Quotes are taken from a message written by Tom to Charles on 06/30/96...
TC>CB>I disagree.  If the standards are worthy of consideration, they will be
TC>>adopted.  It's cheaper for the Federal Government to sponsor it once
TC>>than for all 50 states to repeat the process themselves.  A ready made
TC>>curriculum and corresponding evaluation plans would save the state
TC>>education departments a heap of developmental funding.
TC>
TC>At what cost in relation to local control ?  Since the bulk of funding
TC>is from local taxation I believe those who pay the bills should control
TC>the curriculum to some extent.  The fastest way to screw something up is
TC>to put the Federal Government behind the wheel.
Your single-minded focus on local control of school curriculum 
fascinates me.  Clearly you fear something - is it that the liberals in 
states such as California and New York will take control of the national 
curriculum and force the children in your area to learn tolerance of 
those who are different?  Or am I missing the point?
Regarding the NAACP lawsuits, you said...
TC>Yes they were successful.  Their point was that minority students were
TC>unjustly being excluded from Honors and Advanced Placement curriculum
TC>choices by having prerequisite curricular and grade point requirements in
TC>place.  They did loose one case however as it never made it to court.
TC>They were trying to block the raising of the grade point requirement to
TC>participate in sports activities.  It had always been a 1.5 GPA and the
TC>state raised it to 2.0 GPA.  A 2.0 in regular courses means you need
TC>only about a 50% comprehension if that.
And so, what was the result?  Are minority children being placed in 
advanced classes despite their inability to compete?  As I said - I've 
heard nothing of this, which is surprising since it seems like it would 
impact on districts all across the country.
TC>I think Shiela pointed out one possible downfall would be that lesser
TC>districts would not want to adopt such standards.  IMO it will not be in
TC>the foreseeable future as a National anything to most seems to be a RED
TC>flag.  The mood of the overall country is not very receptive or at least
TC>that is my view from here.  TC
It will continue to be our loss as our disconnected school systems, with 
their fragmented, sub-standard curriculums, continue to produce students 
who do not produce at the level of students in other nations.  Or at 
least that's how I see it from *here*.
Chuck Beams
Fidonet - 1:2608/70
cbeams@future.dreamscape.com
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