Academia's breath of fresh air. (Valley Education).

A breath of fresh air has found it's way into the halls of academia. Please, keep these doors open, or at least ajar. For many years the reasons for the decline in academic performance of students, and particularly those students in California, have been hidden from taxpayers and parents alike. The largest single portion of tax dollars is purportedly allocated to the education of our children. In fact, greed and political agendas come before our children in application of these multi-billions of dollars.

No independent and accountable watchdog oversees this 'honey pot.' Academia itself has abdicated its duty to our youth, and it has become a part of the self-interest bureaucracy. Some private and occasional rare public educators and certain authors have been screaming about the 'programmed' student decline for years. These pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

At a recent local Chamber of Commerce Legislative meeting, the topic of textbooks was raised once again. A highly respected political deputy mused, "My degree is in education and my career began as a teacher." Having heard about recent assertions regarding education and the failure of textbooks, she went to her personal library and retrieved the books she had used as a college student to learn how to teach "Social Studies" (history). She declared, "After re-reading them I was appalled, they were pure socialism or worse!"

The text publishers are largely responsible for the current state of education.

They have accomplished their dastardly deed through merger and acquisition, leading to monopolization. Janet Reno and our State Attorney Generals have permitted this to occur. The names of these publishers may appear to be familiar, however who owns these names? In the 1990's most of the major American education publishers were acquired by foreign entities.

In 1999 'The Pearson Group' acquired 10 of the most important American publishers in one transaction. In 2001 there was only one old line major American Publisher remaining, Follett in Boston. They sold to Vivendi.

Four major 'media moguls' who control radio and television, and who are located on foreign soil, now publish what our students learn. They have also acquired ownership of the bookstores of most California Universities. On April 26, 2003, the Executive Director of the Association of American Publishers (a misnomer and proof of a monopoly), Stephen Driesler, when challenged regarding untruths in American textbooks which distort history and the authors words, is reported to have responded, "We produce the books that the customers want" -- as opposed to that which is accurate and truthful.

Major text providers who publish "California Edition" textbooks are being exposed for exchanging historical fact for that which 'someone' dictates is politically correct, or more-likely correctly scued.

Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, Chester E. Finn Jr. has stated, "Feel-good socialstudies fail our kids." To paraphrase, he said the scuers believe that Social Studies classes should help children feel good about themselves, with minimal attention to traditional history, geography and civics.

Imagine the disillusionments when young people become mature enough to face the lessons of life. Parents, read and understand this designed drivel which is manipulated by a very few.

J. Kevin Murphy is the Head at Egremont Schools, Inc. in Chatsworth.