the blumenfeld education letter april_1994

8/7/2019 The Blumenfeld Education Letter April_1994

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Education Letter, Pg. 3, Apri11994

tion at the local, state and nationallevel, knowledge ofhow individuals can effect change through the politi-cal process.

Note that the emphasis is on effectingchange through the political process. Youcan be sure that the change OBE promotershave in mind is changing our political sys-tem to one that will fit into the New WorldOrder. Next is Capacity Four.

4. Knowledge of Self. Implies: Beliefin self, [an]education system that enables students to realizetheir potential, elimination of schools based on afactory production model, recognition of studentdiversity and productivity, focus on strategies topromote physical and mental well-being.

The idea that the traditional publicschool is based on the factory productionmodel of the Industrial Age is an importantpart of OBE's critique of traditional educa-tion. The aBE school, organized aroundoutcomes, is supposed to be much more intune with the Information Age. But withwhole language low-level literacy an inte-gral part of OBE, we find ithard to see howOBE is going to help students succeed in the"information" age. Also, when educatorsstart talking about a child's "mental well-being," watch out. That means the child willbe subject topsychological manipu1ation andtherapy. All of that malarkey about "beliefin self' has no business in the public schoolhouse. The school ought not be a psych lab,and teachers ought not be practicing psy-chiatry without a license. What does "beliefin self' mean other than having confidencein one's abilities? Itmeans being able to dothings right. Butifyou are not taught to readproperly, and you have little knowledge inyour brain, what kind of self-confidence willthat build? Next is Capacity Five.

5. Fine and Performing Arts for UnderstandingCultural and Historical Heritage. Implies: The arts

are an integral part of the core curriculum, the arts toinclude all forms of creative expression.

I thought I'd have no trouble with thatCapacity until Iwas given a little brochure inKentucky about a forthcoming performanceinLouisville ofThe Joffrey Ballet, dancing tomusic by Prince, entitled "Billboards." Thebrochure states:

When the daring Prince of rock meets the ambi-tious soul of The Joffrey Ballet, the result isan excitingperformance blending tradition with cutting-edgerock 'n' roll .... Prince has been called "a modemMozart and one of the most important figures in thehistory of music," and The [offrey Ballet has long beenconsidered one of the pre-erninent perfonning artsinstitutions in the United States.

Prince, "a modern Mozart and one ofthe most important figures in the history ofmusic"? Prince is better known for his nearpornographic performances than his resem-blance to Mozart. But, believe it or not, thebrochure explains to teachers how the per-formance meets the goals of Kentucky'sOutcome-Based Education curriculum:The cultural experience of seeing a world-re-

nowned ballet company meets several goals andlearner outcomes of the Kentucky Education ReformAct (KERA), and provides a positive educational ex-perience through the arts. The following are sugges-tions for making Bil lboards a part of your KERAactivities:Goal 1 Basic CommunicationLeamer Outcome 1.14- Construct meaning andemotions through music. Sample High School Activ-ity: By analyzing the music composed by Prince forthe production of Bil lboards , students will accomplishthis goal. ...Leamer Outcome 1.3 - Constructing meaningfrom messages communicated in a variety of ways.Sample Middle School Activity:

By attending Bil lboards , students will be ex-posed to the beauty, grace and communicative pow-ers of ballet. After watching the performance, stu-dents can be asked to describe the actions observedand the emotions displayed.

L-.. The Blumenfeld Education lLetter-Post Office Box45161-Boise, Idaho 83711---....J


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Education Letter, Pg. 4, April 1994

We have not seen The Joffrey Ballet norheard Prince's music but we suspect that thedancers' gyrations to Prince's rock in' rollbeat will communicate a somewhat steamymessage. Somehow this writer feels that ifstudents are to be taught to appreciate thearts that it is better to start with our classicalheritage of music- the real Mozart, not arock In' roll imitation - and classical ballet.The brochure further informs us that theperformance is:

Presented with the support of the Mary andBarry Bingham, Sr. Fund. Made possible in part byDance on Tour, a special initiative of the NationalEndowment for the Arts, in partnership with theSouthern Arts Federation and the Kentucky ArtsCouncil. The Joffrey Ballet's national tour is spon-sored by Philip Morris Companies Inc.

