?

Note: The fact that Dr Bennett admits freely that his “mentor” was a humanist (humanists believe in relativism ... no right, no wrong, everything situational and in flux) makes him a good candidate to write a book on virtues. Right?

Further, Dr Bennett, founder of K12®, is no stranger to education reform. Bennett was the Secretary of Education during the Reagan Administration. In 1985, while Secretary of Education, Bennett was quoted, in a USA Today article, as supporting both a national curriculum and national testing.

GLADYS: THE FACT IS, AND I'M SURE WE'D BOTH AGREE, THAT THE PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY IS IMPLODING. IN SOME DISTRICTS (FEW AND FAR BETWEEN) CHILDREN GET A QUALITY EDUCATION. IN OTHERS THERE ARE TOO MANY CHILDREN WHO GRADUATE WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO READ OR WRITE. NOW THAT THE HORSE IS OUT OF THE BARN THE POLITICIANS ARE TRYING TO GET IT BACK IN AND IT IS VERY HARD. DR. BENNETT SAW THE PROBLEM COMING AND TRIED TO CORRECT IT ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO. YOU DON'T HAVE TO AGREE WITH HIS METHODS, BUT YOU HAVE TO AGREE THAT HE RECOGNIZED THE PROBLEM, FACED IT AND TRIED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. HE DIDN'T JUST RUN AWAY AND I THINK THIS NATION OWES HIM SOME GRATITUDE FOR THAT.

Note: No, I don't think I would agree with Gladys on anything she stated here. She claims one thing and supports the opposite.

In 1991, his “outcome-based” design team, The Modern Red Schoolhouse, was chosen by the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC) as one of the original design teams to “Reinvent American education by designing new schools for a new century.” (NASDC, 1991) Sitting on the board of Bennett's design team was Dr Chester Finn. In the overview document submitted by Bennett to NASDC as part of his design team proposal, Bennett states that as Secretary of Education “he became widely known as an outspoken proponent of education reform.” The Modern Red Schoolhouse design team was a member of the National Center for Effective Schools as is the Core Knowledge Foundation (See Northwest Regional Educational Laboratories for more information regarding “effective schooling practices”).

In 1991, We Must Take Charge by Dr Finn was published. In that book, Dr Finn states,

“... Perhaps the best way to enforce this standard is to confer valuable benefits and privileges on people who meet it, and to withhold them from those who do not. Work permits, good jobs, and college admission are the most obvious, but there is ample scope here for imagination in devising carrots and sticks. Drivers' licenses could be deferred. So could eligibility for professional athletic teams. The minimum wage paid to those who earn their certificates might be a dollar an hour higher.”

The “standard” to which Dr Finn refers is the core learning standard of systems education and the “certificate” to which he refers is the Certificate of Mastery (or Initial Mastery), also called the CIM.

Lamar Alexander, US Secretary of Education in 1991, endorsed Finn's book, stating,

“This book saved me six months. It explains the educational successes and - more to the point - the failures of the 1980s and frames the 90s debate better than anything else I have seen. ...”

It was in 1991, under President George W Bush, Sr, that America 2000, the precursor to Goals 2000, came into being and the New American Schools Development Corporation was established. The abstract to an article published in U.S. News and World Report in 1991, stated,

“The Bush Administration's true educational philosopher is Chester Finn, Jr., a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University. Finn is the chief architect of Bush's plan to fix the nation's schools.”

William Bennett also endorsed Finn's book, stating,

“Chester Finn gives us a war plan for the educational battles of the nineties. The issues he discusses - and the common sense answers he proposes - will set the terms of the education debate for years to come.”

In 1982, Finn wrote,

“Some to be sure, like to think they can have it both ways; i.e., can obtain aid without saddling themselves with unacceptable forms of regulation. But most acknowledge the general applicability of the old adage that he who pays the piper calls the tune, and are more or less resigned to amalgamating or choosing between assistance and autonomy.”

GLADYS: DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE BEING EXPECTED TO DO THEIR BEST? AGAIN, YOU ARE QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT AND WITH A SPIN. HAVING HEARD DR. BENNETT SPEAK ON SIMILAR ISSUES MANY TIMES I THINK I AM INTERPRETING THIS MUCH DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE. I INTERPRET IT TO MEAN THAT, UNLIKE MY DAUGHTER'S PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPERIENCE, YOU DON'T GET A STAR ON YOUR PAPER TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD. YOU GET A STAR BECAUSE YOU WORKED YOUR HARDEST AND YOU EARNED IT. YOU DON'T GET TOLD YOUR FAILING WORK IS GOOD IN ORDER TO BUILD YOUR SELF-ESTEEM. YOU GET SELF-ESTEEM BY DOING GOOD WORK YOU CAN BE PROUD OF.

