Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

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The Noxious Nineties : c. 1991

so we can strengthen our position and that of our friends.” So reported a leader of a covert “new right” Dallas think tank at a recent White House Conference on Education. The pro-choice activists are vociferous proponents of tuition tax credits and the education voucher, and we wonder why they want to “improve the schools’ and parents’ attitudes” by confounding our intellectual inquiries with an emotional and il lusory word change. The Associated Press has reported that... President George Bush said, “Choice will be a critical element in education reform for years to come.” This recent upsurge in support of “choice” and the voucher program is nothing new and deserves closer scrutiny by parents and especially by private and home school patrons.... The Private School Trap— To parents who have been paying taxes to support government schools, it sounds wonderful to be able to choose the better school not necessarily in their neighborhood. To parents who have been paying taxes to government schools and paying the tuition costs to send their children to private schools, a tax break or a government-paid incentive would be a welcome relief from financial strain, seemingly encouraging a sort of free-market approach to edu cation. But stop and think: The state has its fangs into private and home schools now; what will it be like when schools are recipients of “choice” money? The truth of the matter is, once private education accepts tuition tax credits/vouchers it can no longer remain “private,” because through government regulations, it will be forced to become one and the same with its public counterpart. T HE U NITED S TATES C OALITION FOR E DUCATION FOR A LL (USCEFA)— AN OUTGROWTH OF World Conference on Education for All, Jomtien, Thailand—met October 30–November 1,1991 in Alexandria, Virginia. President Bush’s wife, Barbara, was named honorary chairperson. One of the keynote speakers at the event was Deputy Minister of Education Elena Lenskaya, Republic of Russia. 16 The purpose of this conference was to “involve the United States in reform of education/community renewal worldwide.” The same United Nations outcomes as those rec ommended at the Jomtien conference were adopted. According to “The Mission Statement”: USCEFA is comprised of a diverse group of international, domestic, governmental and non governmental groups, associations, and individual education, business, media and health leaders. The Coalition was created as an outgrowth of the World Conference on Education for All, where official delegations from 156 countries achieved a worldwide consensus to launch a renewed worldwide initiative to meet the basic learning needs of all children, youth and adults. 17 The Coalition is taking this worldwide consensus and bridging between the initiatives for reform in other countries and the goals for education reform in the United States. [This statement flies in the face of change agent assurances at the local and state level that goals are locally developed, ed.] It strongly believes that the improvement of education is essential for improving the quality of life for the world’s people and for sustainable economic development; and for these reasons, this organization is committed to improving the state of basic education in the United States and developing countries by creating new partnerships for educational reform.… Through seminars, publications, media events, conferences, networking and the dis semination of information, the U.S. Coalition for Education for All is working to meet the goals set by the World Conference on Education for All. Members of the Board of Directors