Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

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The Noxious Nineties : c. 1999

the teams a pilot program for the entire nation, teaching residents throughout America how to reconnect with others to build a healthier community.

[Ed. Note: To further illustrate what the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services book Together We Can: A Guide for Crafting a Profamily System of Education and Human Services (Contract #RP912060001: PrismDAE, a division of DAE Cor poration: Chevy Chase, Maryland, 1993) outlined as a blueprint to follow for “local systems change,” the writer will offer some excerpts from this publication. Jointly signed by Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala, the foreword to this book reads: This book was developed jointly... to help communities improve coordination of education, health and human services for at-risk children and families. Together We Can: A Guide for Crafting a Profamily System of Education and Human Services reflects the work and expe rience of a study group of researchers and front-line administrators and practitioners working with promising programs that link education and human services. Together We Can leads the reader through a five-stage collaborative process with milestones and landmines portrayed through vignettes and case studies describing the personal experiences of the study group members. Together We Can is a practical guide that can assist local communites in the difficult process of creating a more responsive education and human service delivery system. The guidebook emphasizes the effective delivery of supports for families, a crucial step toward assuring the future success of America’s children. Recognizing that the current system of programs serving children is fragmented, confusing and inefficient, the guidebook advocates a radical change in the service delivery system. It encourages a holistic approach in treating the problems of children and families; easy access to comprehensive services; early detection of problems and preventive health care services; and flexibility for education, health and human services. We believe this guide is a practical tool for the many communities that are working to create more comprehensive, family-focused service delivery systems for children and their families. [Ed. Note: This is pure, unadulterated “communitarianism,” which is defined as: “communi tarian—a member or advocate of a communistic community” (p. 288) and “ism”—a doctrine, theory, system” (p. 474) in Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language (Wil liam Colliers—World Publishing Co., Inc.: New York, 1976.), the system we have been told is “dead.”] Across America, people are recognizing that all of the institutions and agencies whose mis sion is to nurture and strengthen children and families must collaborate.... The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services charged the School-Linked Integrated Services Study Group with capturing the ex periences of collaborative endeavors across the country and creating a guide for integrating services.... Basic to the guide is the concept of systems change [emphasis in original]. We define systems change as a revision of the ways that people and institutions think, behave, and use their resources.... The Study Group believes collaborative strategies [emphasis in original] are In the preface to Together We Can we find the following: