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The Globe Program
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Just as its name suggests, the GLOBE Program
is part of an effort to establish a global system of education. Also as its
name suggests, the GLOBE program looks at the world from a global perspective,
not from the perspective of the United States.GLOBE is popular in the United States. There are now 10,350 U.S. schools
that participate in the GLOBE program. Additional schools are signing up on
a steady basis. GLOBE is an acronym for Global Learning and Observation
to Benefit the Environment. That is, GLOBE, is an international education
system with an international curriculum and an international data collection
network. The National Science Foundation (NSF) defines GLOBE as follows:
“Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE)
[is] an international program designed to develop links between
scientists and school children through a global information network.”
[http://www.geo.nsf.gov/adgeo/education.htm]As clarified by its full name, the purpose of GLOBE is both international
education and environmental education. A 1996 bulletin published by GLOBE
highlighted these two purposes as it announced the formation of a
partnership between GLOBE and UNESCO (the education arm of the United
Nations). The headline read, GLOBE-UNESCO To Work Together on Environmental
Education. The article said:
“UNESCO and GLOBE will work together as appropriate toward diffusion to
schools of key messages concerning sustainable development, enhancement
of teacher training with regard to education for sustainable
development, and involvement of other United Nations bodies in the
implementation of the Globe Program worldwide.”
[http://www.globe.gov/fsl/GB/Display.pl]What do GLOBE and UNESCO mean by diffusion to schools of key messages of
sustainable development? The key messages of sustainable development are
defined by the Earth Charter, a document which has been officially endorsed
by UNESCO and is supported by GLOBE. The Earth Charter [www.earthcharter.org]
includes the following positions, or messages as being among what it calls
its principles for action:
1. Earth worship (pantheism).
2. Evolution, broadly defined.
3. Socialized medicine.
4. World government.
5. Animal rights (animals are seen as our brothers and sisters).
6. Income redistribution among nations and within nations.
7. Eradication of genetically modified (GMO) crops.
8. Contraception and reproductive health (legal abortion).
9. World-wide education for sustainability which includes spiritual
education.
10. Debt forgiveness for third-world nations.
11. Adoption of the gay rights agenda.
12. Elimination of nuclear weapons and elimination of the right to bear
arms.
13. Redefining the media so it will support the environmental agenda,
not report on it.
14. Setting aside biosphere reserves where no human presence is allowed.As is obvious from the 14 points above, the key messages of sustainable
development as defined by the Earth Charter include a broad religious,
ideological and political agenda. How does the Earth Charter hope to
accomplish its ambitious goals as defined by the Charter? The Earth Charter
webpage answers that question by saying:
“Education is the key to advancing the transition to more
sustainable ways of living. Transformative education is needed:
The Earth Charter provides a unique framework for developing educational
programs and curricula aimed at transformative learning for a
more just, sustainable and peaceful world.” [www.earthcharter.org,
Emphasis added.]Notice that the Earth Charter does not say that education is a key
to sustainable development. The Earth Charter says that education is the
key to sustainable development. As stated above in the Earth Charter,
and as also stated in various UN agreements including Agenda 21, the Treaty
on Biodiversity, and Education for All, UNESCO sees education for
sustainable development as being the primary method for advancing the
goals of the Earth Charter as stated above.It is obvious, therefore, that UNESCO is using its partnership with the
international GLOBE Program as a means for accomplishing the radical
objectives of the Earth Charter stated above. Schools that participate in
the GLOBE curriculum should expect the broad religious, ideological and
political agenda of the Earth Charter to be aggressively promoted in their
schools.UNESCO has clarified that environmental education, as it sees it, is not
primarily academic. In its International Implementation Scheme for its
coming Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, for example,
UNESCO said:
“Thus, education is the primary agent of transformation
toward sustainable development The international community now
strongly believes that we need to foster — through education — the
values, behavior and lifestyles required for a sustainable future.” [p. 4
of the Draft Statement. Emphasis added.]That is, according to UNESCO, education for sustainable development is
transformational education — education that focuses more on values,
behavior and lifestyles than on teaching academic knowledge and skills. By
means of its partnership with UNESCO, GLOBE has clarified that it sees
environmental education in a manner consistent with the position of UNESCO.How, then, does the GLOBE Program go about promoting the agenda of the
Earth Charter? On its webpage, GLOBE says that its curriculum is consistent
with the National Science Standards and the National Geography Standards.
These national standards are transformational in nature, just as UNESCO says
they should be; and, like the Earth Charter, focus on attitudes, values and
behavior as opposed to emphasizing academic education. The National
Geography Standards, for example, do not require that students learn the
location of the nations of the world, nor are students required to learn the
capitals of the nations. These standards do not even require that students
learn the location of our 50 states and their capitals.What, then, do the National Geography Standards require that students
know? Following the format of transformational education, the geography
standards are organized around themes, not knowledge. The themes are of two
types sustainable development themes and, to a lesser extent,
multiculturalism. There are, for example, numerous requirements for
promoting sustainable development themes such as the following:Analyze the role of people in decreasing the diversity of flora and
fauna in a region (e.g. the impact of acid rain on rivers and forests in
Southern Ontario, the effects of toxic dumping on ocean ecosystems, the
effects of over fishing along the coast of northeastern North America or the
Philippine archipelago) [p. 212]
Describe the spatial consequences of increases in runoff and sediment,
tropical soil degradation, habitat destruction, air pollution, alterations
in hydrologic cycle [p. 212]
Examine the characteristics of major global environmental changes
(e.g. increases in world temperatures attributable to major global
environmental change, results of greenhouse effect attributable to human
action .) [p. 213]
Develop contemporary and historical case studies (e.g. the
drought-plagued Sahel, the depleted rain forests of central Africa, the
Great Plains Dust Bowl) [p. 214]
Discuss how and why some countries use greater than average amounts of
resources (e.g. German iron-ore imports, and petroleum consumption in the
United States and Japan) [p. 216] [The implication is that economic growth
and activity is a matter of fairness, not an issue of following sound
principles of economics.]Compare the attitudes of different religions toward the environment and
resource use and how religions have affected world economic development
patterns and caused cultural conflict or encouraged social integration [p.
219] [The implication, as clarified by the UNs Treaty on Biodiversity, is
that Christianity is supposedly harmful to the environment because it
teaches that man is above the rest of nature, while pantheism is supposedly
environmentally friendly because it says that Nature is the steward of
man.]The National Geography Standards are packed full of requirements like
those above. These standards really should be called the National Education
for Sustainable Development Standards because that is what they actually
are. The National Science Standards, similarly, have numerous requirements
for teaching sustainable development.What we see, therefore, is substantial consistency between the goals of
UNESCO and the GLOBE Program. The principles of freedom followed by the
United States, and as stated in our Declaration of Independence, are
contrary to the purposes of GLOBE and UNESCO and will not be taught.
National sovereignty, for example, is undermined by the GLOBE Program.The basic purpose of UNESCO was made crystal clear by its first
Directory-General, Sir Julian Huxley, when he said:
“Specifically, in its educational program it [UNESCO] can stress the
ultimate need for world political unity and familiarize all peoples with
the implications of the transfer of full sovereignty from separate
nations to a world organization … political unification in some sort
of world government will be required.” [Sir Julian Huxley, UNESCO: Its
Purpose and Philosophy, 1947, p. 13]This is also the purpose of GLOBE creating an international system of
education for sustainable development as defined by the Earth Charter.
International education is a critical step in UNESCOs overall goal of
international government.
Copyright 2004 Allen Quist. (Biography) Posted with permission.
Permission to distribute, but not sell, with proper reference to author
and
http://www.edwatch.org.Allen Quist is author of FedEd: The New Federal Curriculum and
How It’s Enforced, and soon-to-be-published book The Battle For
America in Our Schools.EdWatch is entirely user-supported. The continuation of our research and
distribution work is entirely dependent on individual contributors. If you
want to assure that our work continues, Link to —
www.edwatch.org
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