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Is your school's curriculum UN-approved? August 14, 2003 Commentary
by Larry Pratt Does it seem somewhat far out to ask such a question? Would that it were so. The United States is working with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to federalize the curriculum of all schools in the United States. The new curriculum would be one that conforms to other countries as well as to UNESCO. Actually, we do have federal curriculum standards for civics that encompass the teaching of history, geography, social studies and civics. Indeed, there are federal standards for other disciplines as well. The standards are referred to in Washington newspeak as guidelines. The guidelines have resulted in a subsidized textbook ($10 a copy) entitled We, the People: The Citizen and the Constitution. If a school district does not use this textbook, whatever they teach from must teach to the national tests that reflect the federal "guidelines." The Department of Education is warning states that if they do not have enough students passing the federally approved tests, they will lose their federal subsidies. The guidelines and We the People are so busy teaching multiculturalism and environmentalism that they have no time for teaching the 2nd Amendment (right to keep and bear arms), and the 10th Amendment (severely limiting legitimate activity of the federal government). And now, it turns out, we are reporting on our progress at wiping out local and state control over curriculum to the UN! Here it is off the UNESCO web site on the USA country report page (www2.unesco.org/wef/countryreports/usa/rapport _2.html): "Most countries have national curricula.... In the United States, however, education is managed at the state and local levels.... Thus, the very concept of designing and agreeing on a set of learning outcomes across traditional jurisdictional lines is new, and in the minds of many, unsettling and undesirable." The UN is saying that they are aware of the political sensitivity of a nationalized education system. This explains the following reference to not letting the American voter in on what "us elitists" are pulling off: "Officials of the U.S. Department of Education, as well as presidents Bush and Clinton, have applauded the emergence of [curriculum] standards at the state level and in the various subject areas, but they understand that any suggestion that these were being imposed by Washington would unleash a political backlash." And for the pleasure of One World groupies is this gem from the same page: "Consciousness is thus growing among U.S. educators that… [e]ducational outcomes must now meet not only national but international standards." I wonder what countries might be the model for setting UN educational standards? Perhaps some of the countries which have trained children to be compliant workers and citizens who do just what they are told. The mind thrills to consider the array of choice: from Cuba to Zimbabwe with Iran and Libya along the way. Rep. Ron Paul is right. So are the other 73 Representatives who voted with Paul to get the UN out of the US and the US out of the UN. Being run from Washington is bad enough, but the being run by the UN is the end of the road to perdition. © 2003 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved
Larry Pratt has been Executive Director of Gun Owners of America for 27 years. GOA is a national membership organization of 300,000 Americans dedicated to promoting their second amendment freedom to keep and bear arms. GOA lobbies for the pro-gun position in Washington and is involved in firearm issues in the states. GOA's work includes providing legal assistance to those involved in lawsuits with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the federal firearms law enforcement agency. Pratt has appeared on numerous national radio and TV programs such as NBC's Today Show, CBS' Good Morning America, CNN's Crossfire and Larry King Live, Fox's Hannity & Colmes, MSNBC's Phil Donahue show and many others. He has debated Congressmen James Traficant, Jr. (D-OH), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Vice President Al Gore, among others. His columns have appeared in newspapers across the country. He published a book, Armed People Victorious, in 1990 and was editor of a book, Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution & Militias, 1995. His latest book, On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty was published in 2001. Pratt has held elective office in the state legislature of Virginia, serving in the House of Delegates. Pratt directs a number of other public interest organizations and serves as the Vice-Chairman of the American Institute for Cancer Research. The GOA web site is: http://gunowners.org. Pratt's weekly talk
show Live Fire is archived there at: http://gunowners.org/radio.htm
E-Mail: ldpratt@gunowners.org |