VITAL SIGNSrnEDUCATIONrnGlobaloney in thernClassroomrnby Marian Kester CoombsrnThe longer one observes Americanrnpublic schools today, the morerncomprehensive and deep-rooted thernglobalist infection appears. The erstwhilernrevolutionary-lel^ist undergroundrnhas become the establishment, in publicrneducation and every other instituhon.rnEducators now call themselvesrn”change agents,” in Timothy Leary’s radicalrnparlance. No lie is too big (“Diversityrn= Excellence”) and no trick too low tornbe deployed in the radicals’ mission torndeform the public school curriculum. Arntrue-life example of the trick tactic: Arnguidance counselor pre-empts a fifthgradernsocial studies class to deliver thernpro-diversity unit du jour. She shows thernclass two cardboard boxes, a dingy whiternone labeled ” 1 ” and a box swathed inrnshiny, colorful plastic, labeled “2.” Cooingrnthat “there’s no right or wrong answer,rnit’s just what you feel, any answer isrnokay,” the change agent passes out sheetsrnon which the students are to write theirrnnames, their preferred box number, andrnone reason why they chose it.rnA majority of students choose boxrnnumber two, because it is more appealingrnto the eye. Ah, but dingy box numberrnone contains a stash of stickers!rn”Well,” smirks the agent, “I guess thosernwho picked number one each get a sticker,rnand all you who picked number twornjust get left out. Too bad.” (An observerrnmutters, “So there was a ‘right’ answer,”rnand the shameless agent chuckles,rn”Yeah, how ’bout that.”)rnWhile parents have been distractedrntrying to earn enough money to staggerrnunder their ballooning tax burden withoutrnstumbling out of the middle class, orrnlulled by soothing smooth talk to the effectrnthat “We’re the experts, you aren’trnqualified to teach a dog to beg, just leavernit all to us,” virtualK’ every lesson that ourrnchildren are being taught—from “C-A-Trnspells caf to “2 + 2 is 4” —is pure propaganda.rnAt the same time, our childrenrnare being programmed to take their assignedrnplaces in Oneworld’s mergedrnglobal labor force.rnThe National Center on Educationrnand the Economy, directed by MarcrnTucker, is promoting legislation calledrnSchool-to-Work that explicitly recommendsrnmatching education to futurernlabor-force requirements, whatever thesernare deemed to be. School-to-Work isrnpart of the mutated “Goals 2000” packagernthat President Clinton has beenrnpushing on behalf of the elite and its NationalrnEducation Association allies sincerntaking office. The most recent headlinesrnthe effort has generated appear under thernrubric of “national testing,” but there arernseveral other aspects to it as well, all proceedingrnquietly with fiat funding underrnthe ver,’ noses of the public and our remainingrnchampions in the legislativernbranch.rnNational testing is designed to create arnpsychological profile of each student.rnQuestions on national tests delve into attitudesrnand feelings, and a high proportionrnof the answers are hand-scored,rnwhich injects still more of the elite’s subjectivernbias into the tests. Files producedrnby such testing will be made available tornpotential employers and governmentrnagencies, ensuring that incorrect attitudesrnand inappropriate aptitudes can receivern”intervention.”rnIn the Dresden, Ohio, school district,rnwhere Sehool-to-Work has already beenrnadopted, high school seniors can studyrnbasket-weaving for credit. According tornthe Foundation Endowment’s newsletter,rnAcademfcs First, “Of the 195 studentrnseniors who participated . . . betweenrn1989 and 1995, 129 later applied for employmentrnat [local basket company]rnLongaberger. Today, 74 percent are stillrnemployed at the basket factory.”rnOne of the consultants to Goals 2000rnis Ira Magaziner of healthcare-reformrnfame, who told the Organization forrnEconomic Cooperation and Developmentrnthat, as Oneworld grinds thernpluribus into unum, “Millions of jobsrnwill be lost, but millions more will berncreated. Training and education will bernneeded for the transition.” And Messrs.rnTucker and Magaziner seem to knowrnwhat those brand-new jobs will be.rnMore wives and mothers are in the laborrnforce than ever before, yet medianrnfamily income —not even allowing forrninflation —is $1,000 less than it was tenrnyears ago. Eull employment now meansrnthat every adult must work in order forrnthe household to remain solvent. Solvency,rnof course, is relative: families routinelyrncarr- $10,000 in debt and are consideredrnsolvent if they have not yet filedrnfor bankruptcy. This consumer debt hasrnrisen in symmetrical proportion to tax increasesrnover the past two decades, as peoplernunconsciously spend the incomernthey have earned even though it hasrnbeen confiscated by withholding.rnIn half the states of America, morernpeople work for various levels of governmentrnthan work in manufacturing.rnWithout differentiating between publicrnand private emplo}’ment, the Bureau ofrnLabor Statistics forecasts the biggest percentagernincreases in the following occupationsrnby 2005: employment interviewersrn(who for the most part work for temprnagencies), loan officers and counselors,rnmanagement analysts and consultants,rnp.r. managers, p.r. specialists, lawyersrnand judges, paralegals, economists andrnmarket researchers, biomedical researchersrn(genetic engineering is shapingrnup to be the major thrust of future research),rnmedical records technicians,rndental hvgienists, occupational therapists,rnphysical therapists, home healthrnaides, speech and language pathologists,rnpsychologists, “human services workers,”rnsocial workers, special education teachersrn(more and more children are beingrnconsigned to special ed in order to keeprnthem out of the official averages on standardizedrntests), adult education teachers,rnteachers’ aides, preschool teachers andrnchildcare workers, counselors, actorsrn(the booklet says “keen competition is expectedrnfor these jobs because large numbersrnof people are attracted to this career,rnwhich does not require formal preparation”),rncounter clerks, rental clerks, generalrnoffice clerks, sales reps in servicernindustries, receptionists, corrections officers,rnsecurity guards, and private detectivesrnand investigators.rnThe biggest losers? Agriculture, pe-rn44/CHRONICLESrnrnrn