O.B.E. or a Lesson in Edubabble

Author: Joyce Cale

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 collideagainst each other in the attempt to understand — i.e.; Do you walk toschool? or take your lunch? Or — Is it colder in the winter? or in thecountry?

Outcome-Based Education, O.B.E., is a system of inculcating values andattitudes considered necessary (by globalists) to co-exist in a globalmarketplace. 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 failedexperiment, 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 longermeasure the 3 R's with standardized results. Instead pupils will be judgedon the 3 P's (projects, performance, portfolios). No one fails and eachstudent can take as long as they need to graduate. Those who catch onquicker may be expected to help teach slower learners. Our utopianeducators may end up cultivating a culture of academic boredom, especiallyamong 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 Secretaryof Labor Robert Reich, supplies teachers with the materials felt necessaryto develop a cooperative and compliant working class. The buzz word isgroup-think. This model is under the acronym of S.C.A.N.S. or Secretary'sCommission on Achieving Necessary Skills.

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

Transformational or attitudinal "outcomes," under the direction of WilliamSpady, is concerned with future trends. Literature and available dataabout future trends and conditions are studied. Based on perceived futureneeds, complex role performance outcomes for various situations areformulated, developed and implemented.

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

I could go on and on about O.B.E. but you would do well to research ityourself so you may experience first hand its complexity, diversity andconfusion. The attitudes, opinions, philosophies, goals, objectives,standards, exams, research and names for all of the latter are as numerousas the people formulating them. The who's who in education, provided bythe N.S.P.(New Standards Project), of which Hillary Clinton is on thegoverning 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'lCouncil for Educational Standards and Student Testing), N.E.S.A.L.(proposed educational standards advisory council), N.A.G.B. (Nat'lAssessment Governing Board), N.A.E.P. (Nat'l Assessment of EducationProgress), 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 ofChief State School Officers).

It seems there are simply too many intellectuals out there who wish tomake their mark on the world to expect anything but confusion to be theend 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 placedindividual takes precedence over all of them.)

Recently President Clinton signed into effect the $393 million "Goals2000." Along with his first lady (and ours), they will attempt toimplement revision of the educational system in our country. Federal fundswill be made available to states who "voluntarily" adopt the federalguidelines of Goals 2000. Anticipated actions are first, a codifiedNat'l Goals Panel; second, a defacto nat'l school board, N.E.S.I.C.(Nat'l Education Standards & Improvement Council), an unelected 18member board created to insure that states are taking seriously governmentreform efforts; third, establishing the N.S.S.B. (Nat'l Skills StandardsBoard) who will develop certification requirements for teachers and otheroccupational groups, and will be the biggest threat to home schoolers.

The President's most influential educational advisor is his wife. Thefirst lady has many legal and personal ties to education. Mrs. Clinton iswell 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 mandatescan be disastrous to parental rights. Education reform has been her 'baby'for many years. Sincere in her efforts for equality, the future may proveher sincerely wrong. Excellence cannot be sacrificed on the altar ofequality. Moral principles cannot be fed to the dogs of change. AlthoughBill and Hillary espouse Christianity, he a Baptist and she a Methodist,neither seems 'burdened' with Christian principles. Must reading isHillary's biography. It outlines the socialist ideas and agendas theClinton's have been breeding since the 60's, including education, child'srights, population control and much more.

It would be premature to predict how home-schoolers will be effected byeducational mandates or what to do about them. Many are taking theinitiative and writing, faxing, and phoning their representatives inWashington about their concerns. They are also keeping informed aboutissues through books, newsletters and periodicals published byknowledgeable organizations. Perhaps the greatest threat outcome basededucation 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 tobe 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 forcedon us at a secular level need never have been necessary? We have withinour Catholic faith all the helps needed to be cooperative globalists andcautious environmentalists. We embody a God-Man who set up a "ways andmeans committee" to accomplish many of the very same goals our purported"oneworlders" have. Being ever mindful in our efforts to diminish theuntoward actions of today's secular new-agers and world revisionists, weneed to keep a watchful eye that we exemplify the Jesus we believe in andalso she who is His Mirror.

O.B.E. or a Lesson in Edubabble

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