Since 1990 a monstrous Juggernaut or, as one OBE expert has called it, a 'gentle bulldozer' has been quietly winding its way down America's education highway, and most Americans aren't even aware of it. Its ultimate goal is a radical restructuring of the American educational system from top to bottom by the year 2000, a restructuring that proponents maintain will make our present concept of what a school is look silly.

The driving force behind this seemingly unstoppable bulldozer is known as OBE. This is a radical and unproven theory of education developed since the '50s by a handful of American educationists and social scientists who believe our schools have been on the wrong track since their beginnings.

The origins of the movement go back to a presidential commission report of l983 entitled A NATION AT RISK, and to a conference held in March of 1990 in Thailand which was sponsored by the UN and the World Bank as part of the upcoming New World Order. Entitled a "World Conference on Education for All," it was attended by delegations from 156 countries and set the stage for a view of education that instils into children an attitude toward learning that de-emphasizes facts and knowledge and emphasizes politically correct social and psychological thinking.

IN THIS COUNTRY the World Conference spawned a series of political and educational documents on both the federal and state level that will inevitably change the course of American education for generations to come. Among the most important of these are 2 federal bills. One is known as Goals 2000: Educate America Act, signed into law by Clinton last March. The other is known as HR6 (S1513): Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, passed by the House last February and by the Senate on August 5. We now await the final version from the conference committee. On the NY state level we have the Regents' Action Plan of 1984 which has led to SED's A NEW COMPACT FOR LEARNING, approved by the Regents in 1991 and closely related to the 2 federal programs. We also have Gov. Cuomo's ambitious program called PUTTING CHILDREN FIRST, a veritable cradle-to-grave initiative guaranteeing equity in education for all. But please keep in mind that the glue that binds all these programs together is OBE.

FOR THOSE OF US WHO LIVE in the Empire State, we must focus our attention on the NY scene where the SED is trying to introduce this radical school reform through the document entitled A New Compact for Learning. But in order to understand this document we must place it in the context of the total movement.

This talk hopes to accomplish 3 things. The first is to show how and why OBE and the New Compact for Learning came about. The second is to indicate how OBE and the Compact are closely related. The third is to examine some serious problems inherent in both, together with some possible solutions. Ultimately, however, I should like to impress on you that the entire reform movement, which will run until 2000, will be terribly expensive and terribly dangerous to family values and cohesion.

GOALS 2000 IS IN TURN linked to another Act, HR6 (S1513 recently approved and now in conference) which hopes to re- authorized $12 billion per year for the next 5 years, presumably to help disadvantaged children. However, it too, like Goals 2000, OBE, and the New Compact, calls for the "elimination of knowledge-based tests," for "cumulative portfolios," "real life projects," and "higher-order skills of critical thinking." It too calls for a school-parent compact. In addition, it provides for school-based health clinics and other social services, gender equity, parent training, and the establishment of a National Center for Educational Statistics which will electronically track all students from kindergarten to post-secondary levels. States seeking funds under this Act must prove that they have begun enacting the far-reaching outcomes or standards of Goals 2000. It establishes a National School Board and Curriculum Committee to police schools which must toe the mark once they accept funds. If they don't they could be removed from local jurisdiction and be replaced by state-imposed charter schools. Likewise, superintendents and school boards could be replaced by receivers or trustees, and it would even be possible for a local school district to be abolished. The thrust of both these federal bills will inevitably lead to a federalization of American schools.

THIS NOW BRINGS US to our central problem: to what an extent are New York's New Compact for Learning and the OBE system on which it rests driven by the potential funds that will be supplied by these 2 bills? Is this what drives them or are they based on sound educational theory and real concern for our children? Upon reflection, one can't help but admire the foresight of our SED since one of the rules for receiving federal funds requires that "States with reform plans already in place that meet the Act's requirements will not have to develop new plans for Goals 2000." We can therefore rest assured that N.Y. with its New Compact is running way ahead of the rest of the country in qualifying for extensive funding. [Already it is among the first states to apply for such funding] Let us now examine how the New Compact and OBE mesh insofar as educational theory goes.