SPARE THE STANDARDS, SPOIL THE CHILD:

Trapped in nightmare of standards (Dan Greenberg, January 9, 2004, MetroWest Daily News)

A short while ago, the first issue of a new educational journal came across my desk. Called "Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal," it seemed just another routine addition to the growing mountain of literature on the subject -- until I read the opening page, which presented "Our Motivation" behind the new venture.

"We hope," declared the editors, "to 'expand,' and 'stretch,' the boundaries of the LD definition to include individuals who, traditionally, would not qualify (based on federal or state definitions) as 'learning disabled'."

There it was, as boldly stated as it could possibly be. And I realized, with a clarity that I had never attained before, that I am witnessing in the world of traditional education the most massive, far-reaching, and thoroughgoing cloning project that has ever been undertaken.

At a time when politicians, religious leaders, ethicists, and scientists are hotly debating the issue of biological cloning, virtually all parties have joined to institute a cerebral cloning of children on a national scale. The aim of the project is simple: to define an intellectual, psychological, and behavioral "norm" that represents the ideal child; to treat any deviation from that norm as a "disability" diagnosed in pseudo-medical terminology; and to develop, in the words of that same editorial, "successful interventions" (that is, medications, therapies, and other treatments) that will render the allegedly deviant behavior more "normal."

As a by-product of this "research," it is the hope of the participants to extend their findings to adults, and eventually to "normalize" adult behavior as well.

The laboratory in which this national cloning is being carried out is the school system. The first and most important step is the development of universal "standards," against which each individual child can be measured.

Mr. Greenberg draws precisely the opposite conclusion that most people would. The problem is not that educational standards are being set for all kids to be measured against, but that an industry has grown up around the idea that the only reason some kids don't make the grade is because they're physically unable, rather than face the truth, which is that many just haven't tried hard enough.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 11, 2004 08:28 AM