CON/GOALS 2000: LETTING THE TEACHERS TEACH THE BASICS IS A BETTER WAY

The Goals 2000: Educate America Act is deja vu all over again if history means anything. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been appropriated and spent, but the best we can say about American public education is that it has progressed from good, to bad, to worse; but still the culprit that has contributed to the demise of our system is at the state level.

In Missouri, lawmakers insist upon passing legislation that restricts the schools from improving the teaching-learning process. For example, in 1985 it was the Excellence in Education Act that was designed to improve student performance, encourage innovative programs and attract and retain the brightest teachers. There is no evidence that it accomplished any of the above.

The latest educational extravaganza produced by the legislators was Senate Bill 380, officially known as he Outstanding Schools Act. It carried with it a tax increase of more than $300 million, created a massive bureaucracy, is full of mandates to local districts and attempts to create programs not needed.

In 1957, following the Russian launching of Sputnik, President Eisenhower requested and received a $1 billion appropriation to be used to improve the teaching of math, science, English, foreign languages and other basic subjects. Thousands of high school teachers flocked to college campuses on all-expense paid summer sessions to learn "the new math, new chemistry, new biology." I directed one of these program when I was a staff member at the University of Denver. When the billion dollars was spent, and when the parties were over, American education was more uncertain and confused than ever.

Here are my thoughts on some of the Goals 2000:

-- High School graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent. This is another endless struggle. Are we ready to pay cash to students for staying in school? Can we force them to graduate?

-- Students will master challenging subject matter in a variety of areas. It's a psychological fact that some students have it and some do not. Terribly complicated.

-- Every school will be drug- and violence-free. Not unless our society produces parents who know how to rear their children.

-- Teachers will have access to programs to improve their skills. Teachers have that access now, but neither the time nor the money to do it.

-- All schools will strive to increase parental involvement. This has been done by schoolteachers and administrators for decades, with little success.

Because our schools have been forced to take over the responsibilities of the home and are expected to teach such subjects as driver education, sex education, drug education and many others, there isn't time to teach kids to read, write, spell and figure correctly.

According to the papers, Missouri received $1.5 million in federal money just to plan for reaching the Goals 2000 gimmick. What a waste. One winner for sure will be a hotel at the Lake of the Ozarks (where planning meetings are held).

Ken Young of Branson is professor emeritus at the College of the Ozarks.