The alarm sounds throughout the countryside. As the
alert is heard, one by one, two by two, the patriots respond. They are a
loosely-organized, ragtag band, without official leaders, without
uniforms, without official orders. Some gather together in small groups,
others work alone. But armed with an overpowering idea of truth and an
urgency to protect their children, they use any means necessary to expose
and drive back their foe.
They are not the Minute Men of 1775, turning out to
keep the King's men from ransacking their supplies. These are mothers of
1996 answering the call against the federal assault on their children's
local school-houses. They call themselves the "Kitchen Militia"
and Outcome-based Education (OBE), Goals 2000 and any other federal
education program that threatens to dumb down their children or subject
them to behavior modification is their target.
For several years individual mothers have been fighting
alone to get to the bottom of an education crisis that seems to grow
unabated. It continues to worsen, even as the education establishment and
politicians talk of education "reform" and pour money into a
system that continues to turn out children who can't read or perform
simple math.
These are the children they nurtured for the first five
years of their lives. Yet, once those children are released into the
public education system, something begins to happen. Some become
rebellious and angry. Some of those once-happy children become quiet and
withdrawn. Where once they showed quick ability to learn, now they seemed
unable to grasp the basics. When the moms try to help with home work
assignments, they're told by the children that moms aren't allowed to
help.
When the moms go to the school to get to the bottom of
the problem, they are turned away or casually disregarded. But the crisis
continues to grow.
This scenario is classic throughout the nation. It's
gone on for years and new generations of moms continue to ask the same
questions. In each case a mom, somewhere, begins to get angry and starts
researching this new education system called Outcome-based Education. At
the beginning they are just concerned, they just want to understand. In
each case as they uncover more material they are not only horrified by
what they find, but, one by one, they discover each other - more moms in
the same crusade, nationwide.
With the help of the home computer, once reserved for
the kids and the family budget, they begin sharing information and
research. Fax machines begin to hum, local libraries become regular
gathering places. School board meetings become the battle ground.
But the politicians, while giving them a hearty pat on
the back and a warm smile, haven't seemed to take them seriously. Federal
intrusion grows with more programs that don't seem to make sense. The
children are spending less and less time learning basic skills and more
time with the school psychologist or in group sessions openly discussing
personal family business. SAT test have been dumbed down to make it appear
the education "reform" programs are working. But basic skills
continue to diminish as kids can't read beyond a fourth-grade level or
figure out what 9 percent of 100 might be. The situation has continued to
grow worse.
Meanwhile the moms who used to keep the household
running and keep the kids in crisply ironed clean clothes, now sit in
front of their terminals or on the phone diving ever deeper into the
underbelly of an education system gone mad.
The moms have begun to use a new language of terms like
"higher order thinking skills", "gender norming,"
"classroom facilitator", "site-based management",
"career education" and "life role competencies". This
is the language of Outcome-based Education. What does all of this mean?
The moms are finding out fast.
They've learned that their kids are no longer
considered to be children or students but "human resources."
Schools are no longer places of education but are becoming "one stop
social centers." Self-esteem has become more important than math.
Above all, they've learned that the world of "education reform"
is a dark and smelly place. One thing is clear, it is no place for their
children.
A lesson that the education establishment is about to
learn is that they should never ignore or anger a concerned mom. Tired of
being ignored, tired of doing the politician's job, tired of fearing for
their children's futures, the moms have begun to strike back with all the
force they can muster - and their punch may be strong.
In February, 1996, a whole group of moms who had been
fighting in small, local organizations - or even alone - announced the
existence of the "Kitchen Militia" and openly declared war. It
was a message faxed to the news media and to politicians across the
nation, written by Chey Simonton of the National Citizens Alliance,
located in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. She made up the term
"Kitchen Militia" and it's catching on like wildfire.
Simonton's declaration stated simply:
We are
thousands of mothers and grandmothers-cum-researchers located in every
state of this country. We have micro-researched every facet of the
so-called "restructuring" and in the process have become experts
on the United Nations, the US-Soviet Education, Technology and Cultural
Exchange Agreements, federal and state legislation (past and present),
philosophy, sociology, psychology and pedagogy. In short, if there is any
program or agenda we perceive as a threat to our families, somewhere there
is a Kitchen Militia mother who tracks it down and gets the word out on
the grapevine: radio call-in shows, fax networks, audio cassette, video
tape or any other jungle drum available.
We're not armed with guns! Guns are so messy...we've
got Congressional records, legislation and official documents. We document
whatever we say and hoard quotes from air-head politicians like a miser
hoards his gold...
We are the most dangerous threat to the
"restructuring" of this nation. Remember the old slogan,
"the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." This is fair
warning. The fastest growing militia group in this country is the Kitchen
Militia. Our numbers swell every day, every time some new piece of
socialist garbage is introduced that threatens our families.
For over twenty years the educrats have controlled the
field of battle as children suffered and mothers tried to make sense of it
all. Now they understand and are beginning to organize for the final
battle. As one mother said after the declaration of war was issued.
"we'll get something done now that the gals are taking over."
Let that be fair warning to any politician who thinks "business as
usual" will
