OBE BY ANY NAME IS EDUCATION MUSH

Last year Gov. Mel Carnahan pushed through the General Assembly Senate Bill 380, his reform plan for elementary and secondary education. Familiar criticisms of SB 380 have been oft-repeated here. These have included the manner in which the governor and a legislative majority enacted $350 million in new taxes without the public vote they promised in the 1992 campaign, as well as higher local property taxes required by the legislation for half of Missouri's 538 school districts.

There are other aspects of the bill, though, that are at least as troubling as its new taxes. The bill calls for academic performance standards for Missouri education. Under SB 380's new mandate, all Missouri schools would use the standards to plan curriculum.

In evaluating the proposed standards, the blunt-spoken assessment of a frustrated and dismayed lawmaker stands out. Speaking of the proposed standards, Sen. Steve Ehlmann (R-St. Charles) says, "They're just mush." Ehlmann is a member of the Commission on Performance. This commission is the panel of legislators, educators and lay people created by SB 380 to monitor implementation of its reforms. Continuing his critique of the proposed standards, Ehlmann says, "These are so subjective I can't say whether they're higher or lower."

Ehlmann isn't alone. The law's principal drafter should be a cheerleader, but that isn't exactly how Sen. Harold Caskey (D-Butler) sounds these days. Consider this assessment by Caskey, the skilled and veteran chairman of the Senate Education Committee who guided SB 380 to passage: "We didn't want goals. We wanted 75 academic standards. They should be worded in such a way that a parent can look at them and say, `Yeah. This is what my kids should know.' They have some distance to go to accomplish that."

Translation: The proposed standards are nowhere near what the bill's author or the legislature intended. Careful between-the-lines readers will recognize in Caskey's spare remarks the tones of a disappointed father watching as his progeny turns out far different than he had hoped.

A stronger criticism than either Caskey's or Ehlmann's is in order: The proposed standards are pathetic. Don't take our word for this. Or theirs. Evaluate for yourself whether the vagueness of the standards is equal to the mushiness of Ehlmann's accurate description.

For example, how about Standard 4 for Goal 1: "Develop and clarify ideas and perspectives by applying information-processing skills learned in the various content areas."

Or Standard 5 for Goal 2: "Discuss and respond thoughtfully to the ideas and opinions of others."

Or Standard 4 for Goal 3: "Identify and consider a variety of viewpoints when solving problems."

Or this one, perhaps the worst of the lot, Standard 1 for Goal 4: "Make decisions that are informed, reasoned and responsible."

These standards are the work product of hundreds of Missourians who have labored for months to fashion them. In most parts of Missouri folks will recognize this to be common, ordinary horse manure. And for this, Missourians are paying higher taxes. What rubbish.

The Commission on Performance should demand that the education revisionists who produced these standards scrap them and go back to the drawing board. In no case should they be adopted in their current form by the state board of education. Missouri badly needs a vigorous debate over the drift of public education. During that debate, every Missouri taxpayer, every employer and every parent should inform themselves about what is happening to schools and about the loss of local control. They should also be asking hard questions of any lawmaker who voted for SB 380 and of the governor whose proudest boast is that he got it passed.