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Educating for the New World Order?
It all sounded so good when we first heard it… Late in the fall, as a member of my local town’s budget committee here in Central NH, we heard the superintendent of schools allude to a new program that he claimed was geared towards academics that would challenge our students in ways designed to help them compete against their peers in other countries. Knowing how we lag in certain areas like math and science when compared to the performance we see in other industrialized nations, who wouldn’t be excited when hearing that something called the International Baccalaureate Programme is coming to our schools? Finally– they’re going to do something about ACADEMICS in school for a change!
Not so fast… Some two months after first hearing the lovely proposal for this great new educational method soon to be arriving in our tiny hamlet nestled in the mountains and Lakes Region of New Hampshire, we now have the rest of the story. The first inkling we had that there was something amiss with the program came from a post by former teacher Jane Aitken at NH Insider…
on the school side, there may be propositions to investigate expensive "international education" curriculae in the form of something called "IB".
So far so good, right? Other than the cost, who could be opposed to such a thing in the new global economy? Well that depends. How do you feel about the UN reaching into your child’s classroom and "instructing" them? Jane provides some detail that might not be well known in the five (wealthy) school districts (including mine) that are looking into this latest fad:
These are politically motivated programs devised by the United Nations and centered out of Geneva, Switzerland, geared more toward the acclimation students as early as the age of 3 into the role of "global citizens" subject to the rules of "global government" as laid out by UN documents such as the UDHR, Earth Charter, and Agenda 21.
Like the Goals 2000 and the NCLB Acts before it, IB schools attempt to instill an early acceptance of these UN "world government" standards and defies local control. These teachings about governmental loyalties are directly contrary to our US Constitutional government and our country’s national sovereignty. These programs seem more about restructuring society and changing attitudes, than educating, and their founders are very up front about it. Even the tests children take would be graded in Geneva.
So much for local control. "Oh but Doug, there you go again. This just sounds like the typical rants you and your right-wing pals are famous for when it comes to this stuff. Please– the UN? It can’t be all that bad!" OK, don’t just take my word, or Jane’s, on this matter– as we’re not the only ones that are suspicious. The "programme" has raised such concerns about its inherent anti-Americanism that it has now been shunned by an entire state! The Salt Lake Tribune has the story:
Lawmakers decided against helping Utah schools pay for International Baccalaureate (IB) programs after one legislator called IB’s philosophy "anti-American" today.
"I’m not opposed to understanding the world," Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, told members of the Senate Education Committee. "I’m opposed to the anti-American philosophy that’s somehow woven into all the classes as they promote the U.N. [United Nations] agenda."
Of course, the promoters will deny all that. It’s not that at all. We’ve got it all wrong. Sure we do. We talked about this with Jane this past Saturday on the radio program. Click here to download, or use the handy player below to listen.
Oh, and if you still don’t believe it’s as bad as we say it is, and that the UN ISN’T trying to make inroads into our schools and education systems, just click on over to this guy’s website. First of all, you’ll notice the flag. You should also know that this man is a Professor of Counselor Education and School Psychology and serves as the Coordinator of the School Psychology Program at one of our local colleges- Plymouth State "University". He also serves as a consulting school psychologist to one of our area school districts. Consider his take on the role of education:
I believe that education must be a force for peace and justice in the world and that it must contribute to the abolition of war and the dismantling of the military system that perpetuates it.
Remember– this guy teaches the teachers that will teach your children. And he’s driven. Yikes!