The primary issues raised in Educating for the "New World Order" are:
Finally, it should also be noted that, for the most part, local educators are just as ignorant of the issue as parents. Standardized tests are prepared at the behest of state or even federal education agencies. The actual contracted authors of those standardized tests are often restricted to a small group of individuals or organizations which specialize in that task. Tests are sent to schools, which are instructed not to read the tests, and often not to even open the box until test day. Completed tests are to be immediately sealed and returned for grading. These steps are quite resonable, as they minimize the potential for cheating or "teaching for the test." But they also assure teachers and administrators -- unaware of the contents of the tests -- are often in the unenviable position of defending such tests merely on the assurance of others that the tests are completely benign. To the extent that such testing further degrades the trust parents place in their local schools, these programs make the jobs of local educators more difficult than they need be.
Nobody seriously doubts that values are implicitly transmitted during normal everday instruction in school. But there is a huge moral gulf between that and explicitly teaching values or attitudes. There is heated debate over how to teach reading and mathematics; do authors and promoters of these tests realistically expect there to be genuine consensus about whose beliefs are to be taught in preference to others? We think not.
The continued abuse of the standardized testing process docmented in Educating for the "New World Order," threatens the reliance and faith placed in those tests to help assess the effectiveness of our school systems. And as long as politicians and educational bureaucrats continue to try to redefine education as a series of fuzzy, amorphous "outcomes" that defy any reasonable effort to quantify, our schools are in danger of losing an already tenuous focus on their purpose.
The fundamental questions surrounding the issue must be:
--- In whose vision of the future is a new world order to be structured? In that of the government and the myriad special interests that wield influence there? We hope not.
``It is certainly a thought provoking book. Seeing the story laid out in the order of its happening, with the documentation, really impresses upon the reader the magnitude of the problem.''
--- Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
``Beverly Eakman has exposed for the first time the intricate wiring and circuitry inside psychologists' plan for centralized control of ... American education, financed largely by the taxpayer.''
--- Samuel Blumenfeld --- Author, education research analyst
``I wish every parent and citizen in America would read Educating for the `New World Order' to become fully aware of the forces shaping American education and ultimately every person's life. B. K. Eakman will fascinate you with intriguing, well-documented research that will open your eyes to the `doublespeak' that's leading us all unknowingly to an Orwellian future.''
--- Dr. Robert L. Simonds, President --- Citizens for Excellence in Education
``It's must reading.... One warning, though; don't try to absorb it by yourself. Study it with your spouse or a friend. You'll be too shocked to digest it alone. It upsets the proverbial apple cart...it'll disturb your comfort zone and drive you from complacency.''
--- Carl Miller, Host & Operations Manager --- WMCA Radio
``B. K. Eakman suspensefully details incidents...leading to an [education] supercomputer...and describes the ominous threat that this system poses to every American's right to privacy.''
--- Dr. Dennis L. Cuddy, Senior Associate --- U.S. Dept. of Education, 1982-88 --- Published in the Fall-Winter 1991-92 Lincoln Review
``As a [management] consultant involved in large-scale change in organizations, I find Eakman's book a chilling reminder of how `neutral' tools and techniques can be used for both good and evil.... Eakman takes the reader into a world of ... denials, misinformation, subterfuge, and computer banks, where printouts show that `basics' no longer means academics.... Educating for the `New World Order' solves the mystery of the decline in student performance [and] shows us how to act now to bring real...academic learning back into the American education system.''
--- Dr. R. Kraft Bell, President --- RKB Associates, Ltd. ---
(international, large-scale management consultant firm)
``...parents have been victimized under the present system of behavior-based education, with its emphasis on situational morality. Eakman's book proves that education officials are not invulnerable. ...A modern-day David and Goliath story of increasing national significance. I couldn't put it down.''
--- Marlin Maddoux, Host --- Point of View, Worldwide Satellite Radio Network
``Every person involved on the front lines of educational issues needs to read this book. Be sure to have a highlighter in one hand and a notebook in the other!''
--- Barbara Montieth, Editor --- Legislation News and Views of Ohio