Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

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The Noxious Nineties : c. 1994

high academic standards and by blending academics with new vocational paths that lead to further studies and good jobs. Because of the state plan’s scope and high standards, the American Legislative Ex change Council last month chose Oregon as one of eight states to receive its A+ award in education. Replacing the Diploma Oregon’s reform plan will require students to earn two certificates of mastery to grad uate—one at about the end of their sophomore year and the second about two years later. This year’s eighth-graders will be the first class to earn certificates instead of diplomas. Reformers say the distinction is central to the changes education faces: diplomas are based on course credits or the time students put in. But certificates, they say, are based on standards or what students know and can do. Another article in the same September 8, 1994 issue of The Oregonian was entitled “Model Program Links Classroom to Workplace.” This article by Courtenay Thompson deals with a pilot project to implement school-to-work requirements of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century . The following are excerpts from that article: In the blood splatters of murder victims, David Douglas High School senior Chrissy Ballantine is learning about both forensics and her future. A student in the school’s innovative Law Network course, the 17-year-old is exploring careers by learning to interpret blood splatters with the help of a Multnomah County forensic specialist. Last year, she also analyzed the book Lust Killer , a true-crime novel by Ann Rule about Jerome Brudos, an Oregon serial killer. Not standard classroom fare, but Ballantine raves about the two-year course, a pilot program to implement school-to-work requirements of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century.... “We were doing an excellent job of providing a well-rounded college prep education,” said Anthony Palermini, David Douglas superintendent. “But it wasn’t relevant to 25 to 30 percent of our students.” As a result, the district began developing what it calls Project Stars—”Students Taking Authentic Routes to Success”—in which students select one of six general career areas, or “constellations,” to concentrate their electives. Students will work toward certificates of ad vanced mastery, a key measure of academic success under state-mandated school reform.... The career focus would start in the seventh grade, when students would take a career-orien tation class. Students would select their constellation by the time they hit high school. [Ed. Note: The fact that Oregon’s school-to-work reform plan received the American Legis lative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) highest educational award should come as a surprise since ALEC is an association created by “conservatives” (Paul Weyrich) in 1981 as a counterpart to the liberal, Rockefeller-spawned ACIR (Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations); both organizations draft “model” legislation for use by state and federal legislators.] O N N OVEMBER 2, 1994 E DUCATION W EEK PUBLISHED AN EDITORIAL LETTER BY THIS WRITER entitled “Viewing Reform Partnerships as Big Brother’s Intrusion.” A portion of the letter follows: Don Davies (“Partnerships for Reform,” Commentary , October 12, 1994) just doesn’t get the message: Smart Americans don’t like partnerships with the government; and if public schools aren’t “government,” what are they?