SECTION: BREACH OF TRUST
SUBSECTION: EDUCATION
Revised 1/8/01
EDUCATION
7/24/98 World Net Daily Joseph Farah "Do you wonder about the public opinion polls? Do you doubt they are an accurate gauge of the way people think -- or, more aptly, feel? I don't anymore. America is changing in fundamental ways. America's moral foundation is crumbling as fast as its government educational system. And the Clinton presidency has given our already troubled culture a swift kick in the rear as it plummets down the slippery slope of moral relativism.."
Nevada Appeal 1/21/99 Dale McFeatters - Scripps Howard News Service ".An even greater break with American tradition is Clinton's plan for "account-ability" in the public schools. His briefing paper correctly called his education proposal "a sea change in national education policy," and indeed it is: a massive step toward federalization of the public schools, traditionally a local responsibility. The government, with $20 billion in federal aid as a club, would set the standards for teacher qualifications, classroom behavior, student promotion and by extension, curriculum. The states would be required to issue "report cards" on their schools and also track, in a bit of multicultural mischief, the "academic achievement of ethnic and racial sub-groups" ."
New York Post 2/16/99 Marc Berley ".The ethnicity-minded Bilingual Ed crowd is wrong. A report based on the survey, ''A Lot to Be Thankful For: What Parents Want Children to Learn About America,'' confirms that minority parents want precisely what schools have increasingly failed to provide: the ''heroes and traditions of America,'' and ''the common values of American society.'' This means American History 101 and, most important, the teaching of English. Parents ''express fears about taking the country for granted.'' They also worry that ''there's too much emphasis on 'the things that divide us.'''. The Clinton administration, most notably, strongly supports faulty bilingual-education and diversity programs that undermine the teaching of English and traditional American values. Clinton's 1999 budget proposes $387 million for bilingual education, up from $261 million in 1997. Last year, Clinton opposed Proposition 227, a successful ballot measure to end bilingual education in California. Proposition 227 chair Fernando Vega called Clinton ''the most misinformed citizen in the United States.'' Vega, like the parents interviewed for the Public Agenda survey, understands the problem: ''We are losing generations and generations of Latino kids to this program called bilingual education.''."
Wired News 3/10/99 Declan McCullagh "…The US Senate on Friday took the first step toward derailing a controversial government regulation that will require banks to monitor every transaction their customers make. By an 88 to 0 vote, the Senate approved a change to an education bill being debated. The amendment blocks banking regulators from proceeding with the so-called Know Your Customer plan. "If you ever wondered whatever happened to the people in the former Soviet Union who used to run things there and now are permanently out of work, the answer is they're all in the Clinton administration, and they're running the banking authorities of this country," said Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican who chairs the Banking Committee, in a speech on the Senate floor. Senate Democrats first blocked Gramm's standalone bill that would have repealed Know Your Customer, but then joined their GOP counterparts in a unanimous vote to add the amendment to the education bill. Under Know Your Customer, banks will be required to tell the Feds about transactions that aren't "normal and expected" for a particular customer, based on a profile of that person. Over 140,000 irate Americans have complained about the proposal in a comment period that ends Monday…."
Eagleforum 3/10/99 Phyllis Schlafly Freeper DonMorgan "…Are the American people willing to allow government agents to come into their homes to "advise" them how to care for their babies? What if the announced purpose of these home visits is to look for child abuse under the assumption that all parents are suspects? The plan to place "home visitors" into the homes of all first-time parents is one more example of the pervasive liberal push to monitor law-abiding citizens under the pretext of catching criminals. The model for universal home visitation is Healthy Families America (HFA), a program developed by the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA), now known as Prevent Child Abuse America. The HFA program calls for 50+ in-home visits annually per family for those considered most "at risk." The home visitors are paraprofessionals and volunteers who are called "trained," but may have only a high school education. These recruits are supposed to educate parents on "proper parenting practices" and to monitor child development…"
Rueters 5/10/99 AP Freeper helms "...As the White House targeted violence in public entertainment, the WB television network said Monday it would show a two-part ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' that depicts students arming themselves...."
Augusta Chronicle 5/12/99 Editorial Freeper newsman "...After public schools, as well as parents and students, became gravely concerned about discipline following the Littleton, Colo., murder spree, it wasn't long before the American Civil Liberties Union jumped into the fray. . . . One key reason for slippage in school discipline since the 1960s is the rise of ``students' rights'' as promulgated by the permissive ACLU. This is the doctrine which sharply curtails schools' authority to deal with troublemaking children...."
Ayn Rand Institute 11/98 Dr. Gary Hull, PhD ".To accommodate the slowest learners, the entire K-12 curriculum has been "dumbed down." And high schools on both coasts are dispensing with awards honoring top seniors. They don't select "the most likely to succeed" or the "most talented." These schools no longer offer class rankings, nor do they select a class valedictorian. In today's age of achievement-hatred, it is okay to spend millions on playground psychopaths. But it is considered morally low to honor a bright student.."
