LETTERS: EXAMPLES OF OBE

To the editor:

It is once again time for school to begin. For interested parents of public school pupils, and especially for any who have read Peter Kinder's columns aimed against Outcome Based Education and perhaps wonder what he is so concerned about, I offer documented samplings from actual OBE curricula used in five other states:

-- Alaska: "Be a responsible citizen; be committed to health and fitness; ... have positive self-esteem."

-- Connecticut: "Respect and appreciate diversity."

-- Kansas: "Have the physical and emotional well-being to live, learn and work in a global society."

-- Kentucky: "Demonstrate an understanding of, appreciation for and sensitivity to a multicultural world view; demonstrate an open mind to alternative perspectives."

-- Virginia: "Use the environment responsibly, and encourage others to do so to improve the human condition."

Are these statements, nobly worded though they may be, educational products that define something we would expect our local young people to achieve academically? Or do they have more to do with values and attitudes or social ends that require certain behaviors?

Given these specific examples of OBE, should local parents believe the not-to-worry platitudes being dispensed by Gov. Mel Carnahan and Commissioner of Education Bob Bartmann as Missouri's version of OBE (Senate Bill 380, the Outstanding Schools Act) is being revised so as to pass political muster and then to be forced upon all of the state's schools? Are these fussy, feely, politically correct outcomes what you want for your school children?

It isn't too late for parents opposed to OBE and its concepts to find a voice with school officials and legislators.

JIM FLETCHER

Cape Girardeau