FROM WORLD CITIZENSHIP TO WORLD GOVERNMENT

By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D.
March 10, 2004
NewsWithViews.com

http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis1.htm

There has been a lot in the news recently about the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation concerning education. Most of the controversy has been about academic accountability, but there is a lesser known part of the law that is also controversial.

It is rare in federal legislation for Congress to single out one organization for special treatment. However, in NCLB one reads that, "the Secretary (of Education) is authorized to award grants to, or enter into contracts with, the Center for Civic Education (CCE)," and that CCE's "We the People. ... The Citizen and the Constitution" "education program "authorized under this subsection shall be made available to public and private elementary and secondary schools."

CCE is an INGO (UN status International Nongovernmental Organization). And while there is no mention of our Second Amendment rights (except once in the bibliography) in "We the People," it does emphasize the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has 17 references to the environment and 42 references to diversity.

These references are in line with a recent NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) test, which also had 11 questions on job skills.

Why job skills? This would fit with the SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) Report of some years ago that contained Task ID#7131631 "Milk Cows" that states: "The farmer then brings the first cows into the milking parlor and feeds them by attaching milkers." Whoever heard of feeding cows by attaching milkers to them? And this is the national commission which is supposed to tell the rest of us what to do!

World Citizens

Why is CCE's lack of emphasis upon America's national sovereignty while emphasizing a UN Declaration a cause of concern? It's because on Oct. 3, 2003, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige in Paris stated: "The United States is pleased to return to UNESCO. ... Our governments have entrusted us with the responsibility of preparing our children to become citizens of the world. ... UNESCO is a powerful forum for sharing our views, developing a common strategy, and implementing joint action."

The problem with the concept of "world citizens" is that the term "citizen" (as opposed to "inhabitant" or "resident") implies a legal obligation. If you are the "citizen" of a state, you must abide by its laws. Thus if you are a "citizen" of the world, you must abide by world law. It has long been the goal of proponents of world government to use world citizenship to further their ends. In the NEA Journal (October 1947), National Education Association (NEA) official William Carr wrote: "Teach those attitudes which will result, ultimately in the creation of a world citizenship and world government."

Late in 1945, Carr had been deputy secretary for the founding conference of UNESCO, whose first d