Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

256 [Ed. Note: If the statement “the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) says it hopes to dispel the myth that ‘any modestly educated person with some instinct for nurturing has the requisite qualifications to teach’” is true, then a high percentage of very successful homeschooling mothers will be expected to close shop—even though their children are outperforming public education students, receiving scholarships, and being accepted in the nation’s top universities and colleges! As for the NBPTS wanting to “influence the quality of the enormous influx of new teachers needed during the 1990s” the reader should refer to the 1993 entry which provides the U.S. Department of Education’s new definition of “quality.”] A N ARTICLE ENTITLED “T HE D ECADE OF THE N INETIES ” BY D ONALD T HOMAS , EXECUTIVE director, Network for Effective Schools , was published in The Effective School Report for August 1989. Under the subtitle “Educational Implications” Thomas says: Operate schools on a year-round basis; train citizens and students in skills and processes of effective participation in government; develop public policy toward private education.... Desirable future conditions: The economy will be more of an equilibrium economy with less dependence upon money, and more dependence upon the production and exchange of goods and services. There will be an increased movement toward cooperation and responsi bility for the well-being of others. The civil rights of all individuals will be respected and taught in homes and schools; a value system will emerge that will give basic human val ues—i.e., liberal arts, caring for others, etc.—their proper place. There will be fewer single family dwellings. Industry will take more responsibility for education, particularly for job training.... …[D]evelop curricula to involve students in anticipating and planning how to welcome newcomers; use community education to help citizens anticipate and prepare for newcomers; design and implement statewide parent education and education for responsible parenthood; institute widespread, effective public education programs on family life; ensure that human caring will become the focus of curriculum at all levels; develop courses in futuring with future centers in high schools; involve schools with water commissions, air quality commis sions, city councils, county commissions, legislatures and governmental agencies, focusing on economics, ecology, environment and culture as an integral part of the learning; teach and practice a win-win philosophy in schools [Deming’s TQM] in the place of the present win-lose philosophy.... CITIZENSHIP Necessary Quality: Protecting each other from distractive forces.... These are qualities that can best be learned through practice and experience. Our schools must, therefore, give young people the opportunities for service to others, practice in public service, and adherence to personal responsibilities. The basic values of a good and free nation can be learned by young people when appropriate conditions exist as schools form partnerships with community agencies for public service projects to be a part of schooling; rewards are provided for en couraging young people to perform community service; community service is recognized as a necessary learning option.... The year 2000 is very near. The sooner we begin the task of improving student achieve ment and citizenship, the sooner we will achieve the national objective for adequately preparing our young people to live in the 21st century; to be broadly literate in a world community; to be highly skilled in an ever-changing work environment; to be human in a society of individuals striving for personal satisfaction and security. To achieve this goal we will need to think differently about schools, about children and about education. We, as a