Dr Finn also sits on the board of K12®.

On the Education Advisory Committee at K12® is Michael Kirst of Stanford University. Kirst has an extensive background in systems education, including being on the Educational Advisory Panel of the New American Schools Development Corporation. In 1992, Michael Kirst also shows up as an “expert consultant” to the Governor's Council on Education Reform and Funding (GCERF) in Washington State along with Marc Tucker, the head of another NASDC design team, the National Alliance for Restructuring Education (NARE) which later became America's Choice® and which also promotes and makes its money implementing systems education.

In Senior Management at K12® is Dr Thomas Boysen, senior vice president of the Miliken Family Foundation. Boysen served as the commissioner of education in Kentucky, bringing the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) to that state. As an outcome-based system, KERA was held up as the model for all states to copy until it became obvious that it was an abysmal failure, at which point it slid into obscurity. Dr Boysen has been involved in education reform (systems education) all over the United States.

Then there is Lowell Miliken who comes to K12® as the president of the Miliken Family Foundation, a foundation which promotes systems education nation-wide and with which Bennett associates.

There is yet more.

In exploring the K12® website, no mention is made of the FTE (full time equivalent) money Bennett receives from the states where K12® Virtual Academies have been established. While it is stated that the Virtual Academy is “tuition free,” that term is not defined. No reference is made to the fact that “tuition free” means the student is considered a public school student subject to the control of the government education system. “Tuition free” is nebulous, misleading, open to interpretation, while its unspoken definition is not.

GLADYS: IT IS MADE VERY CLEAR TO ALL PARENTS ENROLLING CHILDREN IN THE VIRTUAL ACADEMIES WHICH USE THE K12 CURRICULUM THAT THEY ARE PIONEERS IN A NEW FORM OF PUBLIC SCHOOL. PERHAPS YOU DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANT BUT, WE ALL KNEW OUR TAX DOLLARS WERE FINALLY GOING TO PROVIDE A QUALITY EDUCATION FOR OUR CHILDREN.

FURTHER, YOU NEED TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN K12 AND THE VIRTUAL ACADEMIES. JUST AS MANY PEOPLE ENROLL IN A BEKA VIRTUAL ACADEMY OR BOB JONES SATELLITE SCHOOL, K12 IS A CURRICULUM, NOT A SCHOOL. THE CYBERCHARTERS YOU SEEM TO BE TAKING ISSUE WITH ARE THOSE THAT HAVE CHOSEN TO USE THE K12 CURRICULUM. THERE ARE MANY OTHER CYBERCHARTERS OUT THERE USING ALL KINDS OF CURRICULUM FROM CALVERT TO THEMATIC UNITS TO AN ECLECTIC GROUP OF MATERIALS. WHY ARE YOU NOT ADDRESSING THEM? WHY ARE YOU JUST AFTER K12?

It is obvious, in looking through the K12® website, that the Virtual Academy is the priority of K12®.

GLADYS: NO! THE STUDENTS WHO USE THE CURRICULUM AND PROVIDING THEM WITH A QUALITY EDUCATION THAT WILL SERVE THEM WELL IN LIFE IS THE PRIORITY OF K12. PARENTS HAVE THE OPTION OF PURCHASING THE CURRICULUM AND USING IT AS HOMESCHOOLERS OR OF ENROLLING IN ONE OF THE VIRTUAL ACADEMIES. THAT IS VERY CLEAR ON THE WEBSITE.

At the same time, the Virtual Academy home page makes no direct reference to being connected to the government education system, instead stating,

“K12® Virtual Academies combine the best elements of homeschooling - flexibility and individual instruction - with the support and accountability of a public or private school.”

This statement gives the impression, but does not state outright, that the Virtual Academy is tantamount to homeschooling. It is not. The statement is misleading.

GLADYS: THE STATEMENT IS NOT THE LEAST BIT MISLEADING. AS A K12 USER FOR TWO YEARS, I CAN TELL YOU THAT NO MORE ACCURATE STATEMENT HAS EVERY BEEN WRITTEN. AT NO POINT DOES IT IMPLY THAT IT IS A HOMESCHOOL IN ANY SENSE, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE. IT STATES VERY CLEARLY THAT IT IS A HYBRID OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND HOMESCHOOLING AND OFFERS PARENTS AND CHILDREN THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.

As stated in Homeschools, Private Schools and Systems Education, in the arena of systems education, all really does mean all and the system must, by its very construct, include all.

