Alert

US Policy embraces State-Planned economy

Federal law forms a new governance structure that opposes both free enterprise and representative government. Instead">

Alert

US Policy embraces State-Planned economy

Federal law forms a new governance structure that opposes both free enterprise and representative government. Instead, government centrally plans and manages the economy.

The scaffolding for a centrally-planned economy was passed piecemeal under President Clinton and is currently being reassembled at the state level by combining the following federal laws into a three-way "public/private partnership:"

STW Triangle.JPG (24295 bytes)Goals 2000 (G2000) created the partnership between government and education by mandating dumbed-down national education standards, a national curriculum, national test, and national teacher licensure. Local and state control of education is ended.

School-to-Work (STW) creates the education/business partnership, changing the purpose of education from acquiring knowledge, to supplying workers for business. Schools become job-training centers offering narrowly defined career choices, approved by government economic forecasters, which match students and adults with government-preferred industries.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) finishes the partnership triangle by creating a nationwide network of workforce boards, made up of "government-appointed representatives" from business, education, and government, who work to implement and manage the system through local "one-stop" centers.

Together, these laws align and consolidate all local, state, and federal policies, programs, and funding into a single state-managed economic system.

How the System Works:
  • Fed. Dept. of Labor chooses which private industry sectors are promoted in each state.
  • K-12 & state colleges dump academics for job training in local "targeted" industries.
  • National curriculum embraces a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to government.
  • "Teaching" redefined through new training and national licensure rules.
  • Students choose career cluster at end of 8th grade, limiting curriculum to narrow choice.
  • Class time is spent at job sites for labor training.
  • "Appointed" local workforce boards match "learners" with local businesses.
  • Skill certificates awarded for specific job-readiness. Certificates will become mandatory for future hiring decisions.
  • Required "Lifework Plan" follows individual from "cradle-to-grave".
  • ALL students, all schools (public, private & home-based), all businesses expected to participate.
  • Federal government forces compliance of all "partners" through rewards/sanctions.
  • Government dominates all partnerships.
  • State defines new "covenant" with parents for raising children.
  • Students, workers, employers, educators & parents held accountable to government-defined "performance" outcomes.
  • All 50 states currently implementing system.
  • Current reauthorization of elementary and secondary education act (HR1/S1) cements entire system in place.

Bottom Line: Government is implementing policies that will lead to poverty, not prosperity, by adopting the failed ideas of a state-planned and managed economy similar to that of the former Soviet Union. In economics, career, and education, government narrows individual choice. This system is based upon a utilitarian worldview that measures human value only in terms of productive capability for the "best interests of the state". Individual freedom is subservient to a collective society.

For more information see Maple River Education Coalition PAC EdAction.org: 651-646-0646
© 2001 Michael J. Chapman and Senator Michele Bachmann. Permission granted to copy and distribute.