So you can't even trust the educators orthe government when it comes to the arts. Itwasn't always that way. When I was in thethird grade in public school in New YorkCity, we had music appreciation. Ourteacherset up a portable hand-cranked victrola on atable and played classical music selections.Although that took place sixty years ago, Istill remember most of the selections played.Which simply indicates how well a child canlearn and retain in memory what he or sheconsiders to be of great value. And I believethe third grade is where I acquired my tastefor classical music. My teacher had goodtaste. But can we say the same for OBEeducators? Here's the next Capacity:6. Demonstrated Student Competence at Gradu-ation. Implies: Competence in core curriculumlinkedto diploma, recognizes student differences, calls for

acquisition of life skills.That, of course, is pure OBE. The stu-dent cannot graduate until he or she candemonstrate, not by simple written test, butby a behavioral performance that he or she

has achieved the visionary higher-order exitoutcome. Ifyou have trouble understandingwhat that's all about, you're not alone. Mostteacherscan'tfigureitouteither. And that'swhy OBE is doomed to failure. Itmakes nosense. Here's Capacity Seven.

7. Kentucky High School Graduate Competi-tive in National Job Market. Implies: Kentucky highschool graduate with skills equal to skill of graduatesin other states.

Well if Kentucky'S students are nottaught to read and write properly, how arethey going to graduate with skills equal tograduates in other states? That's easy. Thegraduates in the other states will be just asilliterate.And there you have the Seven Capaci-ties articulated by the illustrious SupremeCourt of Kentucky. Needless to say, thosebreathtaking, overpowering ideas were putinto the heads of the judges by education-reform "experts" --otherwise known as OBEcarpetbaggers and change agents. Doesanyone believe the judges dreamt them upon their own?

Meanwhile, in February 1989, Gover-nor Wallace Wilkinson, by executive order,created a 12-member Council on SchoolPerformance Standards to determine whatKentucky'S students "should know and beable to do and how learning should be as-sessed." After six months of "intensive ef-fort" the Council came up with its Report inSeptember 1989 which states:This report provides a blueprint for a new

Common Core of Learning stressing the applicationof knowledge rather than just accumulating knowl-edge, ways to measure learning to make sure the newlearning objectives are being attained, and curricu-lum reform that will guide the student toward theseobjectives .... Additional time; resources: and thejoint involvement of school staff, the community,business, and industry will be needed to provide thedetails and ownership for a workable Kentucky edu-cation plan.

L...- The Blumenfeld Education Letter - Post Office Box45161-Boise, Idaho 83711_~_-l


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Six months later, in March 1990, theKentucky Education Reform Act, popularlyknown as KERA, became law. That wasquite a hustle for legislation that imposed anentirely new philosophy of education on thestate, one that required a tax increase of $1.4billion for the first two years of implementa-tion. And what were they implemen1:ing? Atotally new system of education with no realtrack record of success, no guarantee that itwould produce its much touted results. Andall of this was accomplished in only ninemonths after the Supreme Court's decision!Change-Ag ent Carpetbaggers

Who were the change-agent carpetbag-gers who descended on Kentucky to foistOBE on the state before the people evenknew what was being done to them? Mostofthem were brought into the state as paid"consultants" to the Task Force on Educa-tion Reform. Probably the most notable ofthem was David W. Hornbeck, former chair-man of the Board of Trustees of the CarnegieFoundation for the Advancement of Teach-ing. He chaired the foundation's Task Forceon Education of Young Adolescents, which,in June 1989, produced its report, "TurningPoints: Preparing American Youth for the21stCentury," He was also former presidentof Carnegie's Council of Chief State SchoolOfficers. Asof 1993, he was co-director of theNational Alliance for Restructuring Educa-tion and a senior adviser to the BusinessRoundtable. The latter represents the col-laboration of big business in the aBE move-ment.Hornbeck has been credited, both innewspapers and from members of the TaskForce, for single-handedly restructuringKentucky'S schools. KERA swallowed theentire Carnegie reform package. Once hisjob in Kentucky was finished, Hornbeck went

on to Iowa to do the same work there. And,as of February 1994, he was in Alabamaleading the aBE drive there.Mr. Hornbeck is a salesman for the NewWorld Order, and what he is selling is theeducation system to go with it. That systemisOutcome-Based Education, and that's whatthe Kentucky legislature bought in 1990.If there is one thing we know about theNewWorldOrderitisthatit'santi-Christianto the core, for itis based on a humanist viewof man and society. That view is clearlystated in Humanist Manifesto I, issued in1933:

Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created. Humanism believes thatman is a part of nature and that he has emerged as theresult of a continuous process .... Humanism assertsthat the nature of the universe depicted by modemscience makes unacceptable any supernatural orcosmic guarantees of human values .... In place of theold attitudes involved in worship and prayer thehumanist finds his religious emotions expressed in aheightened sense ofpersonal life and in a cooperativeeffort to promote social well-being .... Man is at lastbecoming aware that he alone is responsible for therealization of the world of his dreams, that he haswithin himself the power for its achievement.

What the humanists are telling us, inother words, is that we don't need God! Andthat's what aBE tells children: We don'tneed God. Humanist Manifesto T I , issued in1973, reiterates what the earlier Manifestosaid:

As in 1933, humanists still believe that tradi-tional theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearingGod, assumed to love and care for persons, to hearand understand their prayers, and to be able to dosomething about them, isan unproved and outmodedfaith. Salvationism, based on mere affinnation, stillappears asharrnful,diverting people with false hopesof heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to othermeans of survival.We believe ... that traditional dogmatic orauthoritarian religions that place revelation, God,ritual, or creed above human needs and experiencedo a disservice to the human species. , .. As non-

~--- The Blumenfeld Education Letter- Post Office Box 45161 Boise, Idaho 83711----.J


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theists, we begin with humans not God, nature notdeity .... [W]e can discover no divine purpose orprovidence for the human species .... No deity willsave us; we must save ourselves.

That's the non-theistic religion that'ssubtly woven through every page~ everylesson of OBE. Humanist Manifesto II alsocalls for the creation of a New World Order.It says:

We deplore the division of humankind on na-tionalistic grounds. We have reached a turning point _in human history where the best option is to transcendth e l im its o f n a tio na l s ov ere ig nt y and to move towardthe building of a world community in which allsectors of the human family can participate. Thus welook to the development of a system of world law anda world order based upon transnational federal gov-ernment.

To put it as simply and bluntly as pos-sible, OBE is humanism transformed intopublic school curriculum. In other words,Transformational aBE isturning Kentucky'spublic schools into humanist parochialschools in which the overriding aim is todeChristianize the children and tum theminto humanists.Another aBE carpetbagger was FrankNewman, president of the Education Com-mission of the States, a Carnegie supportedagency. Newman was quoted in the Lexing-t on He r ald -L e ad er (7/28/89) as saying, "It'sno longer a question of whether Kentuckycan compete with Tennessee. It's a questionof whether Kentucky can compete withKorea." He also was hired as a consultant tothe Task Force.

Another change-agent of note was agentleman by the name of Harold Hodgkin-son who managed to keep the kettle of re-form boiling by way of critical letters andpress interviews that stirred up response. Inthis way it became possible to identify keymembers in both conservative and liberaleducation camps, making it easier to dis-

credit the opposition before they knew whathit them. Hodgkinson has the best change-agent credentials: a stint at the Center forResearch and Development at the Univer-sity ofCalifornia at Berkeley (1968), Directorof the Carnegie Commission on Institutionsin Transition Study (1968-70), recipient of aCarnegie grant in 1988 for a project by theNational Institute of Education.

Inother words, KERA is not the productof the people of Kentucky . It's the product ofa small, Carnegie-financed cadre of changeagents whose job it is to bring all of publiceducation in America under firm control of acentralized power inWashington. How theydid it in Kentucky is simply amodel for themto use indoing it elsewhere. For example, inNew Hampshire the same strategy is beingused by first getting that state's SupremeCourt to rule that the state's public educa-tion system is inequitable and thereforerequires radical reform. And before youknow it, as if by magic, there's an aBE re-form bill being considered in the legislature.A N a t i o n a l F ra u d

The American people should know thatthey are being had. They will be spendingbillions of dollars on education reform fromcoast to coast inthe expectation that the nextgeneration will be well educated, and whenthey find out that they are not, who will payfor this fraud? None other than the taxpayer.You can sure that the educators will findreasons why the plan failed. I can just hearthem saying it now: the idea of aBE wasgreat. It was just poorly implemented be-cause of lack of money, lack of parentalsupport, and opposition from Christianfundamentalists. Itwould have worked hadnot radical rightists misinformed a gulliblepublic about what aBE truly is. That's whatthey will say, because generally that's whatthey always say.

