Remember
the frog that landed in a pan of water and stayed until it boiled?
Had the pan been hot, the frog would have noticed and hopped out. But the water
felt cool at first, and the frog sensed no danger. It simply relaxed and conformed to
the gradual change. Subdued by the rising
heat, it grew too sluggish to act. By the
time the water boiled, the frog was dead.
I
know that carefree feeling. When my oldest son entered the system over two decades
ago, our local elementary school seemed safe and friendly.
A fatherly principal welcomed him, and friendly teachers used the same old
teaching techniques that taught me to read and multiply long ago: phonics, drills,
memorization.... How could I suspect that
these proven teaching methods would be
replaced by classroom experiments using children as guinea pigs for social
engineering? I had no way of knowing that truth, facts, logic and history would soon
be replaced by an unrelenting emphasis on myths, feelings, imagination and politically
correct stories. I saw no reason to believe that our values would soon be ridiculed,
redefined, and subjected to unthinkable tests.
If
someone had told me that globalist educators were determined to mold our children into
a compliant workforce for a New World Order by year 2000, I wouldn't have believed
them. If a friend had warned me that
political leaders would use our schools to transform the world into a "global
village" held together with the cords of pantheistic oneness and a computerized
surveillance system, I might have laughed. How
could our elected representatives agree to something so outlandish? That could never
happen in America. This was the land of the free!
After all, we have our Constitution. No
one can take our rights--or our children--from us!
Ten
years later my third son started school. By that time, I had read enough textbooks and
talked with enough teachers and parents to know that our schools were changing. The
more I researched, the more alarmed I became. The foundational goals of education had
turned upside-down not only in my community, but across the country and around the
world. Socialization--the
"right" attitudes, beliefs, and behavior--had replaced academics as the main
outcome of education. In spite of the
nice-sounding promises, individualism was out;
group thinking and universal values were in.
The minds of children were being molded through the latest techniques in
behavioral psychology.
If
this monstrous system is put in place by AD 2001 as planned, all children will be
monitored through a national computerized data transmission system designed to build a
permanent, personal file on every child. No one will be safe from the watchful eyes
and controlling arms of the new system -- not children taught at home or in private
schools, not their parents, not anyone.
This
transformation transcends political as well as national lines. The main body of
President Clinton's massive education law, Goals 2000, was first drafted by
Education
Secretary Lamar Alexander during the Bush Administration and introduced to the public
in 1991 as America 2000. The
two, Goals 2000 and America 2000, are essentially the same
"outcome-based" system. Today, many of its functions and proposals have been
transferred into private, non-governmental groups or merged with the Department of
Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. This makes sense, since the
strategies for molding the global workforce stress mental and emotional
"health", not factual learning.
It
is impossible to summarize the worldwide educational agenda in a few pages. You
wouldn't believe me. That is why I wrote
this book. But before you start reading
it, let me give you some helpful suggestions:
First,
preview the Chronology of Events in the back of the book. It will clarify
the globalist agenda and show the steps that brought us to the dawning of an
international education system.
Second,
scan the Glossary.
It defines and explains new words and concepts that are part of educational
restructuring. These words will be
highlighted when you first meet them in the chapters of the book.
Their true meanings may surprise you.
Third,
look for answers to the questions below. Those answers will help you
respond wisely to people who, like the proverbial frog, have become so accustomed to
the changes that they fail to see the danger signs. They may ask you--
-
What
can be wrong with global oneness?
-
Don't
we need international education?
-
Won't
multicultural education build understanding and tolerance?
-
Why
do Higher Order Thinking Skills do the opposite of what they promise?
-
Teaching
environmental consciousness and political activism is essential to creating a
better world, isn't it?
-
Why
shouldn't the whole community be partners with parents in raising children for the
21st Century?
Fourth,
don't blame the local teachers (actually, many were retired
early and replaced by young teacher trained for transformation). They are caught up in a movement they can't
stop. Because their intentions are usually good, they often feel confused or angry
when confronted by parents who question their efforts.
They simply don't understand how lessons that seem so good to them could seem
so bad to others. As you read, look for
practical tools to help them see the difference.
