The Education Revolution?

"Is there a revolution in education? You decide after hearing what "movers and shakers" have said over the past 30 years:

A. In "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook II: Affective Domain" written by Benjamin Bloom in 1964 (a textbook in teacher education courses), he says, "a large part of what we call 'good teaching' is the teacher's ability to attain affective objectives through challenging the students' fixed beliefs...A child is not truly using his higher order thinking skills until he no longer believes in absolutes of right and wrong."

B. In "Schools Without Failure" published in 1969, psychologist William Glasser says: "We have to let students know there are no right answers."

C. Dr. Chester M. Pierce, Professor of Education at Harvard, addressed the Association for Childhood Education International in April, 1972. He said, "Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward our founding fathers, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity...It's up to you teachers to make all of these sick children well by creating the international children of the future."

D. Psychologist Dr. Paul Brandwin states "any child who believes in God is mentally ill" (the Social Sciences, Teachers edition, levels 3 and 4 1970). At that time Brandwein was president of the "Center for the Study of Instruction at the University of Pittsburgh, and later became the director of research for Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich Publishers who in 1981 said Brandwien's "more than thirty books are in daily use in schools today."

E. In "The Saturday Review of Education," (2/73), Gloria Steinem declared: "By the year 2000 we will, I hope, raise our children to believe in human potential, not God." NEA president Catherine Barrett wrote in the same issue: "Dramatic changes in the way we will raise our children in the year 2000 are indicated, particularly in terms of schooling...We will need torecognize that the so-called basic skills, which currently represent nearly the total effort in elementary schools, will be taught in one-quarter of the present school day...When this happens- and it's near- the teacher can rise to his true calling. More than a dispenser of information, the teacher will be a conveyor of values...We will be agents of change."

F. In Sept. 1976, Phi Delta Kappan printed "America's Next 25 Years: Some Implications for Education," by Harold Shane, Project Director for the NEA Bicentennial Committee. Shane said: "Rather than adding my voice to those who urge us to go 'back to basics' I would argue that we need to move ahead to the new basics...the arts of compromise and reconciliation, of consensus building, and of planning for interdependence, a command of these talents becomes 'basic'...As young people mature, we must help them develop...the global servant concept in which we will educate our young for planetary service and eventually for some form of world citizenship."

G. In the January/February, 1983, issue of "The Humanist," John Dunphy proclaimed in an award winning essay: "The battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom...between the rotting corpse of Christianity...and the new faith of humanism. Humanism will emerge triumphant."

H. Dr. Sidney Simon, Lecturer, Educator who some say specializes in encouraging immoral and criminal activities in youths. He instructs teachers as follows: "We do not need any more preaching about right or wrong. The old "thou shall nots" simply are not relevant. Values clarification is a method for teachers to change the values of children without getting caught."

I. According to Thomas Sticht member of the SCANS committee (U.S.,.. Secretary labor initiated the Secretary's Commission of Achieving Necessary Skills) states "Many companies have moved operations to places with cheap, relatively poorly educated labor. What may be crucial, they say is dependability of a labor force and how well it can be managed and trained not its general educational level, although a small cadre of highly educated creative people are essential to innovation and growth."

J. In "America's Choice," written by Ira Magaziner and published by the National Center on Education and the Economy in 1990, he said, "More than 70 percent of the jobs in America will not require a college education by the year 2000."

K. Marc Tucker, the president of the National Center On Education And The Economy describes the master plan for America in a letter written to Hillary Clinton on November 11, 1992 shortly after Clinton won the elections, "to remold the entire American (Education) system " into "a seamless web that literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone," coordinated by "a system of labor market boards at the local, state and federal levels" where curriculum and "job matching" will be handled by counselors "accessing the integrated computer based program." "Radical changes in attitudes, values and beliefs are required to move any cominations of these agendas".........

L. Lamar Alexander (the U.S. Secretary of Education under President George Bush and a Republican presidential candidate this year) spoke at the Governor's Conference on Education in Wichita, Kansas, on November 2, 1989. At the conference, he said he envisions America will go through "its own perestroika and form a brand new American school that would be open year round from six a.m. to six p.m."

M. Dr. Shirley McCune spoke at the same Governor's Conference in 1989. She stated the following in her speech: "You cannot begin to think about restructuring of education without understanding that our total society is in a crisis of restructuring, and you can't get away from it. You can't...hide from that fact that what we are facing is a total restructuring of the society." She went on to say, "What the revolution has been in curriculum is that we no longer are teaching facts to children..."

N. On April 18, 1991, President George Bush stated in his "America 2000" proposal, "The architects of the New American School should break the mold. Build for the next century. Reinvent- literally start from scratch and reinvent the American school...There's a special place in inventing the New American School for the corporate community, for business and labor. And I invite you to work with us not simply to transform our schools, but to transform every American adult into a student...Our challenge amounts to nothing less than a revolution in American education."

O. In June, 1992, Chris Whittle (originator of "Channel One" used in many schools) was quoted in an editorial by Cal Thomas in the L.A. Times as saying, "America can have fifty thousand New Age elementary schools on line by the year 2000." Speaking to communications industry leaders in January, 1994, Vice President Al Gore said, "I challenge you...to connect all of ourclassrooms, all of our libraries, and all of our hospitals and clinics by the year 2000."

P. In the Milwaukee Journal 7/14/93 Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said, "Certification would be voluntary, but individuals who failed to take or pass the tests could find it hard, perhaps impossible to be hired for better paying jobs".

Major Educational Conferences and Summits in the '90's:

In March of 1990, delegates from more than 156 countries met in Thailand at the United Nations World Conference on Education for All to achieve a worldwide consensus on education. They produced 10 global educational goals. In July of 1990, the National Education Goals panel was formed in America to produce national education goals. President Bush selected Governor Bill Clinton to lead the panel.

In Bill Clinton's administration, the massive education bill Goals 2000 was passed by Congress March 31, 1994, making the goals law. The NY Times reported, "The nation will for the first time have a federal blueprint to educate its children." Goals 2000 has eight National Education Goals (based on the global goals), with a prescription for restructuring all public schools, whether they want it or not. In "Who Will Raise Our Children?" written by David J. Willmott, editor, in Suffolk Life Newspapers, September 13, 1995, he said: "'Goals 2000's' agenda is to create an environment for all American citizens from cradle to grave using the school system as a national nucleus to regiment people to have a predictable outcome...The educational system in America will be nationalized. The parents' role in their children's upbringing will be minimal...The entire concept was developed under President George Bush, who supported a one world concept, and it has been championed since the day after the election by Hillary Clinton. If you thought Hillary's national health care program was scary, or born out of secrecy, wait under you get a load of what is in store for your children under the guise of education. Is this your vision of America in the Year 2000? It is not ours..."