L...----The Blumenfeld Education Letter - Post Office Box45161- Boise, Idaho 83711----'


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Education Letter, Pg. 7, Apri11994

Is KERA working? What kind of resultsare the people of Kentucky getting from OBEwhich has now been in place since 1990? Anextensive article on KERA in E du ca tio n W e ekof April Zl, 1993provides some illuminatinginformation. It says:AIthough Kentucky is still in the process ofdeveloping a full-blown assessment system, interimmeasures in reading, writing, math, science, and socialstudies were given to all students in grades 4, 8, and12 last year.For the first time in the state's history, howpupils performed was compared not against eachother but against absolute standards for what stu-dents should know and be able to do.The state determined how many students per-formed at the "novice," "apprentice," "proficient,"

and "distinguished" levels.The results were startling. Roughly 90 percentof the state's students scored below the "proficient"level, including many who have traditionally donewell on other measures of performance ....Gerald Wischer, the president of the Ohio Val-ley National Bank in Henderson, says, "Those testsdidn't corne out nearly as well as the communitythought they should.""Maybe," he speculates, "we're not as good aswe thought we were."

So there you are. I suppose it's unfair tojudge OBE on the basis of these first tests.After all, KERA has only been in place threeyears. Kentucky's commissioner of educa-tion, Tom Boysen, described KERA as the"second-greatest revolution in Americanpublic education." But it's probably thecostliest, so far. In the article on KERA justquoted, we read:The law specifies six learning goals that all

Kentucky students must meet. (Since the law's pas-sage, those goals have been elaborated into 75 "val-ued outcomes.") Itthen orders the state to develop anew system of portfolios, performance assessments,and paper-and-pencil tests to measure children'sprogress ....[The law] requires that nongraded-primaryprograms be established in every elementary schoolby [the fall of 1993]; that high-quality preschool pro-

grams be provided for a1l4-year-olds at risk of educa-tional failure; that a network of family-resource andyouth-service centers be created at or near schools inwhich at least 20 percent of students are eligible forfree or subsidized school meals; and that extended-school services, such as before- and after-school tu-toring, be provided for youngsters in need of extrahelp.

By the way, according to an educationdepartment spokesperson, those 75 "valuedoutcomes" were taken directly out ofBloom' sTaxonomy. As you can imagine, all of this isconfusing enough toparents. Butwhataboutthe teachers? How do they feel about all ofthis?"Our teachers are exhausted, to be quite frank,"says Jim Young, the superintendent ofthe RussellvilleIndependent School district in southwestern Ken-tucky. "And I think this is a statewide phenomenon.They are just worn out."Principals complain that it's impossible to keepup with all of the paperwork and reading materialsgenerated by the law. Phyllis Becker, an English andLatin teacher at Henderson County High School,says, "I've been taken out of my classroom so muchfor meetings and committees and workshops that Idon't feel I'm doing as good a job as Ihave done in thepast."(Gayle Ecton, Henderson's superintendent,complains], "We've got teachers who've been teach-ing 20 or 25 years, and then all of a sudden we say,'Let's do cooperative learning, peer tutoring, and thewhole-language approach and use developmentallyappropriate materials: It's overwhelming, and you

get more resistance."There you have it. The whole-languageapproach being shoved down the throats ofteachers and students, an approach that willcreate even more illiteracy than we have

now.Perhaps the most eloquent complaintabout OBE is to be found in Th e H an co ckClar ion of 12/ 30/93, an article by Eddie Price,a 39-year-old teacher at Hancock CountyHigh School. Mr. Price has taught school for17 years. He writes:

L- The Blumenfeld Education Letter - Post Office Box 45161- Boise, Idaho 83711----'


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Education Letter, Pg. 8 , April 1994