Washington Times 10/20/98 Cheryl Wetzstein ".Many of the nation's schoolchildren admit to shoplifting, cheating and lying, according to a survey taken by a group that works to promote good character in schools. "People who develop the habit of cheating or stealing are going to continue to cheat and steal later in life," said Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Marina Del Ray, Calif. And many of these same students who admit to unethical behavior say they are "satisfied" with their ethics and character, he said. Mr. Josephson founded the institute in 1985 in honor of his parents, Joseph and Edna Josephson, with the goal of improving the ethical quality of American society.."
Wall St Journal 10/27/98 Kay Hymowitz "."The 12- to 14-year-olds of yesterday are the 10- to 12-'s of today," says Bruce Friend, a vice president of the kids' cable channel Nickelodeon. The Nickelodeon-Yankelovich Youth Monitor found that by the time they are 12, children describe themselves as "flirtatious, sexy, trendy, athletic, cool." Among the products targeted at this age group is the Sweet Georgia Brown line from AM Cosmetics. It includes body paints and scented body oils with names like Vanilla Vibe and Follow Me Boy. Soon, thanks to the Cincinnati design firm Libby Peszyk Kattiman, your little darling will be able to slip into some tween-sized bikini panties.The tweening of childhood is more than just a matter of fashion. Tweens are demonstrating many of the deviant behaviors we usually associate with adolescence. "Ninth and 10th grade used to be the starting point for a lot of what we call risk behaviors," says Henry Trevor, who heads a middle school in Brooklyn, N.Y. "Fifteen years ago they moved into the eighth grade. Now it's seventh grade."."
OP NEWS & VIEWS 5/16/99 Charles Muth Freeper GrandmaC "...About That High School Proficiency Test... I haven't taken anything more than a blood test in over 20 years - and never spent a day in college - so I was a bit nervous about taking the Nevada high school math proficiency test that 1,501 high school seniors have been unable to pass - in FOUR tries! I admit that I DID rush through the test in just over 30 minutes, did NOT use the formula page and did NOT bother to double-check my answers. Still, I got 47 of the 58 questions correct (81%). The simplicity of this multiple-guess test should be a no-brainer for students who are still in school, studying for the test, taking their time and checking their answers. Any student who can't scratch out at least 61% on this test hasn't earned a high school education - regardless of who's fault it is. Democrat Assembly Education Committee Chairman Wendell Williams and the seven Democrat committee members who voted to further LOWER the passing grade to 57% (heck, why grade them at all, huh?) should be ashamed of themselves for cheating our kids out of their futures...."
Associated Press 12/9/98 ". An elementary school teacher gave children altered lyrics to ``Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' in which Santa asks a gunman to shoot his wife. The lyrics were included in a packet of Christmas songs given out by an unidentified teacher at Devens Elementary School last week. The song, renamed ``Deadeye the Two-Gun Slinger,'' included the lyric: ``Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, ``Deadeye with your gun so bright, won't you shoot my wife tonight?'' Theresa Schuesler complained to school officials after her husband heard their 8-year-old son singing the song last week, and was shocked to find out the boy got it in class. ``This song is wrong,'' she said. ``This song is so bad it should never have gone out.'' School Superintendent Frederick Foresteire said the teacher would be ``written up'' by the principal, but he did not think an apology or explanation to the children was necessary.."
GOP NEWS & VIEWS 5/16/99 Charles Muth Freeper GrandmaC "...About That High School Proficiency Test... I haven't taken anything more than a blood test in over 20 years - and never spent a day in college - so I was a bit nervous about taking the Nevada high school math proficiency test that 1,501 high school seniors have been unable to pass - in FOUR tries! I admit that I DID rush through the test in just over 30 minutes, did NOT use the formula page and did NOT bother to double-check my answers. Still, I got 47 of the 58 questions correct (81%). The simplicity of this multiple-guess test should be a no-brainer for students who are still in school, studying for the test, taking their time and checking their answers. Any student who can't scratch out at least 61% on this test hasn't earned a high school education - regardless of who's fault it is. Democrat Assembly Education Committee Chairman Wendell Williams and the seven Democrat committee members who voted to further LOWER the passing grade to 57% (heck, why grade them at all, huh?) should be ashamed of themselves for cheating our kids out of their futures...."
New York Post 5/24/99 ANDREA PEYSER Freeper laz "...ANOTHER possible reason why so many schoolkids can't read and their teachers can't write: the abysmal quality of teacher education in this city. Two weeks ago, this column presented the illiterate writings of Queens middle-school students - teens of 13 and 14 who can barely construct a simple sentence as they prepare to enter high school. Last week, in a rare and alarming peek into who's in charge of instructing public schoolkids in the basics, this column published barely intelligible notes penned by teachers at a Brooklyn elementary school. "Why is he not learning or learning so but so little with my help?" wrote one teacher, unintentionally answering the question..."
