"Issues and Action in Education"
Obama Administration To Impose Liberal UN Curriculum
By Professor Allen Quist
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July 30, 2009
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On July 24, 2009, the U.S Department of Education (DOE) announced that the "centerpiece of the Obama administration's education reform efforts" in its "$4.35 billion Race to the Top," will include "adopting internationally benchmarked education standards." These will be national standards, said the press release, keyed to international standards and will be incentivized to the states with federal "stimulus" dollars.  
By the term "education standards" DOE means content standards; meaning curriculum-the content schools must teach. By "national education standards" DOE means that schools in all 50 states will teach the same content. This will create a de facto federal curriculum The Department of Education will financially reward those states that teach what DOE wants taught. The Department can be expected to insist that the values taught in the national curriculum conform to the very liberal ideology of the Obama administration.  
According to the announcement, this federal curriculum will consist of "internationally benchmarked" standards. The only extant comprehensive "internationally benchmarked" education standards are those developed by UNESCO, the UN's education arm. The UNESCO website clarifies that its education standards conform to the treaties and agreements of the UN. This means that its curriculum includes, for example, the requirements of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which says, "Education shall . . . further the activities of the United Nations" (Art. 26:2).
American schools used to teach the fundamental values of the United States--including the inalienable, God-given rights of life, liberty and property, as guaranteed by our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Not any more. Now our students will be indoctrinated in the UN's definition of human rights. As clarified by the UN's UDHR, our rights now may not "be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations" (Art 29:3). Our children will be taught that they have only those rights the UN says they have.
The UNESCO standards also include the UN's Earth Charter which further defines internationally benchmarked standards. The Charter says these standards must entail what it calls "sustainability education" (Art 14:b). The Charter explains that "sustainability education" entails the "promotion of the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations" (Art. 10:a), nuclear disarmament (Art. 16:d), gay marriage (Art. 12:a), legalized abortion (Art. 7:e), adoption of an "international legally binding instrument on environment" (The way Forward), and indoctrination in pantheism (Art. 14d and Art. 16:f).
The National Governor's Association is enabling the Obama administration's plans by calling for "voluntary national education standards." Goals 2000 of 1994 was "voluntary," too, but most legislators were unaware of the fine print in the companion bill, HR6, which required that states would lose all their federal education funding if they failed to comply. That is why all 50 states joined Goals 2000. The Obama administration has made it clear that it views "voluntary national standards" the same way.

(Editor's note: The DOE press release fails to mention that national education standards have already been written, having been composed during the Clinton administration. For a thorough description of what these very liberal national standards say, see Fed Ed: The New Federal Curriculum And How It's Enforced, by Allen Quist, available from EdWatch.org or Amazon.com.)
[For more on the fundamental values of the United States, see Cmods.org, Unit I, Module #3, The American Creed.]

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About the author:

Allen Quist is Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. He is a widely recognized writer and speaker throughout the United States. Allen Quist is author of five books, the most recent being America's Schools: The Battleground for Freedom. Quist authored the best-selling book, FedEd: The New Federal Curriculum and How It's Enforced. In his books he explains the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and programs such as International Baccalaureate, he describes the math and reading wars, and he discusses the effects of international agreements on our schools. Quist writes about the preservation of America's sovereignty, our commitment to truth and unalienable rights, and our resolve to pass our liberty on to the next generation.
       Prof. Quist served three terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1983 to 1988. In the Minnesota House he served as Chair of the Social Services Subcommittee and also served on the House Education Committee. He was chief author of the bill that created Minnesota's Department of Jobs and Training.  Prof. Quist played an influential role in legalizing home schools in Minnesota. He was one of seven delegates elected from Minnesota to the White House Conference on Families in 1980.      Allen Quist has been a member of two school boards and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN), a Master of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, Mankato, and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary (Mankato, MN). He and his wife Julie live in rural St. Peter, Minnesota.