It is interesting to note that the homeschool page on K12® requires the homeschooler wishing to use the K12® curriculum to “enroll.” While most homeschool curriculum companies simply set up an account for anyone wishing to order and use the curriculum offered by the company, at K12® the homeschooler must “enroll” in order to purchase curriculum. “Enroll” means to sign on or join. What is the homeschooler joining in purchasing the K12® homeschool curriculum? As with other nebulous terms used on the K12® website, this term is not defined.

K12® gives the impression that it is about homeschooling without stating such outright, using the term homeschool to refer to a school in the home but under the control of the government. Such takes a term that has traditionally meant a school in the home independent of government control and changed it to mean just the opposite. Such changing of the meaning is, of course, beneficial to systems education, just as the changing of the meaning of academic to mean process benefits systems education while giving parents the impression it retains its traditional meaning.

GLADYS: ONCE AGAIN, YOU ARE SPINNING SO FAST MY VISION IS BLURRING. I'VE “ENROLLED” ON MANY WEBSTITES. IT GENERALLY MEANS I'M GIVING THEM THE RIGHT TO SEND ME INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT OR PROGRAM. IN THIS 21ST CENTURY CYBER SPACE WORLD LANGUAGE TAKES ON DIFFERENT TWISTS. YOU HAVE TO KEEP UP! ;O) ALSO, AT NO TIME WAS I EVER UNDER ANY IMPRESSION THAT I WOULD STILL BE A “TRADITIONAL HOMESCHOOLER” AND K12 MISLEADS NO ONE INTO THINKING SO. BUT, THEN AGAIN, I HAVE ABOVE AVERAGE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS SO I CAN'T EXPECT EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND THAT. ;O) LOL

Note: If Gladys has above average reading comprehension skills, why is it that Gladys can't understand what is, to most others, quite plain?

But parents, educating their children at home, like the K12® curriculum. Whether parents like the K12® curriculum is not the issue. The issue is the manner in which K12® is presented and that K12® is a buy-in to systems education. The way K12® is presented is misleading. The nebulous terms used mean one thing to parents but actually mean something entirely different in the context of the systems education process supported by Bennett and those involved in his company, K12. Parents are allowed to assume the terms mean what they believe they do. Some parents don't care that being involved with the K12® Virtual Academy keeps them under the control of the government, or that being part of the K12® Virtual Academy cedes to the government the right to interfere in the education of the child in the home.

GLADYS: I AM, AS PREVIOUSLY STATED, A RESIDENT OF PA WHICH, NEXT TO MASSACHUSETTS HAS ONE OF THE MOST RESTRICTIVE HOMESCHOOL LAWS IN THE COUNTRY. I HAVE FOUND LESS GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN MY LIFE AS A PAVCS PARENT THAN I EVER HAD AS A HOMESCHOOLER. I KNOW THAT MAY NOT BE TRUE IN ALL STATES BUT IN THIS COMMONWEALTH I WAS REQUIRED FOR EACH CHILD TO SUBMIT AN “AFFIDAVIT FOR HOMESCHOOLING”, COPY OF MY HIGHSCHOOL DIPLOMA AND/OR TEACHING CERTIFICATE, OUTLINE OF MY ANNUAL CURRICULAR GOALS FOR EACH CHILD, MAINTAIN A CONTEMPORANEOUS LOG DOCUMENTING 900 HOURS OR 180 DAYS AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL OR 990 HOURS AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL, SUBMIT TO STANDARDIZED TESTING, HAVE AN ANNUAL EVALUATION BY A STATE CERTIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT APPROVED TEACHER, AND SUBMIT AN ANNUAL PORTFOLIO OF EACH CHILD'S WORK. TRUST ME. PAVCS AND K12 DON'T EVEN COME CLOSE ON THE LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE TO THE PA HOMESCHOOL LAW.

Note: What was that Gladys said about above average ready comprehension skills? What has her response got to do with what I wrote? And, pray tell, if, as Gladys contends, K12 is open and above board in stating that the virtual academy is a public school, why is she trying to claim it is a better way to homeschool? Further, why can't she understand that K12, in taking state/federal money, is but an agent of the state?

But some parents do care. And they care about the changing of the meaning of “homeschool” as used by K12®. Considering that systems education must include all, it is neither paranoid nor irrational for homeschoolers wishing to maintain their autonomy to guard carefully the meaning of the word “homeschool.”

GLADYS: ONCE AGAIN, IN MY OPINION, BASED ON TWO YEARS EXPERIENCE WITH K12 THROUGH PAVCS, K12 MISLEADS NO ONE. YOU CHOOSE TO PRESENT IT THAT WAY BECAUSE IT FURTHERS YOUR EXTREME AGENDA.

