Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

402 The report singled out Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology, an elite public high school in Fairfax County [Virginia], as proof that such an approach doesn’t have to sacrifice academics.

J UNE 19, 1998 THE E UROPEAN C OMMISSION D IRECTORATE G ENERAL FOR E DUCATION , T RAIN ing and Youth in Brussels, Belgium issued another call for proposals under the Leonardo da Vinci Programme Document “Cooperation in Higher Education and Vocational Education and Train ing between the European Community and the United States of America.” Excerpts from the Internet post follow: Over 17,600 young people are on placements in other European countries under the Leon ardo da Vinci programme.... The European Commission has granted assistance totalling ECU [European Community Unit] 29.7 million to 22 countries taking part in the Leonardo da Vinci vocational training programme in order to organise transnational placement and exchange programmes for young people and trainers throughout Europe. Over 17,600 young people undergoing initial training or in employment will carry out a period of training in a company or training establishment in another country participating in the programme, in order to gain experience and improve their employment prospects. The sectors of activity in which these young people and trainers will exercise their mobility are extremely varied and cover both industry (e.g., apprenticeships in electrical en gineering) and agriculture (e.g., training in aquaculture), as well as services (e.g., the hotel trade or catering). The aim of such placements is to acquire certified occupational experience and in the case of longer placements, to learn an additional skill. C ONTINUING HER EXCELLENT WORK AS “ WATCHDOG ” ON BEHALF OF O HIO TAXPAYERS , S TATE Board of Education member Diana Fessler—an articulate opponent of the school-to-work phi losophy—wrote a letter dated June 22, 1998 to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley and U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman in regard to her being barred from a meeting sponsored by the National School-to-Work Office of the U.S. Department of Education on June 14–18, 1998 in Cleveland, Ohio. Ms. Fessler’s letter is reproduced in its entirety in order to relay the complete details of her experience. I am a duly elected member of the Ohio State Board of Education (SBE) with approxi mately one million people residing in my district. Section 3301.07(C) of the Ohio Revised Code directs the SBE to administer and supervise the allocation and distribution of all state and federal funds for public education in Ohio. Accordingly, I have an obligation to be fully informed regarding education matters affecting my constituents. Seeking to stay abreast of School-to-Work (STW), I made arrangements to attend a meeting sponsored by the National School-to-Work Office (NSTWO) on June 14–18, 1998 in Cleveland, Ohio. Forty-three states and Puerto Rico were represented. I was formally intro duced and welcomed from the podium by Ohio’s STW director, and I attended the Sunday through Tuesday morning sessions without incident. On Tuesday afternoon, Ivan Charner of the Academy of Educational Development Dear Secretaries Riley and Herman: