Plus, ridiculous paranoia about the UN infiltrating Bountiful and Provo

Next, hat tip to The Third Avenue where Oldenburg caught a Tribune article I had missed about state funding to support schools offering the International Baccalaureate degree. (Though, I disagree with his jab at public ed. quality in Utah.) Now, I am not a huge International Baccalaureate program devotee. It ensures a rigorous curriculum with critical thinking and international studies, including the requirement to learn a language. In my opinion, it's part fine program and part hoop to attain resume padding, as are most high school recognitions such as National Honor Society and the Sterling Scholar awards. I don't know if spending $300,000 to fund these programs is a good idea in light of other crucial funding needs.

But...that doesn't excuse parochial silliness:

Lawmakers decided against helping Utah schools pay for International Baccalaureate (IB) programs after one legislator called IB's philosophy "anti-American" today.
"I'm not opposed to understanding the world," Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, told members of the Senate Education Committee. "I'm opposed to the anti-American philosophy that's somehow woven into all the classes as they promote the U.N. [United Nations] agenda."

But ultimately, Dayton, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, and Sen. Darin Peterson, R-Nephi, voted against it. Stephenson said only, "I'm not yet comfortable with this based on some of the input I've received."

Huh?! What "input" are you receiving from what sources? Anti-Americanism is "somehow woven" into classes at Provo, Skyline, and Bountiful High Schools? That would be news to the many parents who drive their kids miles to attend these programs. Have any of those three senators been to an IB school, let alone talked to an actual student in an IB program in a Utah school? I seriously would like to know who is putting these ideas in their heads to be promptly and blindly accepted as truth.

The concerns apparently come from articles such as this one from EdWatch. There's a more recent article that I can't individually link to. Go to EdWatch and click on the February 18 article about International Baccalaureate and notice all of the CD's and books being sold to conspiracists across the nation. To paraphrase for you: Every statement in every unrelated UN proposal or document (and I will grant that there are plenty of wacky/scary examples) is being propagated in IB classes because the mission statement talks about "understanding that other people can be right" and you are required to learn about international points of view. ... Wouldn't that be an incredibly useful and moral thing to learn rather than a scary assimilation agenda?

I challenge any interested party to attend an IB class at one of the schools participating in the program. Don't even give notice. Just be sure to actually listen to what is being taught and talk to the teachers and students. Ask them your bogey-UN-man questions, look at their curriculum, and see for yourself. As I said, these programs would probably not be my first spending priority either, but base your decisions on facts and observation rather than hearsay.