YOU ARE RIGHT. SOME PARENTS DO CARE. THEY CARE ABOUT MAINTAINING FREEDOM OF EDUCATIONAL CHOICE FOR EVERYONE. THEY CARE ABOUT GETTING/PROVIDING THE BEST POSSIBLE EDUCATIONAL CHOICE THEY CAN FOR THEIR CHILD. YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT RIGHT AWAY FROM THEM BY SHUTTING DOWN THE CYBERCHARTERS THAT HAVE BEEN SUCH A BLESSING TO SO MANY OF US. YOU CHOOSE TO PORTRAY US AS NAIVE INNOCENTS WHO ARE BEING SUCKED IN BY THE EVIL DR. BENNETT. IT WOULD BE FUNNY IF IT WASN'T SO OFFENSIVE.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIE LINES IN RECENT YEARS IS FROM THE PATRIOT “WHY SHOULD I TRADE ONE TYRANT 3,000 MILES AWAY FOR 3,000 TYRANTS ONE MILE AWAY?” I FEEL THAT YOUR STRONG OPINIONS THAT DO NOT BEAR OUT WHAT THOSE OF US WHO HAVE USED THE K12 CURRICULUM HAVE FOUND TO BE THE TRUTH MAKES YOU ONE OF THOSE TYRANTS 1 MILE AWAY BECASUE YOU WANT TO TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOM OF CHOICE. I GUARANTEE YOU THAT WE WON'T LET YOU DO THAT. FREEDOM IS TOO PRECIOUS TO US. MY SON-IN-LAW, A HOMESCHOOLED STUDENT, IS A PROUD MEMBER OF THE USMC. HE IS FIGHTING FOR MY FREEDOMS AND THOSE OF OTHERS AROUND THE WORLD. I WILL NOT LET ANYONE MAKE HIS SACRIFICES BE FOR NOTHING. I HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE A CHOICE FOR MY CHILDREN. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO MAKE YOUR CHOICE. WITH CHOICE COMES RESPONSIBILITY. I HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO STAY OUT OF YOUR LIFE, TO TRUST YOU TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES FOR YOUR CHILD, AND TO NOT CRITICIZE THE CHOICES YOU MAKE. YOU HAVE THE SAME OBLIGATION AND SPINNING K12'S PRESENTATION TO MEET YOUR AGENDA AND FEARS IS NOT BEING RESPONSIBLE IN THE LEAST. YOU ARE TRYING TO CONTROL PEOPLE'S CHOICES THROUGH FEARS THAT ARE NOT REMOTELY BASED IN FACT BUT, ARE BASED ON YOUR SPIN OF THE FACTS TO SOUND LIKE WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO SOUND LIKE. SHAME ON YOU.

BTW, I NOTICED THAT IN MY FIRST CORRESPONDENCE WITH YOU, YOU REFERRED TO YOURSELF AS AN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER. YOU NEVER RESPONDED TO MY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR QUALIFICATIONS TO CALL YOURSELF ONE. TO PARAPHRASE YOU, I CAN CALL MYSELF A DUCK, BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME ONE!

GLADYS STEFANY
MILFORD, PA

Note: Remember Gladys' claim that she was going to refute what I wrote fact by fact, line by line? What Gladys refuses to recognize is that if K12 does not conform to the mandates of the government concerning systems education, K12 will not get the government money. This means if K12 were not meeting those mandates, the government would be after K12 to get any money paid to K12 back. He who pays the piper calls the tune and the government is calling the tune with K12 for all Gladys' attempt to deny and obfuscate.

Sources:

Finn, Jr, Chester E; NAASP Bulletin; "Public Service, Public Support, Public Accountability", p .69; March, 1982.

Finn, Jr, Chester E; We Must Take Charge; New York: The Free Press; 1991.

Governor's Council on Education Reform and Funding; Putting Children First; Washington State; 1992.

New American Schools Development Corporation; Designs for A New Generation of American Schools; Request for Proposals; Arlington, VA; October 1991.

Toch, Thomas; "The Wizard of Education"; U.S. News and World Report; July 15, 1991; p. 46.

© 2003 Lynn M. Stuter - All Rights Reserved

Mother and wife, Stuter has spent the past ten years researching systems theory with a particular emphasis on education. She home schooled two daughters, now grown and on their own. She has worked with legislators, both state and federal, on issues pertaining to systems governance and education reform. She networks nationwide with other researchers and citizens concerned with the transformation of our nation. She has traveled the United States and lived overseas. Web site: www.learn-usa.com E-Mail: lmstuter@learn-usa.com

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