If
you are a Christian teacher being pressured to cooperate with the new system, the
facts in this book may discourage as well as encourage you.
Know that when God puts His people in the heat of the battle, He also promises
to meet all their needs.
Armed with truth, faith, and the essential facts, you will be ready for your
local battle.
Fifth,
be alert to the difference between well-meaning local educators and the educational
establishment (national and international) who have planned the transformation.
The latter call themselves "change agents" and are training an army of
like-minded revolutionaries for our local schools.
"We
need change agents in charge of those
schools, not preservers of entrenched interests and encrusted practices,"
wrote Chester Finn, Director of the Educational Excellence Network, who helped former
President Bush and Lamar Alexander promote America 2000.
These
change agent are trained to twist the rules to win public support. As North Carolina
school superintendent Dr. Jim Causby said in his 1994 speech at the Second
Annual Model Schools Conference
in Atlanta,
"We
have actually been given a course in how not
to tell the truth. How many of you
are administrators? You've had that course in public relations where you learn
to put the best spin on things."
To
stay ahead of critics, leading educators keep changing the labels. Thus, what many
know as OBE or Outcome-Based Education is
also called Quality Learning, Total Quality School Restructuring, Performance- or
Achievement-based Education.... It doesn't
matter. Whatever the label, it refers primarily to the national/international system
that demands specific "outcomes" from students and uses the psychological
strategies of Mastery Learning to achieve the planned result.
John R. Champlin, a leading change agent, summarized the deceptive plan in the Journal
of Quality Education,
"While
OBE has become a "tainted" term... many of the significant practices and
concepts will continue under another label,
one that will not take away even a particle of what a well-conceived, well-managed OBE
program offers... We need to learn our lessons well -- for keeps this time."
To
sell OBE or to the public, change agents promote it as "local control" and
"decentralization." They are not telling you the truth. As you will see in
Chapter 7, what students must learn at the
local level will be determined at the national level.
The
chart below shows how educators "put the best spin" on their deceptive
plans. Ponder the three sets of meanings.
They expose the heart of the transformation.
|
|
traditional
or assumed meaning
|
misleading
or stated meaning
|
Real
meaning behind
the
misleading
promises
|
|
World
Class Standards
|
New
standards needed for global challenges.
|
"High
standards" needed for the 21st Century global economy
|
Low
standards for literacy, comprehension and factual knowledge. "High
standards" for the beliefs, attitudes, and group thinking needed to
prepare human capital for the 21st
Century.
|
|
Mastery
Learning
(ML)
|
Students
must master key subjects, i.e., learn the content.
|
Given
enough time, all students can learn--and achieve the "same high
level."
|
Psychological
strategies for conditioning students to new beliefs, values, and ways of
thinking. Failure to meet attitudinal, not factual, standards means drilling
until students demonstrate the "right" responses.
|
|
Outcome-Based
Education
(OBE)
|
Educating
students according to planned results
|
A
systemic plan to prepare all
students to meet high standards.
|
The
national delivery system for Mastery
Learning. A multi-level process for setting educational standards at the
national level and making sure local schools prepare students individually to
meet affective standards.
|
|
Multcultural
Education
|
Learning
about other cultures
|
Learning
to respect and understand all cultures
and lifestyles
|
"Becoming"
a multicultural person, open to the pluralistic beliefs and lifestyles of all
except those who cling to Judeo-Christian values.
|
|
|
Local
control
|
Elected
school boards represent local parents.
|
Local
schools choose and manage their own learning programs.
|
The
lowest level of a new centralized bureaucracy. A selected panel of supportive
citizens will make sure students learn what national standards and tests
require.
|
|
Finally,
don't forget that Our God still reigns.
He has the world in His hands, and nothing can hinder His eternal purpose or
timetable. When you trust and follow Him,
you can be confident that "your Lord who goes before you will Himself fight on
your behalf."
Next:
Chapter
1- New Beliefs for a Global Village
2
Corinthians 12:9-10; Philippians 3:13, 19; Deuteronomy 31:6.
Chester
Finn, Jr., "Reinventing Local Control," Education
Week (January 23, 1991); 32.
