KINDER'S COMMENTARY: MORE TAKE TIME TO LEARN ABOUT DR. BARTMAN AND CO.

Last week's column foretold a meeting convened this past Wednesday evening by Dr. Bob Bartman, commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Purpose: to discuss the new "assessments" required by Senate Bill 380. I attended along with 15 or so lawmakers and dozens of citizens.

The principal qualifications for sitting through one of Dr. Bartman's little dog-and-pony shows are careful listening skills and endless reservoirs of patience. A cast-iron butt helps, too. Listening to Educrats drone on builds tolerance.

For nearly two interminable hours, Dr. Bartman's hand-picked consultants poured fourth an endless stream of dry abstractions and tedious blather. Through the entire, stupefyingly boring exercise, commissioner Blather, er, Bartman seemed thoroughly satisfied as he turned first to one highly paid, out-of-state consultant, then to another. EduSpeak was piled onto EduSpeak. Listening, one was reminded, yet again, of Irving Kristol's sage comment that "simplicity is the deadliest enemy of the educational establishment." Everything, for them, is complex.

As the clock neared 7:30 p.m., facing a 6:30 a.m. commitment in Cape Girardeau the following morning, I felt constrained to begin the long trip back to Southeast Missouri. I am told that questions were allowed, but only from legislators, and none from the ordinary taxpayers whose attendance I had encouraged. It is worth noting that not only did many of these people travel hundreds of miles to their state capitol to attend the presentation, but many have troubled to inform themselves, over months and years of reading, about just exactly what Dr. Bartman and Co. are up to. Many among these rank-and-file taxpayers are better-informed about what is going on than most members of the General Assembly.

If you're Bob Bartman, then, and are engaged in fundamentally misleading the people of Missouri, then by all means you must insulate yourself and your employees from contact with these ordinary citizens, except under the most tightly controlled of situations. Why should he care what ordinary citizens think? After all, Bartman answers to an unelected state school board. By all means, refuse to take questions from ordinary citizens. When challenged to appear and answer questions, refuse all requests for joint appearances -- much less debates -- unless you are in control. Respond only when a reporter's question makes it unavoidable, and then after delaying as long as possible.

A year ago this month, attending a conclave in Washington, D.C. sponsored by National Review magazine, I had an extensive conversation with the estimable John O'Sullivan, that journal's editor. He asked whether I had attended a breakout session on "sexual politics" the afternoon before. Replying in the negative, I expressed disappointment that one cannot attend each breakout session at this sort of get-together. He inform me that the speaker had decried the popular state of American public discourse, where, "Any day now some `expert' can be expected to go on Oprah and proclaim the marvelous benefits of, say, necrophilia." "And the problem," O'Sullivan continued, as I burst out laughing, "Is that no one ever stands up and says to those `experts', `But you're all cranks!'" I know the desire.

I am trying every way I know to inform readers that the emperors at DESE -- like their thousand-dollar-a-day consultants -- are wearing no clothes. Unelected people have hijacked our school reform process. Our schools are being radically transformed, and from the governor on down a brazen process of deceiving the people of Missouri is under way. Will they get away with it?

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