I agree that education inKentucky needs re-fonn, but KERA is NOT the answer. Iamnot workingfor any particular grouPi I'm battling alone - onesmall voice in a wilderness of state-controlled propa-ganda. This monster is so huge, so complex, sotwisted, that it can't be attacked with a simple argu-ment. Ican only share my own un-mandated thoughtin the hope that others will listen and act . ... I MUSTspeak out against what I perceive as a massi ve wrongin education ....Like most teachers I am enthusiastic about newdiscoveries, new directions in teaching .... For thatreason I resolved to give KERA my sincerest efforts.Schools were literally being forced to undergo change,so I decided to willingly comply ....The perpetrators of KERA began inundatingour schools with mountains of regulations, restric-tions, and KERA mandates. Most of the guidelineswere vague, subjective, and even contradictory: noone in the state department seemed to know whatwas going on ....Then the state passed down a list of KERA-mandated outcomes - [75] VALUED Outcomes.Everything that would be taught would be reorderedto meet these VALUED outcomes. A few weeks laterthese outcomes were labeled ''Leamer Outcomes." Ilearned that this change was effected to quiet con-cerned groups across the state. Citizens were ques-tioning the concept of the state mandating what val-ues would be taught .... Ibegan to realize thatI wasn'tin total agreement with the state .... Our curriculumwould have to be pared down and structured aroundvalues and attitudes. We were directed by the state to"weed out unimportant material" that did not meetthe VALUED (that's what they really are) Outcomes.

In 1992 I applied with a teaching partner for astate grant to develop an interdisciplinary unit whichwould link World History, World Literature, andother classes together .... We competed with otherschool teams across the state and tied for the winningunit! ...Then came the "accountability factor." ... Spe-cific content was not mandated -only the vague andhighly subjective Values Outcomes .... When teach-ers voiced concerns about not meeting the ValuesOutcomes, they were "soothed" with the explanationthat schools would be given the chance to improve."A Kentucky Distinguished Educator will be sent toyour building to help you grow." Then I learned thatthis official had the absolute power to declare theschool "A School in Crisis"! The principal, andindividual teachers could be eliminated with the singlestroke of a pen ....I pressed on, learning as much about KERA as

possible although in disagreement. I began imple-menting it into classroom. I attended special work-shops on Multiple Intelligences .... Iwas DISMAYEDwhen the KIRIS Tests were administered! Theseevaluated only one area of intelligence - the linguis-tic area! One of the questions required the students todiscuss pictures of ballet, African tribal dancing anda Spanish folk dance .... [W]hat horrified me was thefact that I as a Social Studies teacher had "failed" toteach those dances .... [Nlo way could I have antici-pated this question that would, in reality, measure33% of what I had taught for the '92-'93 school year!... When Social Studies scores dropped slightly at ourschool, I initially felt guilt and shame ....This autumn I attended the Kentucky Councilfor the Social Studies in Louisville, where I found myfears echoed on a much broader scale. Social Studiesscores had "dropped" dramatically statewide andteachers who had tried to embrace KERA had beenrudely slapped in the face....When I sat down and read the entire history ofKERA' sevolution, Irealized that our lawmakers and,even worse, our public had been skilfully and strate-gically duped. KERA had been slickly packaged in adeceptive language of "glittering generalities" thatthe public seemed eager to swallow in the name ofrefonn .... Pro-KERA articles and comments have noproblem making headlines while others with oppos-ing views must pay exorbitant sums for "political ad-vertising". Massive public disenchantment and frus-tration is downplayed as "concern associated withchange": teachers who speak out against perceivedwrongs feel threatened and run the risk of being castas "anti-reformers" or "traditional diehards opposedto improvement," or even ''hidebound''! ... For a"dissident." teaching in the public schools today issimilar to living under a Stalinist "Reign of Terror."Many teachers submit their horror stories and mis-givings to anonymous publications or ask legislatorsnot to quote them - for fear of repercussions ....

That's what OBE is doing to Kentuckyas seen through the eyes and experience of adedicated teacher. And that's what thepromoters of OBE would like to do in everystate in the Union. Can OBE be stopped?Yes, if the parents and opposing teachersmarch on their state capitols and read the riotact to their legislators.

"The best safeguard against crime is godly menand a godly society." -R. J . Rushdoony

~ The Blumenfeld Education Letter - Post Office Box 45161- Boise, Idaho 83711 -'

the blumenfeld education letter april_1994

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