different political faction ruled thernroost—^with another 10 years of computerrntechnology under its belt.rnMeanwhile, education buzzwords arerncrafted so as to project an image far differentrnfrom what thev mean. “World-rnClass Standards,” “Core Curriculum,”rn”Education/Goals 2000,” “Life-RolernCompetencies,” “Higher Order ThinkingrnSkills”: none of these refers to academics,rnsubstantive knowledge, or evenrnliteracy. All are part of prepackagedrnadvertising campaigns, designed bv nationalrntask forces (not by local communities)rnto bring a positive response fromrnlegislators just long enough for somerncoveted initiative to be passed into law,rnor at least to become institutionalized ifrnnot exactly legal. Should a term elicitrntoo much negative public reaction, thenrnprofessional manipulators, called “facilitators,”rnare brought in from outside therncommunity for damage control, andrnthe terminology is changed to buy timernto deflect the criticism. Thus did “globalrneducation” become “multiculturalism”;rn”school reform” was born again asrn”restructuring”; and “situation ethics”rnhas been reintroduced as “ethicalrnjudgment.” The substance of such programs,rnhowever, never changes, regardlessrnof which political partv is in powerrnor what local communities want.rnNational “restructuring”—which includesrn”outcome-based” and “performance-rnbased” education, “results-basedrnmonitoring,” etc.—means just onernthing; indefinite, nonacademic, touchyfcelyrnobjectives tied to a computer technologyrnwith the capability to monitorrnand track individual reactions andrnresponses over time. These are storedrnas electronic files, for sale to any “researcher”rnwho can pa}’. Personal identifiersrnpermit these records to be linkedrnwith still other computerized data on individualsrnand demographic groups sornthat information brokers can link up tornvarious public and private information,rnfrom census to income tax records, losingrnthe compiled data, slick campaignsrnand “messages” can be targeted to specificrnsubpopulations, neighborhoods,rneven to individual students sitting in thernclassroom, via computer terminal.rnParents—indeed, the public in generalrn—must understand that, in education,rnthey are not dealing simply with teachersrnwho want to help their childrenrnlearn, but with behavioral scientistsrnwhose starting point is that professionalsrnknow better than parents how to raisernchildren. These pseudoscientists viewrneducation as socialization, pure andrnsimple. Parents are seen as impedimentsrnbecause of some supposed, exponentiallyrngrowing generation gap. The answer,rnthev say, is to remove the child as earlyrnAdams’ Amazing Discovery:rnliaptists, Fundamentalists, and Orthodox Jews are right: The Bible is literalrniiuth. The world was created, fossils and all, in 7 days.rnHOW? He made it out of 3-D Fractals. In the beginning was the Word.rn^-D Fractals are the visible echoes. They make all we see.rnWHY? Catholics are right. We have free will. So, Creation had to bernm.ide in such a way that we couldn’t tell if He made it.rnC R A T S ! explains it. And tells us where the races come from. It introducesrnthe Brain Rank Theory of Reality. See yourself as the CRATS see you,rnlis a mid-level Field Beast (taxpayer) whose sole purpose is to be enslaved.rnL RATS!, the novel so novel it needs its own glossary.rnIf you thinkyou ‘re tired of excessive government,rnwait ’til you see what the Sons and Daughters ofrnShem, Ham, and Japeth do about it in . . . CRAilS!rnan Adams bookrnTo order call: l-SOO-OLD-DRUM VISA/MC acceptedrn(>r send a check for $9.95; Two copies, $18.00 (includes postage & handling) to’rnOld Drum Publishing, Box 401, Portersville, PA 16051.rnas possible from the offending parentalrnenvironment.rnMost people think this wisdom refersrnonly to children of incompetent, negligent,rnand irresponsible parents. But inrnthe end, all parents are viewed as wanting,rnand new policies are applied acrossrnthe board. Such warped fanaticism isrnnot going to be easily countered withrnspecious arguments, open forums, andrnparent-teacher conferences. It can onlyrnbe addressed through the force of law.rnSome folks apparently have gottenrnthat message. In April 1993, more thanrn10,000 parents opted out of Texas’s staternassessment, the Norm-Referenced AssessmentrnProgram. In November of thatrnyear, a thousand parents gathered inrnprotest outside Pennsylvania’s state capitolrnbuilding in Harrisburg, with 150 ofrntheir legislators’ blessings. Then, a littlernmonthly newspaper began circulatingrnout of Iowa, The Free World ResearchrnReport, publicizing to a now-nationwidernreadership the status of copycat educationrnlegislation in various states, buzzrnphrases that emerge out of nowhere andrnare institutionalized, and informationrnranging from state-regional-federal computerrnnetworks to the “whole language”rnapproach to reading instruction.rnMoreover, there is a growing resistancernmovement that refuses to be relegatedrnto serving cookies and punch atrnthe PTA, while their representatives rubber-rnstamp directives from On High.rnThousands of maverick citizens groupsrnand parents who, just five years ago, wererntold they were the only “oddballs”rnquestioning their schools (and gettingrnthe runaround), are no longer “homernalone.” Today, they are networkmg,rntoo—on Prodigy, CompuServe, andrneven on the Internet. They are demandingrnto sec copies of standardized testsrnand insisting on signoff prior to any psychologicalrnprobing or programming.rnThey arc saying “good riddance” to bogusrnchild management theories of thern60’s and electing school boards withrnbackbone to represent parental interests.rnBut the going is tough. Pervasive datarntrafficking and privacy rights violationsrnare presenting significant challengesrnover which parents have already lost anyrnmeaningful control. Let us hope there isrnstill time to rescue our schools.rnB.K. Eakman is the author, mostrnrecently, of Microchipped: Howrnthe Education EstablishmentrnTook Us Beyond Big Brother.rn54/CHRONICLESrnrnrn