O

O.B.E. OR A LESSON IN EDUBABBLE

Joyce Cale

Joyce Cale, a former E.R. nurse, likes to keep current on religious and political topics. As a mother of 2 sons, age 10 and 27, she has comparable knowledge of 2 generations of educational curriculum, including public, Catholic and Montessori schools. She currently resides with her family in Roseville, Mich.

"Edubabble" is educational jargon that causes brain cells to collide against each other in the attempt to understand — i.e.; Do you walk to school? or take your lunch? Or — Is it colder in the winter? or in the country?

Outcome-Based Education, O.B.E., is a system of inculcating values and attitudes considered necessary (by globalists) to co-exist in a global marketplace. It may be considered to be part of World Class Education, W.C.E., of which there are different models.

O.B.E. is also referred to as Mastery Learning or M.L., a failed experiment, about which much has been written by Phyllis Schlafly. Mastery Learning abolishes ability-grouping or paper and pencil testing. Costly new "authentic" affective yardsticks (pupil testing) will no longer measure the 3 R's with standardized results. Instead pupils will be judged on the 3 P's (projects, performance, portfolios). No one fails and each student can take as long as they need to graduate. Those who catch on quicker may be expected to help teach slower learners. Our utopian educators may end up cultivating a culture of academic boredom, especially among brighter students.

Another term associated with O.B.E. is Total Quality Management (T.Q.M.) although this has more to do with customer satisfaction whereas O.B.E. goals are more globally oriented.

The Industrial "outcomes" model of O.B.E., under the guidance of Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, supplies teachers with the materials felt necessary to develop a cooperative and compliant working class. The buzz word is group-think. This model is under the acronym of S.C.A.N.S. or Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.

The Environmental "outcomes" model is engineered by organizations such as Greenpeace and Mobil oil and perhaps, Al Gore. It requires attitudes and goals which will elicit responsible use of our natural resources.

Transformational or attitudinal "outcomes," under the direction of William Spady, is concerned with future trends. Literature and available data about future trends and conditions are studied. Based on perceived future needs, complex role performance outcomes for various situations are formulated, developed and implemented.

The main objective of all outcome models seems to be that of attaining and maintaining the correct political attitude based on someone's particular (political) philosophy. You could easily adopt the wrong philosophy and be politically incorrect.

I could go on and on about O.B.E. but you would do well to research it yourself so you may experience first hand its complexity, diversity and confusion. The attitudes, opinions, philosophies, goals, objectives, standards, exams, research and names for all of the latter are as numerous as the people formulating them. The who's who in education, provided by the N.S.P.(New Standards Project), of which Hillary Clinton is on the governing board, includes the D.O.E. (Dept. of Education), D.O.L. (Dept. of Labor), N.E.G.P. (Nat'l Educational Goals Panel), N.C.E.S.T. (Nat'l Council for Educational Standards and Student Testing), N.E.S.A.L. (proposed educational standards advisory council), N.A.G.B. (Nat'l Assessment Governing Board), N.A.E.P. (Nat'l Assessment of Education Progress), America-2000 (Geo. Bush), Goals 2000 (Wm. Clinton), N.B.P.T.S. (Nat'l Board of Professional Teaching Standards), S.C.A.N.S. (see above), N.A.S.D.C. (New American School Development Corp.), C.C.S.S.O. (Council of Chief State School Officers).

It seems there are simply too many intellectuals out there who wish to make their mark on the world to expect anything but confusion to be the end product. There is an old saying that "too many cooks spoil the broth". Not to be anticipated is any substantial co-operative effort between "group-thinks" and even less amalgamation (unless one highly placed individual takes precedence over all of them.)

Recently President Clinton signed into effect the $393 million "Goals 2000." Along with his first lady (and ours), they will attempt to implement revision of the educational system in our country. Federal funds will be made available to states who "voluntarily" adopt the federal guidelines of Goals 2000. Anticipated actions are first, a codified Nat'l Goals Panel; second, a defacto nat'l school board, N.E.S.I.C. (Nat'l Education Standards & Improvement Council), an unelected 18 member board created to insure that states are taking seriously government reform efforts; third, establishing the N.S.S.B. (Nat'l Skills Standards Board) who will develop certification requirements for teachers and other occupational groups, and will be the biggest threat to home schoolers.

The President's most influential educational advisor is his wife. The first lady has many legal and personal ties to education. Mrs. Clinton is well known for her involvement with the Children's Defense Fund (C.D.F.) and most likely supports the U.N. Bill of Children's Rights whose mandates can be disastrous to parental rights. Education reform has been her 'baby' for many years. Sincere in her efforts for equality, the future may prove her sincerely wrong. Excellence cannot be sacrificed on the altar of equality. Moral principles cannot be fed to the dogs of change. Although Bill and Hillary espouse Christianity, he a Baptist and she a Methodist, neither seems 'burdened' with Christian principles. Must reading is Hillary's biography. It outlines the socialist ideas and agendas the Clinton's have been breeding since the 60's, including education, child's rights, population control and much more.

It would be premature to predict how home-schoolers will be effected by educational mandates or what to do about them. Many are taking the initiative and writing, faxing, and phoning their representatives in Washington about their concerns. They are also keeping informed about issues through books, newsletters and periodicals published by knowledgeable organizations. Perhaps the greatest threat outcome based education poses to Catholic home-schoolers is a potential loss of faith. Our Catholic Faith is not subject to feelings and emotions but upon the (authentic) Word of God. There are many areas of Catholicism that need to be accepted on faith alone and must not be brutally analyzed with O.B.E. criteria.

One final thought: Did you ever consider that what is about to be forced on us at a secular level need never have been necessary? We have within our Catholic faith all the helps needed to be cooperative globalists and cautious environmentalists. We embody a God-Man who set up a "ways and means committee" to accomplish many of the very same goals our purported "oneworlders" have. Being ever mindful in our efforts to diminish the untoward actions of today's secular new-agers and world revisionists, we need to keep a watchful eye that we exemplify the Jesus we believe in and also she who is His Mirror.