KINDER'S COMMENTARY: BOOK ON OBE DOCUMENTS DANGEROUS NATIONAL TREND

Since embarking on what became a series of more than two dozen columns on Missouri's education reforms last February, I've lost count of the times I have been out in public and approached by worried readers. Invariably, someone says, "What can we do" to stem the tide of Outcome Based Education in our state? With nothing less than the ruination of public schools at stake, it is a good question. As I was self-educating on OBE while slogging through the frenzy of a busy legislative session, I have been at something of a loss for a definitive answer. Not any more.

From the gifted mind and prolific pen of Robert Holland, an editor and columnist at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, has come a book that is absolute must-reading for all who are interested in this subject. Provocatively titled "Not With My Child You Don't," Holland's authoritative work is based on his extensive reading of original source materials. It is at once a comprehensive discussion of the origins of OBE, a description of the powerful forces lined up behind it and a profile of the local struggles of parent after parent from Virginia to California. The tales of ordinary citizens first awakening to the OBE agenda, then fighting arrogant and unresponsive educrats at the grassroots level, are indeed inspiring, in the finest tradition of American citizenship.

Of particular interest to Missourians should be contributions from anti-OBE activists in Kentucky. That state adopted the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990. KERA was constantly cited as Missouri's model for education reform as Senate Bill 380 (the Outstanding Schools Act) was moving toward enactment in 1993. They are three years ahead of us on this reform track. A national organization of state lawmakers ranks states in its annual "Report Card on American Education." For 1994, Kentucky leads the nation -- in declining [UNITAL] public school enrollment. This despite a rising population. Christian schools are expanding but have long waiting lists. Home schooling is exploding, up 30 percent last year alone, as Kentucky parents vote with their feet, fleeing the public schools of the reformers' fevered vision.

If Holland had done nothing more, his contribution would have been substantial. But he didn't stop there. In sum, his work product is a citizen's handbook for networking and for the kind of grass-roots organizing it takes to beat the educationist establishment at its own game.

Of the several books and pamphlets that have attempted to deal comprehensively with the subject of OBE, none can touch this one for thoroughness, for the human touch, for straightforward readability. It is truly what it claims to be on the front cover: "A Citizens' Guide to Eradicating OBE and Restoring Education."

Holland's book is available at the nominal cost of $12.95 by calling 1-800-555-7606. I have ordered copies for every library in the 27th senatorial district and will be making presentations this fall. Order the book. Arm yourself with several copies. Share them with friends.

Can the pitiless but intellectually bankrupt OBE juggernaut be stopped? Absolutely. But only by an aroused, informed, active citizenry. As this Virginia columnist has shown us the way, let us take inspiration from another Virginian, the great Patrick Henry. Surveying the world's mightiest army and navy arrayed against colonial America, Henry nevertheless reminded his countrymen that "the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong -- it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

As Patrick Henry armed his countrymen more than two centuries ago, I say let's arm ourselves. Get this book, and let's get cracking.

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.