The NY state grass roots group called ESTEEM has published a book containing 3 essays which may be of interest to you all. Entitled THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF EDUCATION REFORM 2000, it contains essays by William Coulson, Aldo Bernardo, and Charles Richardson.

The piece by Dr.Coulson is entitled "The Role of Psychology in Current Education Reform." Concentrating on the work of noted psychologist Carl Rogers, Coulson stresses the dangers inherent in having untrained teachers use psychological methods to produce desirable behaviors in students. Under the guise of such labels as experiential learning (if it feels good, it is good), values clarification, and higher order thinking skills, many well-meaning teachers have been doing irreparable harm to students, being pushed by OBE adherents and by the endless flow of funds from Washington. As a result, kids with bad experiences tend to dominate class discussions while good kids are ashamed of not having had such experiences and tend to admire those who have. This explains in part why drug education seems to lead to wider use of drugs, and sex education to more involvement in sex. This is also why the DARE program is having serious problems. He warns that unless parents start to realize how damaging the misuse of psychology in the classroom can be, we are headed for a generation of youngsters with warped minds.

In his essay,"Education Reform: Dumbing Down or Emasculation?" Dr. Bernardo shows how the indoctrination of teachers in the use of OBE methods has led them to believe that the results attained by the use of standardized tests are invalid and should not be taken seriously. As a result, they tend to overlook the serious implications of falling scores by American students on international tests. Performance testing and the use of portfolios are increasingly becoming the order of the day. By deemphasizing standardized tests, the reform movement has gone beyond the dumbing down process. It represents a completely new view of education which moves away from academics and toward the socialization of student behavior.

Charles Richardson, a retired Long Island engineer and educator, provides a detailed analysis of the extent to which hocus-pokus plays a central role in determining what the real costs of education are when computed honestly, and why increased funding for schools has little bearing on quality of education. His essay is entitled "Dollars and Sense in Education."

The 65 page book will be available after March 15 for a donation of $5+$1. Pre-publication orders are being taken by emailing me bernie@binghamton.edu. Donation may be sent to ESTEEM, 25 Third St., Johnson City, NY 13790.

Two recent must reads: Melanie Phillips, ALL MUST HAVE PRIZES, Little, Brown and Co (Shows what we can expect if education reform is not slowed down: it's already in Britain); Mark Tucker and Judy Codding, STANDARDS FOR OUR SCHOOLS, Jossey Bass Publishers (clearly shows Tucker's hypocrisy as he calls for new 'standards' based on performance, yet speaks of "standards-based education," really substituting the word "standards" for "outcomes" which sort of skip over academics as in his early writings).