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The Republican - Volume XII, Issue 6 June 1998 The trend toward rising attendance continued at the May Meeting as the largest crowd in several months turned out. In the absence of President Martin Arbagi, elected by acclamation (see Page 3), Vice-President Mike Osgood presided, leading a brief but lively discussion about a number of issues, including the recent primaries and crime, before Diana Fessler, State School Board Member for the Third District, spoke. Mrs. Fessler's primary topic was a little-known federal initiative dating to 1994 that is gradually taking control of state and local educational systems all across these United States: the "School-to-Work" (STP) Program. Before summarizing Mrs. Fessler's massively-documented presentation, THE REPUBLICAN would like to observe that essential to STP'S success is the blurring of the distinction between education and training. Education is the unspecialized teaching or acquisition of general academic abilities in language and literature, mathematics, science, history, and so forth. Training is teaching or acquiring a specialized skill in a trade, carpentry, plumbing, tool-and-die making, and so forth. Biologists believe that in a rapidly-changing environment, unspecialized organisms have a greater chance for survival. In addition, most authorities on educational psychology believe that until about age 15, purely academic training in traditional subjects makes more sense even for mentally handicapped children. Scholarly studies suggest that in the corporate world, although college graduates with traditional degrees in Liberal Arts or the "pure" sciences (such as Physics) have more difficulty finding jobs initially, in the long run, they advance more rapidly than those with specialized undergraduate degrees in Business. STW is a system, not a program. It redefines "education" as preparation for work, blurring, as we have just seen, the line between education and training. STW is for all, not merely for the mentally handicapped or those who voluntarily choose it. It is government-mandated job training, intended to go into effect on a nationwide basis, and backed by a 1994 federal law. Essentially, STW prepares students to enter the work force based on local needs. For example, local businessmen might declare that the Miami Valley must have 3,000 trained house painters by 2015. Schools would then undertake to supply them. Traditional degrees would be replaced by "Occupational Certificates" attesting to students' readiness to enter the ranks of local workers. Work-based learning would include job shadowing, technical prep, community service, apprenticeships, and school-based enterprises. [The latter are mock corporations run by students.] The incentives to adopt STW are federal grants for its development and implementation. Both state and local officials may apply for these grants. But Mrs. Fessler noted that "in just over 200 years, this country went from being an English colony to being the greatest nation on earth. We've had more Nobel Prize recipients than any other industrialized nation. We've sent men into outer space and brought them back; we've pioneered open-heart surgery, and our science and technology are copied worldwide. Those who accomplished these incredible feats were the product of an educational system that emphasized academics, not lifelong job training for the perceived good of the economy.' Mrs. Fessler put forward a number of specific proposals to halt STW. Space prevents us from mentioning them all here, but principal ones were: Rejection of proposals that require all students to identify "career majors" early in their lives. Such plans depend on pure speculation as to what jobs [roofers, electricians, etc.] will be needed in the 21st Century. Rejection of any proposal that enables a selected [and unelected] group of people to determine who gets the best jobs, and what businesses get the best employees. Rejection of plans to merge special education [educational programs aimed at the handicapped], general education, college preparatory education [aimed at gifted students], and vocational education. Merging such programs merges the money. The result is permanent funding for STW which is, by definition, the "integration" of vocational training and academic education. STW thereupon becomes the dominant partner. "Sunset" all governmental commissions, councils, boards, "partnerships," and committees. Program funding is more difficult to track than line-item funding. Therefore, insist on the later. Don't you wish you were at the last meeting? The Miami Valley Republicans & Young Republican Clubs P.O. Box 292425 Kettering, OH 45429 |
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Diana M. Fessler
· 7530 Ross Road · New Carlisle, OH ·
45344 |