Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

301 I am pleased to transmit herewith for your immediate consideration The National Youth Apprenticeship Act of 1992 .... This legislation would establish a national framework for im plementing comprehensive youth apprenticeship programs.... These programs would be a high-quality learning alternative for preparing young people to be valuable and productive members of the 21st century work force.... There is widespread agreement that the time has come to strengthen the connection between the academic subjects taught in our schools and the demands of the modern, high technology workplace.... Under my proposal, a student could enter a youth apprenticeship program in the 11th or 12th grade. Before reaching these grades, students would receive career and academic guidance to prepare them for entry into youth apprenticeship programs.... A youth apprentice would receive academic instruction, job training and work experience.... Standards of academic achievement, consistent with voluntary national standards, will apply to all academic instruction, including the required instruction in the core subjects of English, mathematics, science, history, and geography. Students would be expected to demonstrate mastery of job skills.... My proposal provides for involvement at the Federal, State and local levels to ensure the success of the program. Enactment of my proposal will result in national standards ap plicable to all youth apprenticeship programs. Thus, upon the completion of the program, the youth will have a portable credential that will be recognized wherever the individual may go to seek employment or pursue further education and training.... I believe that the time has come for a national, comprehensive approach to work- based learning. The bill I am proposing would establish a formal process in which business, labor, and education would form partnerships to motivate the Nation’s young people to stay in school and become productive citizens.... I urge the Congress to give swift and favorable consideration to the National Youth Apprenticeship Act of 1992 . The Noxious Nineties : c. 1992 A N ARTICLE BY L AURA R OGERS ENTITLED “I N L OCO P ARENTIS , P ART II—T HE ‘P ARENTS AS Teach ers’ Program Lives On” was published in the September 1992 issue of Chronicles . 23 Ms. Rogers rendered all Americans a great service by providing a seminal work on this totalitarian program. Excerpts from her excellent article follow: For the uninitiated, the PAT [Parents as Teachers] program was begun in Missouri in 1981, ostensibly for the purpose of curbing the high dropout rate and winning back parental support for the public school system. In 1985 the state legislature mandated that the PAT program be offered to all schools and children in Missouri and since then the PAT program has been proposed in at least forty other states. Simply put, the program pivots on assigning to all parents and children a “certified parent educator.” This state employee evaluates the child (under the guise of educational screening), assigns the child a computer code classification, and initiates a computer file that the state will use to track the child for the rest of his or her life. All of the computer code designations label the child to some degree “at risk,” and there is no classification for “normal.” The state agent conducts periodic home and school visits to check on the child and the family, dispensing gratis such things as nutritional counsel ing, mental health services, and even food. Schools under the PAT program provide free day and overnight care. The “certified parent” might forbid the biological parents to spank their child, and might prescribe, if the child is deemed “unhappy,” psychological counseling or a drug such as Ritalin. If the parents refuse the recommended services or drugs, the state may remove the child from the home, place him in a residential treatment center, and force the parents to enroll in family counseling for an indefinite period.