CURRICULUM OVERHAUL SHOULD BE DONE WITH PUBLIC INPUT

"This is really a complete change for us. What we're looking at is a complete overhaul in our curriculum." With those words, an official of the Cape Girardeau public schools recently heralded the arrival of a six-figure state grant.

Last month, officials of the Cape Girardeau public school system learned the district had been selected as one of 35 Missouri school districts to receive a $203,838 state grant. Pardon us if we hold our applause until we learn more about just exactly what is going on.

The money comes through the "A-plus" grant program, a new program set up by Senate Bill 380, Gov. Mel Carnahan's 1993 education reform bill. We haven't exactly been shrinking violets where principled criticism of SB 380 is concerned. We have repeatedly said the legislation is badly flawed, based on faulty premises, hastily enacted and poorly understood.

Does this mean we should automatically condemn all sizable expenditures of the "A-plus" grant program? Of course not. Individual programs whose genesis happens to be SB 380 can and should be evaluated on their own merits. Healthy skepticism is, however, in order. District patrons will need to be kept informed at every stage of this process. Accordingly, we urge the school board and administrators to proceed cautiously, holding public meetings and including district patrons to the greatest possible extent in whatever curriculum changes are undertaken.

Here is what we know about the "A-plus" grant. The program will begin in the 1995-96 school year. Summarized in blandly soothing educationese, it has three seemingly laudable goals: all students will graduate from high school, all students will complete high school courses that are "challenging and beneficial," and all students will attend college or a post-secondary vocational or technical school or secure "a high-wage job with good workplace opportunity."

Each student will choose from one of six career areas on which the student will base his or her entire high school course plan. The six areas include health related professions, social services, arts and communication, business and management, and industry and engineering.

"This is trying to do away with a general curriculum," said James Englehart, director of secondary education. "This program will actually force students to make a career decision about their future." Under industry and engineering, we are told, a student could choose to be anything from an auto mechanic to a mechanical or chemical engineer. "Each path has both college-bound and non-college-bound alternatives," Englehart continued. "In no way are we discouraging the college-bound path. We're just going about it a little differently."

Perhaps this approach has merit. But we would be remiss if we didn't wonder about the wisdom of taking 13- and 14-year-old eighth or ninth graders and placing them on a firm path toward a career they must select so early. An auto mechanics student might benefit -- or even have his or her entire world changed -- by exposure to classical music or other fine arts in, say, the junior year. If such options are foreclosed by decisions made two years earlier, precisely what has been gained?

A part of the "A-plus" program, the school district will receive an immediate infusion of new technology: a computer lab with 15 IBM-compatible work computers and an applied technology lab with 20 new work stations. School officials intend to hire a coordinator for the "A-plus" program who will rewrite the school's course objectives to meet the requirements of the career paths. That is quite a charge, and selecting the right person will be critical. Entirely new classes will be implemented, such as "ABC Science", a two-year program that "combines biology and chemistry with practical application."

Englehart says, "This is a chance to look at our total curriculum in a very comprehensive way that will benefit all students." We hope so. For now, though, put us down among those Missourians who will need to be shown that a "complete curriculum overhaul" is cause for celebration.