When you think ahead to your child(ren) graduating from high school, you think of the school giving them a broad base of knowledge. Knowledge based on reading, writing, history, science, math, and the arts.

All this may be taking an abrupt turn, as School-to-Work is implemented throughout the United States, including your local school district.

Sure, they will most likely continue to teach the above, but many people feel it will be to a lesser degree; instead including and focusing on skills needed to be successful in the workplace.

One of the big players in the School-to-Work movement is the National Center on Education and the Economy and Marc Tucker.

For those of you who have a hard time believing the NCEE and Tucker are pushing School-to-Work with the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, and Bill and Hillary Clinton read the following in NCEE's own Words:

"The National Center on Education and the Economy has a long history of policy development, research and implementation in education reform and human resources development. Our agenda is captured in the work of the National Center's three programs: The National Alliance of Restructuring Education, New Standards and the Workforce Skills Program. The National Alliance is committed to redesigning the American school system so that all children can meet high standards; New Standards is developing a set of high academic and work readiness standards and an assessment system that will measure whether or not our young people have met those standards; and Workforce Skills Program is building state-of-the-art education, employment and training systems in both policy and practice across the country.

Accomplishments and Achievements:

• Established the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce and the ground-breaking report, America's Choice; High Skills or Low Wages.
• Established and developed the Certificate of Initial Mastery.
• Developed and implemented a new series of Applied Learning Standards.
• Implemented a national education and school-to-work reform effort involving three states and eight school districts.
• Established the New Standards development project with nineteen states.
• Established the High Skills State Consortium with eleven states dedicated to implement all of the major recommendations in America's Choice.
• Assisted DOL and DOE with the formation and day-to-day operation of the National Skills Board.
• Assisted DOL and DOE with the national school-to-work legislation and Goals 2000. Assisted seven states with their successful STW implementation grants with the DOL and DOE.
• Implemented a series of successful state and regional training programs on implementing a new STW system that includes economic development and workforce preparation strategies.

With organizations like NCEE and people like Tucker, Clinton, along with federal school-to-work laws and acts(federal funding attached), and control by governors of states; is there really true local control of the School-to-Work programs?

Under School-to-Work, various labor boards will be set up to determine what the employment needs of your area are. Attached to these needs will be the skills needed to succeed in those jobs. The boards will then work with local school districts and mold the curriculum to teach children the skills needed for the jobs in the local area. So, you can draw conclusions for yourself, that School-to-Work will water-down the typical education we want for our children.

The research director of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has provided the following description of "School-to-Work in 200 Words or Less." It is by an Oklahoma City technology consultant with 35 years experience in the computer and tech industry and a former Vice President of Engineering for Control Data Corp. and a former Corporate Chief Technical Officer for Seagate Tech.

SCHOOL-TO-WORK IN 200 WORDS OR LESS

• An eventually mandatory program for all school districts and all children (affecting public schools, private schools, and home schools).
• Government/bureaucracy-directed job planning, job training, skill certification and job placement.
• Mandatory career decision made for each child between the ages of 10 and 16, based on government counseling and skill evaluation, with college access determined by decision.
• Specific job-skill training (based on career decision) to replace traditional, basic education.
• A national computer database to collect each child's personal records, including information on such things as attained skill level, disabilities, minority status, socio-economic background, religious affiliation, community-group membership, and at-risk status.
• National skill standards set for all jobs by government bureaucrats.
• Government bureaucrats will steer children to career decisions where the government projects future job needs to be.
• Government job matching and placement. Government "skill certification" required before employment.
• Each change in job type will require re-entry into system for retraining and a new government skill certification before employment.
• Program is directed by federal and state government commissions and agencies; bypasses local school board and parental control.