Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

G–22 with twenty member states and now has 171 members. In a brochure called “What is UNESCO?” we find: “UNESCO’s Constitution says that ‘since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.’ Building these defenses through international cooperation remains UNESCO’s top priority.” Universal Values. Honesty, integrity, tolerance, and other values believed to be common to all the people and the world’s cultures. This belief is counter to the facts of history. (See Core Values/Virtues ) U.S.-Soviet Education Agreements. President Eisenhower signed the first U.S.-Soviet Educa tion Agreement in 1958. It was just one of many agreements negotiated with the Soviets which dealt with space, medicine, culture, and other areas. The purpose of the education agreement was to initiate exchanges of teachers from both countries and to study one another’s curriculum and textbooks, but not to engage in the development of curriculum. In 1985 the Reagan Administration and the Carnegie Corporation departed from this less controversial agenda when they negotiated agreements with the Soviet Union which dealt not only with teacher and student exchanges but also with cooperation in curriculum development, including “joint research on the application of computers in early elementary education, focusing especially on the teaching of higher level skills and complex subjects to younger children.” This aspect paved the way for Russian teachers to visit and work in American schools including those specializing in school-to-work activities. (See 1991 articles “Cop Swap,” “Week in the Subway,” 1994 “School Exams… Russian Origin,” 1995 “Russian Teacher Review Works in SAD 53, Maine,” and Appendix XXIII) Values Clarification (VC). A strategy for changing a student’s values, usually, but not always, associated with the work of Sidney Simon. VC prods students to examine their own values in light of their upbringing and if they find that their values are a result of their parents’ direction, they are told that their values are not valid. In order for values to be valid they must be chosen freely by the student without any influence from church or family. The VC process usually takes place in the group with exercises and games which create depen dency amongst members of the group and which contribute to group consensus on what is right and wrong, based on situational ethics. (See Character Education , Citizenship Education , and Synthesis ) Vouchers. Vouchers and tuition tax credits are used by parents to pay for children’s education in private schools of their choice. A voucher is a direct method of payment to a private school of a certain amount of tax money provided by a public municipality, whereas a tuition tax credit is a form of delayed reimbursement by deduction of a certain portion of one’s taxes related to the cost of private school tuition. The dangers of such choice measures for parents are best expressed in the old adage “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” (See 1982 entry “Public Service, Public Support, Public Accountability” by Chester Finn, former Assistant Secretary, Office of Educational Research and Improvement [OERI], U.S. Department of Education, under Secretary William Bennett, and Choice ) Work-Based Learning. Programs designed to teach older students (grades 7 and up) work skills on the job site, thereby assuring that the student can perform the tasks needed by local employers when the student graduates from public school. (See 1976 May 21st article “Cuban Children Combine Studies, Work” from The Los Angeles Times )