ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280050
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
HEY, WANNA read some impermissible phrases?
We saw a memo the other day that featured five officially indecent references. It was disgusting. We made a copy for further study.
Now, in the interest of free speech and as a public service for adults only, we're prepared to quote the bad parts. We do so for purely journalistic reasons, of course, so that decent people may know what sort of depravity they're up against.
Five phrases from beyond the pale:
"o- b---d ew---e ldapesand G---s 2--0."
Like to know what kind of memo, widely distributed in Virginia, would recite such shocking no-no's? Or would you like, maybe, to fill in the blanks? Here in any case are the sordid details:
A conference on early childhood education is under way in Roanoke today. Experts invited to make presentations to the conference were sent a letter last month outlining hotel arrangements, reimbursement policies and such. The memo went on:
"The [Virginia] Department of Education has requested our sensitivity regarding certain language. In particular, they have requested that presenters refrain from the use of the following terms: outcome-based education, whole language, developmentally appropriate practices, effective schools, and Goals 2000."
There. We spelled out the un-speakable. Brutally naked, the words leap from the page to violate the delicate "sensitivity" of Education Department officials and other virtuous souls.
You know obscenity, it is said, when you see it. Well, some Virginia educators don't see such sinister things in these phrases.
"Outcome-based education?" They see a strategy to identify what graduates need to know in the next century, then redesign instruction to help students reach these goals.
"Whole language?" An approach to learning reading that emphasizes the meaning and understanding of words (as distinct from their spelling and syllables), especially in the context of engaging stories.
"Developmentally appropriate practices?" An attempt to link instruction to what a child is ready to learn.
"Effective schools?" Probably something to do with effective schools.
"Goals 2000?" A national, bipartisan initiative setting forth goals to raise academic standards and improve student performance.
Ah, but utter this same jargon in state officials' hearing, and it takes on a very different air. From the extraordinary request to muzzle speakers at an education conference, we surmise that the George Allen administration regards these terms as dangerous expressions of a degenerate ideology.
In Roanoke today, no one must dare mention "developmentally appropriate," for example, when discussing early childhood education. The taboo was set in deference to a state agency at the forefront of politicizing education in Virginia.
And to whom does the Department of Education show deference? Apparently to the culture warriors of the GOP's Religious Right. These activists have been demonizing the teaching of critical thinking and democratic values, as well as practically every education reform not connected either with spending tax dollars on private schools or returning to "basics" and traditional authority in the classroom.
Now Richmond is telling educators what words they're not allowed to utter. From indecency such as this, Virginia's children need shielding.
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