Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

380 members of the community with outcomes are also useful indicators of the quality of edu cation. Excellence is not confined to achieving outstanding academic results or promoting the self-esteem of students. For instance, some schools might achieve excellence by developing the potential of low achievers and producing value-added results. In order to build a quality culture in schools, a number of measures must be taken. They include: • translating the goals into achievable, observable and measurable quality indica tors; • having a school funding system which is efficient and equitable, which meets basic needs and which is related to performance; • providing incentives to recognize and encourage initiatives and the pursuit of excel lence. Output Indicators Output indicators may start with value-added performance in three areas; academic achieve ment; students’ self-esteem; and perception of the school teachers, parents and students. As a start, these three types of output indicators may be developed first, followed by the development of indicators in other domains such as the students’ ability for self-learning, social and communicative skills, moral attitudes and civic-mindedness. In order to encourage continuous improvement, the sooner the various indicators are developed, the better…. Value-Added Concept of Output Indicators We suggest that in assessing the performance of a school, it would be more appropriate and fairer to bring in the concept of value-added achievement rather than simply looking at absolute performance. Value-added performance can be assessed in a number of areas. For example, it would not be appropriate to compare the academic performance of different schools if they admit students coming from different backgrounds. The value-added concept allows comparison of students as they enter a school and as they leave. The same concept can be applied across the output indicators. The focus will be on a student’s progress over the years. (Information used in this series has been derived from the publication, Education Com mission Report No. 7—Quality School Education , prepared by the Hong Kong Task Group on School Quality and School Funding and the Hong Kong Education Commission, chaired by Professor Rosie Young, November, 1996.) [Ed. Note: Anyone the slightest bit familiar with educational restructuring, Goals 2000 , or school-to-work programs will understand from the above excerpts, the extent of the interna tionalization of education and the duplicity of those—including the media—who deny that restructuring is international. Rudyard Kipling’s “East is East and West is West” has been suc cessfully repudiated by those involved in training the global workforce. A more appropriate Kipling quote might be one from London Truth , reprinted in the Middlebury, Vermont Register of March 1899, which follows: “Pile on your brown {white, black, red, pink, yellow} man’s burden to satisfy your greed.”] Aims To prepare students to become responsible citizens and maintain high moral standards....