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I
look at this now from the vantage of the 2016 election and the student
riots and protests following. The establishment is having a hissy fit
and the students have been so well programmed and indoctrinated they
are acting out in response to the guidance of many in schools and
college campuses. This is what Minnesota saw in 2002. Think about what
we now see.
Transformational Education
EdAction
[formerly Maple River Education Coalition PAC]
1402 Concordia Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55144
651-646-0646
http://www.edaction.org
September 10, 2003
[PLEASE SEE OUR URGENT NATIONAL ALERT ON THE NEW
CIVICS, http://education.org, and CALL
YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS!]
TRANSFORMATIONAL EDUCATION
The New Mission of Schools
By Michael J. Chapman
---
"The Declaration of Independence has no legal status in defining
people's
rights and privileges."
Minnesota Senate Education Committee Chairman, Steve Kelley
---
Minnesota, like every state in the nation, is in a battle with the federal
government for control of education. The National Content Standards
dictated through Federal Goals 2000 did NOT go away with a change of
administration. President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB)
continues
to name and fund, for example, the Center for Civic Education (CCE), first
named by HR6 in 1994 and mandated by Goals 2000 as the standard for
America's Civics and Government curriculum.
In fact, both HR6 and NCLB named the model Civics textbook ("We the
People; the Citizen and the Constitution") written by the CCE.
But the
textbook opens declaring: "The primary purpose of this textbook is
not to
fill your head with a lot of facts about American History and
Government."
What then, is it for?
The CCE answers that question in a report posted at their web site
entitled,
"Teaching Democracy Globally, Internationally, and Comparatively: The
21st
Century Mission of Schools":
"In the past century, the civic mission of schools.was education for
democracy in a sovereign state.. In this century, by contrast.
education will become everywhere more global.. And we ought to.
improve our curricular frameworks and standards for a world
transformed by globally accepted and internationally transcendent
principles."
In other words, education is no longer about teaching American principles
for the MAINTENANCE of freedom, but teaching internationally
accepted
principles to TRANSFORM America for the "global village."
To help reach
this new goal of education, the CCE's textbook, "We the People,"
promotes
"universal principles" while demoting the Bill of Rights as an
outdated
relic.
In the chapter, "How May Citizenship Change in the 21st
Century," the
"global village" is promoted and students are asked, "Do
you think world
citizenship will be possible in your lifetime?"
The global village requires citizens to hold a pluralist worldview (e.g.
all
ideas are equal). These globalist themes are promoted in all of the
national
standards. For example, The National Curriculum Standards for Social
Studies defines its new mission:
"The United States and its democracy are constantly evolving and in
continuous need of citizens who can adapt to meet the changing
circumstances. Meeting that need is the mission of social studies.
.Students should be helped to construct a pluralist perspective
based on diversity.[and] should be helped to construct a global
perspective."
Likewise, the National Content Standards for Economics (also named and
funded by NCLB) states: "The consensus process shall be open to ALL
POINTS OF VIEW and shall represent a BALANCED APPROACH to
economics." (emphasis added) In the global village, America's
free-
market system must be "balanced" with other systems, rather than
considered "best."
Historical facts have proven globalist theories wrong so the teaching of
"facts" is simply eliminated. The National Content
Standards for
Economics explain:
"These standards are primarily conceptual. They do not include
important basic facts about the American and World economies."
[p. viii]
The National History Standards push "concept" over
"facts" to the
extreme - even eliminating "truth:"
"One of the most common problems.is the compulsion students
feel to find the ONE RIGHT ANSWER. .Or, WORSE YET, they
rush to closure, reporting back as SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS the
facts or conclusions presented in the document or text."
(emphasis added)
Perhaps you recognize a not-so-subtle attack on the "self evident
truths"
named in the Declaration of Independence, such as the God-given
unalienable rights of people, national sovereignty, and the limits of
governmental power.
Standing in the way of the global village is a citizen who understands
these principles. Therefore, our Founders and the Declaration of
Independence must be trashed. That battle is being fought right now
in
Minnesota.
In May, Minnesota became the first state to overwhelmingly reject the
National Curriculum, known locally as, "The Profile of
Learning." The
political field had been well prepared in advance by a parent organization
called "The Maple River Education Coalition," now EdWatch
(www.EdWatch.org), so the vote was
expected. The real battle, however,
was in setting parameters for the replacement standards.
The House version included a mandate to "promote and preserve the
principles contained in the Declaration of Independence." But
that
mandate was missing from the final version that emerged from the joint
education committee. In testimony, Senator Steve Kelley (D -
Chairman)
was asked why. He responded, "The Declaration of Independence
has
no legal status in defining people's rights and privileges."
Incredibly, he repeated that assertion before the full Senate, to which
Senator Michele Bachmann (R) asked, "Senator Kelley. I also
noticed
missing .'[is to preserve] other such American principles as national
sovereignty, natural law and free-market enterprise. .Why would your
committee fail to include these basic American Principles?"
Senator Kelley responded: "Like everything that happens in conference
committee, it was a compromise."
Distressingly, only Senator Bachmann stood in protest, pointing out that
in this case "compromise" meant the "omission" of our
basic American
principles. Ultimately, it also means the end of our freedom
especially
since the Constitution is reliant on the Declaration to give it meaning.
On April 30th, 1789, John Quincy Adams explained the vital relationship
between these two foundational documents:
"The virtue which had been infused into the Constitution of the
United
States.was no other than.those abstract principles which had
been first proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence namely,
the self-evident truths of the natural and unalienable rights of man.
and the sovereignty of the people, always subordinate to a rule of
right and wrong, and always responsible to the Supreme Ruler of the
universe for the rightful exercise of that sovereign.power. This was
the platform upon which the Constitution of the United States had
been erected."
Without recognizing this platform and the "Supreme Ruler of the
universe"
as the source of our rights, there is nothing to stop the globalist
from
redefining our rights - or the Constitution - to fit the
"transcendent
principles"
required for membership in the global village. The Universal
Declaration
of
Human Rights may sound nice, but it limits our rights by naming a new god:
GOVERNMENT! Article 29. 3., declares: "These rights and
freedoms may
in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the
United Nations."
Thomas Jefferson's words serve a fair warning for today:
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have
removed their only firm basis; a conviction in the minds of the
people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to
be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country
when I realize that God is just, and His justice cannot sleep
forever!"
Today, as revealed by the National Curriculum Standards, education is
no longer about preparing our children to maintain true liberty. Instead,
by
force of law, it is about indoctrinating our children to accept membership
in the global village - where government will determine what constitutes
one's life, liberty, and happiness.
-----------------------
For more information on how you can help fight for the preservation of
freedom, please visit:
The EdWatch websites at: www.EdWatch.org
/ www.EdAction.org.
Also, visit Michael Chapman's web site at:
www.AmericanHeritageResearch.com.
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