Nov. 20, 1996

"The principle of combining schooling with productive labor is one of the first principles in the Marxist-Leninist theory of communist education ... Lenin could not conceive of an ideal future society without a combination of education and productive labor. The Marxist-Leninist principle of combining education with productive labor and polytechnisation of the school provides for a high level of general education and theoretical training. At the same time, realizing this principle to the full extent demands a profound revolution in the entire system of public education."

"After taking a closer look at H.R. 1617 (The Careers Act) and Goals:2000 ... it is obvious that the National Education Association, in cooperation with the socialistic segments of our government, are attempting to implement the Marxist theories of reeducating society as part of a potential overthrow of our constitutional government — as advocated by Karl Marx and Josef Stalin."

There are those out there who grimace, shake their heads, roll their eyes and turn the page every time they see one of our pieces on education, especially if the acronym "OBE" is anywhere near the lede (that's a journalistic spelling, you typo-hunters).

Having heard it before, I can pretty well imagine the sentiment: "(Sigh!) They're criticizing the schools again ... well, at least they run the honor rolls. Johnny made all A's again! You should see his portfolio!"

Hey, ignorance is bliss, right? What you refuse to learn about can't possibly hurt you and all that. Duh-huh.

Honestly, I'm not here to give offense to those who refuse to take the time to educate themselves about what's going on in education. It's a free country; go save your neighborhood rainforest, if that's what you feel is truly important.

For those of you who, like me, heard enough at some point to start thinking, "Hey, maybe there's something TO this...," allow me to give you a list of commonly-used terms, and what they mean:

• "Global economy:" New-age doublespeak. As Charley Reese pointed out in the Conservative Chronicle on Oct. 9, "Americans have been participating in a global economy since the days they called themselves loyal subjects of His Majesty, King George." The usage of the term implies that it's something new, which is nonsense. In practice, "preparing children for a global economy" means we're going to create a large class of semi-skilled workers willing to work for lower wages so our large corporations don't keep exporting their jobs overseas.

• "Diversity:" ensuring that everyone gets along, regardless of differences. A wonderful sentiment, actually. In practice, however, it means Balkanizing children by emphasizing racial, ethnic, religious and sexual-orientation differences. A Balkanized population becomes ever more suspicious of one another, but at the same time goes out of its way to avoid giving offense. It's akin to the militaristic tenet of "divide and conquer."

• "Real-world learning:" An impressive-sounding term, coined to make us think that what they're trying to teach is more substantive than what it is. Learning about D-Day or the Holocaust are not "real-world" learning, but learning how to save the rain forests in Brazil is. Go figure.

• "Mastery:" This means your kid knows 70-75 percent of what he should; those of us who grew up in the days of letter grades call that a "C." This term has undergone a number of name changes over the years; don't be surprised if it changes again, to something like "competency."

• "School to work:" The newest target of OBE opponents in Texas, this is actually a more formalized term for "vocational education." Few can actually argue with the fact that 75-80 percent of students really don't need college degrees; we have only to look at today's over-trained, "you-have-to-go-to-college" work force to figure that one out. The problem is, the plans in the pipeline more or less call for the elimination of CHOICE from the equation; your kid may or may not get the CHOICE about what occupation he pursues. Those already in the workforce may have to go "back to school" for "retraining" and "behavior modification."

• "Critical thinking:" learning how to solve "real world" problems in a Politically Correct manner. Rather than attempting to determine why the North won the Civil War, for example, students are encouraged to compare the differences between Lee and Grant with how Brittany and Kerri resolve their dispute when they can't agree on when to go to the mall.

• "Performance-Based Objectives:" Students will be required to demonstrate they have adopted the required social attitudes they have been taught. This is very important, because they damn sure won't know how to write about it in any recognizable form of English.