New York Post 5/26/99 MARIA ALVAREZ, GREGG BIRNBAUM and SUSAN EDELMAN Freeper laz "...Two out of three city fourth-graders failed to meet strict new reading and writing standards, startling new test results show. Sixty-seven percent of the city's 75,400 kids who took the state's new English Language Arts exam in January fell short or performed abysmally...."
New York Post 5/26/99 HERMAN BADILLO "...YESTERDAY, with great fanfare, the Board of Education announced the results of the fourth-grade English Language Arts Tests. As might be expected, Chancellor Rudy Crew and the board sought out every ray of sunshine, and presented the scores with the best possible spin. A close look at the results, however, shows that our grade schools are perpetuating practices to virtually guarantee that by the fourth grade many students, particularly those in predominately African-American and Hispanic districts, will be performing at unacceptable levels. For many years I have been urging the Board of Education to abolish social promotions - the practice of automatically promoting students from one grade to another. Beginning in first grade, students advance without regard to academic performance...."
U.S.News & World Report 5/31/99 JOHN LEO "...Non-Asian minorities tend to score lower on standardized tests used for college admissions than do Asian-Americans and whites. The obvious answer to this gap is better schools in minority neighborhoods and better study habits. But the Clinton administration has a quicker fix: Let's just declare the tests invalid. The draft of a new "resource guide" by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights says that "the use of any educational test which has a significant disparate impact on members of any particular race, national origin, or sex is discriminatory" unless the school using the test can prove otherwise. That makes almost all educational tests suspect. Specifically, the department is warning that the SAT and ACT tests are presumed to be invalid if they are a significant basis for college admissions and financial-aid decisions that fail to produce proportional representation by race and gender...."
WorldNetDaily 6/16/99 Walter Williams "….The May 14 Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story by Robin Wilson titled "Ph.D. Programs Face a Paucity of Americans." Wilson says that if you visited just about any physics laboratory at U.S. research universities, you'd find as many foreigners as Americans. The American Institute of Physics estimates that this year, for the first time, the majority of first-year doctoral students in physics at our universities is foreign. In the academic year 1997 to 1998, China alone supplied 20 percent of all international physics students. At Penn State University, as is typical at other universities, half the students in its graduate physics program are foreigners. In 1997, foreign students earned 37 percent of all science and engineering doctorates at American universities. By contrast, at most American universities, there are few to no foreigners getting Ph.D.s in education, cultural studies and history. The evidence clearly demonstrates that the more intellectually challenging a field of study is, the fewer American students…."
www.jewishworldreview.com Walter Williams 6/99 "…THE MAY 14 CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ran a story by Robin Wilson titled "Ph.D. Programs Face a Paucity of Americans." Wilson says that if you visited just about any physics laboratory at U.S. research universities, you'd find as many foreigners as Americans. The American Institute of Physics estimates that this year, for the first time, the majority of first-year doctoral students in physics at our universities is foreign. In the academic year 1997 to 1998, China alone supplied 20 percent of all international physics students. At Penn State University, as is typical at other universities, half the students in its graduate physics program are foreigners. In 1997, foreign students earned 37 percent of all science and engineering doctorates at American universities. By contrast, at most American universities, there are few to no foreigners getting Ph.D.s in education, cultural studies and history. The evidence clearly demonstrates that the more intellectually challenging a field of study is, the fewer American students….Even our brightest students aren't challenged, as evidenced by the fact that far fewer high school students score 1400 to 1600 on the SAT today than during the 1960s. Today's educational emphasis is on sex indoctrination in the name of sex education, environmentalism and solving society's problems. Even at colleges, students can learn nonsense like standard English is "essentially an instrument of domination." They can take courses for academic credit like "Queer Theory" and the works of PeeWee Herman. While American students trail their counterparts in other industrialized countries in just about every academic area, they have the highest levels of self-esteem and feel good about their educational achievements. That's sad. They're fools and don't know it…."
Washington Post 7/8/99 Laura Sessions Stepp "…"The mother of an Arlington teenager will never forget the phone call she received from Williamsburg Middle School, where her daughter was in the eighth grade. "I'd like to invite you to a meeting about girls at risk," said Latanja Thomas, the eighth-grade school counselor. "What risk?" the mother asked. "Eating disorders?" "No." "Drugs?" "No." "Well, what is it?" "Oral sex." "I about dropped the phone," the mother recalled. "I was stunned." So were other parents of girls at Williamsburg who took similar calls that evening and showed up for a meeting in the school library a few nights later. ..."
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