Is your child "damaged goods already marked for failure"?

In 1992 Mark Tucker, known as the Music Man of Education Reform, wrote his famous 18 page letter to Hillary Clinton to congratulate her on winning the presidential election. Not much has changed since he penned the letter and education in this country has gone from bad to worse under Bush-1, the Clintons (yes, they thought of themselves as a team), Bush-2 and now Obama. It seems the only reform education gets in this country is the catchy little name put on the programs that are implemented by each administration: Goals 2000, Outcome Based Education, School-To-Work, No Child Left Behind, etc.

For those of you who remember this letter, it caused quite a stir. Once this idea took hold of the public schools in the form of OBE, homeschooling took off like a greyhound out of the starting gate. Tucker's cradle to grave idea is still around and much has been written about it. OBE was regretfully legislated into many states but here in Vermont it was allowed into our schools through the back door, thanks to a few old codgers looking to get their names engraved on some state owned buildings.

The most offensive part of Tucker's ideas that the politicians were thrilled to go along with, was his idea that children were simply considered as human resources. You know, sort of like chattel to be herded about and whipped into conformity. Everything was planned out for your child from birth because the government wanted to make sure (and still does) your child is prepared for the work force. If you didn't comply and your child wasn't properly primed using state standards, or if your child had learning disabilities, then your child could be considered "damaged goods already marked for failure". What happens to damaged goods? Take a look around. Just who, exactly, is creating the damaged goods? How much longer can America survive when its public schools continue to follow this path of non-education?

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OBE-Goals 2000 Revamped by Obama But Still The Same 'Ol Same 'Ol

Good grief. The Clintons were pushing for this same thing when they were squatting in the White House. Even Bush senior was talking Goals 2000 when he was in office. Has anyone noticed that public school children in this country aren't getting any smarter? Wait! Some people have noticed and they're taking their children out in droves in order to homeschool them.

Appears to me this book may be well worth the read.

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Can you think of a country that starts with the letter U? Utopia! Huh?

Charming, but I stopped being shocked by our public school system years ago. If nothing else, public schools are good for a belly laugh which is probably the best medicine from such a failed system and our present state of the union. How are these young people ever going to survive in the real world? Need to file this one under humor.

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Student privacy at risk from feds—Emmett McGroarty & Jane Robbins - NYPOST.com

Student privacy at risk from feds—Emmett McGroarty & Jane Robbins - NYPOST.com

No surprise here. This has been going on for years. My advice to parents over the years when seeking their child's school records was to ask for the electronic records too, not just the paper file on their child. They're stunned to find out this data base exists and has existed for quite some time. Our state was doing this well before Obama, Bush or Clinton!

"How did it happen? Buried within the enormous 2009 stimulus bill were provisions encouraging states to develop data systems for collecting copious information on public-school kids. To qualify for stimulus money, states had to agree to build such systems according to federally dictated standards. So all 50 states either now maintain or are capable of maintaining extensive databases on public-school students."

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How to dupe the parents and brainwash the 'resisters'

Academics is no longer reading, writing and arithmetic. Academics today is bringing about change through emotions...behavior modification, attitudinal adjustment and political correctness. Are parents paying attention? I knew this years ago and it's a major factor in our decision to homeschool. It just took some time to put my finger on it and learn it had a name...Outcome Based Education.


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Heritage asks 'What is President Obama's Education Agenda?'

In this short and to the point article The Heritage Foundation asks the question: What is President Obama's Education Agenda?' Well...

"National standards would not make public schools accountable to families; rather, they would make schools responsive to bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Moreover, national standards and tests would be a one-size-fits-all approach that tends toward mediocrity and standardization, undercutting the pockets of excellence and the principle of federalism on which this nation is founded."

No surprise there. This has been going on for years. It was called Goals 2000 and Outcome Based Education when my children were younger. I wonder what pithy name it will be given this time? Problem is it's the same ol' same ol' and won't do anything to help create an educated populace. Once again it will simply increase the number of homeschoolers in this country when parents realize the damage it is doing to their children in public school. Those Democrats just keep on making my job easier and easier.