June 18, 1997

"To make them love (servitude) is the task assigned to ... schoolteachers."

Well, it looks like the publicity machine designed to convince us that the federalization of education and socialization of the workforce is a "good thing" is cranking up. It will be interesting to see just how well they've done at "numbing-down" the public.

Our friends over at the Houston paper did a rather good job over the weekend of adding to the confusion. In its lead editorial in Sunday's edition, the Chronicle's editorial board touted the merits of the alternative document draft for English, compared to the mush which is the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). It then ridicules those who have been fighting for the alternative document by calling them "paranoid."

It should come as no surprise, of course, that the Chronicle is fully behind the School-to-Work system being imposed on Texas via the Chronicle's membership in the Texas Business and Education Coalition. The "big guy" in town is fast shirking its duty as the community's watchdog over government excess. Talk about a conflict of interest!

The big PR machine is also rolling right along through its association with the Texas Congress of Parents and Teachers. A recent summit was held in Austin, with a Texas Education Agency facilitator called in to help delegates reach a pre-determined conclusion on how best to "develop a common vision and collaborate on joint efforts in order to improve parent involvement and counter anti-public education sentiments."

We also have the local community college, HCC-Northwest, "forming a partnership" with Mr. Motivation, Zig Ziglar, and sending out a press release crowing about its association with a program run by grants from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education.

More and more people, however, are waking up to the realization of what's going on.

During testimony before the State Board of Education last week on the TEKS, Larry Stevens of Fort Worth wondered aloud. "TEKS clearly works, and even states, that it is to 'insure behavior change,'" he said. He then went on to dissect the TEKS Health Education curriculum, portraying vividly that what is to be taught is not "health," but rather "social engineering."

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders, in Sunday's edition, jumped all over Gov. George W. Bush for not lending his wholehearted support to the alternative document draft for English, after he earlier referred to the TEKS as "mush."

"Where is Governor George W. Bush, Jr.?" Saunders asked. "While he criticized an earlier TEKS draft, he has failed to come out solidly for TADD. Sort of like his dad, President Mush."

There are a couple of little pamphlets I was gifted with recently which, in my view, should be distributed to every household in the nation. They're both penned by Donna Hearne of the Constitution Coalition out of St. Louis, Mo.: Paychecks and Power and The Dawning of the Brave New World.

Hearne served in a number of key positions in the U.S. Department of Education during the Reagan Administration, and both pamphlets spell out the national agenda for education "reform" and the socialization of the workforce in language that is so clear and concise as to make me envious.

For details on both pamphlets, contact: The Constitutional Coalition, PO Box 37054, St. Louis MO 63141, fax 314-878-6294. They are well worth the read.