Parents as Teachers

The following is an extract from the excellent Media Spotlight Special Report
Education Reform for the New World Order
March 1993 (second printing)
Reproduced with permission

Under the Specifics of the America 2000 strategy for implementing Goal #1, we read:

"Individual Responsibility. Increased attention will be focused on adult behavior, responsibility for children and family, and community values essential for strong schools. This includes involving parents as teachers of their children and as school partners" [1].

This sounds good. Many parents want to have a say in their child's education. But 'parents as teachers' isn't what it seems. In fact, 'parents as teachers' means that parents must first be instructed on how to parent in order to know how to teach their children. This is known as 'parent education'. This, in turn, means that government agencies will, from before a child's birth, impose themselves into the home and implement the parents' training process.

"As needed, schools will bring in such ancillary services as after school activities, health care, prenatal care and early childhood development, social services, literacy programs, counseling, parent education and training, and job preparation and placement" [2].

"American homes must be places of learning. Parents should play an active role in their children's early learning, particularly by reading to them on a daily basis. Parents should have access to the support and training required to fulfill this role, especially in poor, undereducated families. In preparing young people to start school, both the federal and state governments have important roles to play, especially with regard to health, nutrition, and early childhood development... The federal government should work with the states to develop and fully fund early intervention strategies for children. All eligible children should have access to Head Start, Chapter 1, or some other successful pre-school program with strong parental involvement" (Emphasis in original) [3].

"The Harvard Project on Effective Services and the Center for the Study of Social Policy will work with such organizations as National Center for Service Integration, Joining Forces, and the National Center on Education and the Economy to create integrated, comprehensive services, beginning with pre-natal care, and including health care, family support services, child care and preschool education. Teachers will be able to mobilize services and support for children and their families" [4].

Here is the specter of government intrusion into every home. While government intervention is necessary in extreme cases involving genuine child abuse, it oversteps the bounds of guaranteed individual freedom to intervene otherwise. The excuse that the poor and undereducated require government intervention does not nullify that truth. That excuse, in fact, is just a ruse. The plan is not only to infringe on the poor and undereducated; it is to infringe on the rights of everyone, as we will see.

Now, everyone wants every child to have health and nutrition. But early childhood development is a vague term meaning everything from help for the physically handicapped to mental and emotional stability. It is in this latter realm that the dangers lie.

When the reformers say that every child will be "ready to learn" they don't mean every child will have had some preparation in elementary academics. They mean that every child will be socially adjusted to fit into the state approved guidelines that define 'wellness' on physical, mental and emotional levels:

"One major focus of this proposal will be to have children prepared to start school ready to learn. Being prepared to assume the role of student does not mean acquiring a universal and specific body of 'academic' knowledge and skills. Readiness can not (sic) be taught or tested; nor does it constitute a set of entry requirements for school. It is a holistic concept that encompasses physical, social, emotional, and intellectual dimensions of development. All persons, agencies, and institutions with whom 0-6 year old children interact should be held responsible for enhancing their development, thus contributing to their preparedness for school. This requires collaboration with representatives from the health and medical, child-care/education, business, and human resources communities to identify the scope of each agency, institution, or provider's responsibility and accountability with regard to preparing children for school" [5].

"The school will establish its own 'ready for school' standards and will work with a consortium of community agencies to assist in getting all children ready to learn by the time they begin school. The school will provide opportunities for parental involvement and parental education. Parents will consult with their child's teacher/advisor on a regular basis to follow - and assist with - the child's progress" [6].

It is assumed that such government intervention might be provided only to those who are poor and disadvantaged. But the plan is for all families regardless of their economic and social standing. And there is a determination to those plans, as revealed by Roots and Wings, one of the Design Teams for the America 2000 program:

"Our vision of a Roots and Wings school is one which ensures that every child, regardless of family background, ability or disability, and other factors, attains the knowledge, skills, understandings, and motivation which constitute world-class levels of performance. The key word here is every. A Roots and Wings school will be one in which the school, parents, community agencies, and others work in a coordinated, comprehensive, and relentless way from the birth of the child onward to see that children receive whatever they need to become competent, confident, and caring learners. This is the 'roots' of Roots and Wings; the guarantee that every child will make it successfully through the elementary grades, no matter what this takes" [7].

"Relentless"? "Every child"? "No matter what this takes"? What will this do to individual liberty, not only for the parents, but for the children themselves? For such a plan to succeed it must be assumed that every child is capable of achieving the goals of America 2000. If they do not achieve those goals, it must logically be assumed that the parents are deficient in their role as 'teachers'. Certainly the bureaucratic system will not admit fault. After all, it has been devised by 'experts'.

Another infringement upon parental rights and duties is the state's character education goal.

"Character education will be infused throughout the curriculum and will be specifically provided as the first activity each day" [8].

A godless education system that promotes homosexuality, condom distribution, abortion rights and evolution - while outlawing any mention of God, let alone Jesus - is going to take charge of your child's 'character development'? For you parents who think you'll be able to change things for the better, you've already been thought of:

"There will be a single governing body consisting of parents, business leaders, government officials, educators and other citizens. In order to maintain their seats on the governing board, members will be required to continually familiarise and update themselves with the school work site concept" (Emphasis AJD) [9].

In other words, go along with the program or butt out.

Footnotes

[1] The Design Team Program (Arlington, VA: New American Schools Development Corporation), p.1.

[2] Press Release, The College for Human Services (Arlington, VA: NASDC, July 9, 1992), p.1.

[3] NASDC Press Release, New American Schools Development Corporation Announces Designs to Transform Nation's Schools, p.41.

[4] Press Release, The National Alliance for Restructuring Education (Arlington, VA: NASDC, July 9, 1992), p.3.

[5] Roots and Wings - Universal Excellence in Elementary Education (Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students, John Hopkins University & Maryland State Department of Education, no date), p.3.

[6] Press Release, The Modern Red Schoolhouse (Arlington, VA: NASDC, July 9, 1992), p.3.

[7] Roots and Wings - Universal Excellence in Elementary Education, p.4.

[8] Ibid., p.21.

[9] Press Release, Bensenville Community Design for a New Generation of Schools (Arlington, VA: NASDC, July 9, 1992), p.3.