An Education In Education Part 3

Outcome Based Education has many faces but when carefully examined, one head can be found under all the guises that accompany it. It is labeled under the title of “reform” or “restructuring”. 

What does OBE restructure? It restructures the curriculum. The term “outcome” is deceptive, what outcomes do parents expect from education? We expect, at the basis, reading, writing and arithmetic; and secondarily, science, social studies and history. These are all subjects that require objective facts; facts that can be taught and built upon. What are the “outcomes” expected from this model of education? The expectations are behavioral and focus on attitudes. The term critical thinking is used as a way to manipulate the outcome to a desired behavior.

Doesn’t this make you want to ask some questions?

How can a subjective aspect such as behavior be properly measured and tested?

When is there time to teach the objective facts when behavioral outcomes are prominent goals in the curriculum?

Why are attitudes and behavior a focus in the first place?  

     

The deception begins early on as this form of education was not always called Outcome Based; it has been implemented in Chicago in the 1970’s as Mastery Learning. It was such a failure it was ejected from the system. Some argue that Mastery Learning is not Outcome Based Learning but William Spady, the self professed father of OBE devised a plan to cover-up this detail by pleading with educators to not use the name “mastery” within the network because of the negative connotation it earned but to use the term “outcome” as a way to stay ahead of the critics. This of course was just after Mastery Learning’s failure and was in the context of perpetuating the base form of this educational model to other districts. If it doesn’t work under one terminology change the name so the next sucker will buy it. There are at least twenty-four terminology versions of this system, some are; Results Oriented, Break the Mold 21^st Century Schools, Exit Based, Skills 2000, Strength Based Project Learning to name a few. If you take a look at the course descriptions of these titles side by side the similarities stand out like a sore thumb. Go ahead, take a look at this 1977 outcome based curriculum from Pennsylvania and compare it with the one from my school in Austin, Texas 2011. They are essentially the same. Terminology and wording are different but they have the same goals. I admit the 2011 version has gotten smarter in hiding the term “outcomes” from the vocabulary. (Remember from Part 2, I had to ask the teacher a blunt yes or no question in order to make sure the curriculum was outcome based)

Now that we know OBE is behaviorally based let’s see who is behind this “reform” and see what they believe.  

Benjamin Bloom: Father of OBE-Psychologist-University of Chicago

Note: Teachers and educators study his theories in college. His book Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is widely taught.

Bloom’s theory is challenging students fixed beliefs with a “thorough going through and reorganization of attitudes and values.”

An excerpt from his book, All Our Children Learning

“The curriculum maybe thought of as a plan for changing student’s behavior and as the actual set of learning experiences in which students, teachers and materials interact to produce the change in students.”

We need to ask, “What change?”

An excerpt from his book, Stability and Change in Human Characteristics

“Efforts to control or change human behavior by therapy, by education, or by other means will be inadequate and poorly understood until we can follow behavior over a longer period.”

We should ask, “Why would some one in education want to control or change behavior?”

Bloom summed up his philosophy when he said, “The highest form of intellect is when an individual no longer believes in right or wrong.”

We should ask, “If he wants to challenge students fixed beliefs and he thinks there is no right and wrong, do we want someone with this philosophy around our children?”

William Glasser: Psychologist, Author and promoter of OBE

Excerpt from his book, Schools Without Failure

“We have to let students know there are no right answers, and we have to let them see that there are many alternatives to certainty and right answers.”

William Spady: Sociologist, Modern promoter of OBE

A Paradigm Pioneer

“I consider myself to be a powerful wordsmith”.

“I pleaded with the group to not use the name “mastery learning” in the network new name because the word had already been destroyed. I argued that we had about five years before they destroyed the term “outcomes’ but at least we could get a start.”

We need to ask, “Why would you want to change the name of a failed system only to regurgitate it for more failure?”

Dr. Raymond English: In A Speech before the National Advisory Council on Educational Research and Improvement. April 2, 1987.

“Critical thinking means not only learning how to think for oneself, but it also means learning to subvert traditional values in your society. You’re not thinking critically unless you accept the values that mommy and daddy taught you. That’s not critical.”

Dr. Pierce : Professor of Education at Harvard University

“Every child who enters school at age five is mentally ill because he enters school with an allegiance towards our elected officials, our founding fathers, our institutions, the preservation of this form of government that we have, patriotism, nationalism, sovereignty. All this proves that the child is sick, because a truly well individual is one who has rejected all those things, and is what I would call the true international child of the future.

Do you have a problem with psychologists, sociologists and educators telling you your child is mentally ill because they were taught your values from birth to age five and there is no right or wrong answers? I certainly do, and this is only the tip of the iceberg of OBE. The philosophy stems much farther back than the 1960’s and 70’s. Part 4 will look deeper into where this philosophy stems from.

Just so you know I do not think every person in education believes this way. My point is to show the great influence it has upon the entire system and how it subtly controls the environment in which learning takes place. I don’t write these posts with hatred towards educators. I have a special place in my heart for teachers especially since my dad was one. I write this to hopefully make a difference. I may not change the system but if one person is helped, the truth is worth any misunderstanding that may arise from my intentions. BE AWARE!

(All research is taken from the links within the post and all credit is due to these researchers: with special thanks to Phyllis Schlafly and Brannon Howse)