Issue 9, Volume 1

www.forcingchange.org

Special Note: This report on UNESCO and education

is fairly detailed, and may be tedious for

some. However, in order to properly understand

the relationship and influence of this United

Nations body on our society, it is imperative to

review the material with a certain level of depth.

Please read this report with care, thinking through

the implications of UNESCO’s worldview.

Editorial Note: In all quotes by Julian Huxley, the

acronym UNESCO was originally spelled Unesco.

For the sake of consistency, all uses of this acronym

will employ full capitals, including quotes

from Huxley.

“The supreme motivating concept of the

future is synergy: men and women of all nations

coming together under leaders of great

vision, who see that the pursuit of a common

ideal, one world, one Earth, one people, is the

reason for all existence.”

— Desmond E. Berghofer, founder of Creative

This is not a utopian ideal; it’s a tried and tested

concept. Youth and children are the most impressionable

demographic group on the planet, and

what impacts them now directly correlates to

action later in life. Furthermore, what influences

youth today doesn’t just shape minds for tomorrow;

it challenges adults to change current behaviours.

This is especially true as children, passionate

to a given cause, apply parental pressures in

order to shift lifestyle choices and/or mindsets.

Advertisers and marketing experts have understood

this fundamental concept for decades, and

have successfully exploited the youth/child element

through every conceivable venue. And it

works, as an analysis of the multi-billion dollar

fast food industry easily demonstrates. Without

question, the minds of children and youth are like

fresh pages, open and ready to receive and imprint

a myriad of messages. This is why education is

so important – it is the direct implanting of information

in such a way that a desired outcome is

achieved.

Typically public/general education is viewed as

having two interlocking components: academic

advancement and character growth. As parents we

want to see our children advance in knowledge,

wisdom, and intelligence; and to develop the mental

tools needed to continue learning throughout

life. We also want our children to embrace positive

character attributes, both for the betterment

of the individual and the community at-large. In

other words, we expect education to shape children/

youth into intelligent and responsible citizens.

Ironically, the character side of this equation is

somewhat of a switch from the past, when prior

generations understood that those chiefly responsible

to instil the proper attitudes and codes of

conduct were parents. This reality played itself

out when a child misbehaved in school. For youth,

the issue wasn’t so much what the teacher might

do, but how Dad or Mom would deal with the

problem when you got home. After all, how you

behaved in school was a reflection of your upbringing.

Alluding to the power of education, one UNESCO

document states, “the potential of education

is enormous. Not only can it inform people, it can

Although this appears simple at the outset, it’s a

telling remark, especially as education has largely

assumed the role of character development. And

what is the attitudinal direction being pursued?

A look at UNESCO, the educational arm of the

United Nations, gives us a window into “education”

as a change agent for world citizenship.

A Philosophy of World Change

Federico Mayor, Director-General of the United

Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) from 1987 to 1999, was

quick to recognize the linkage between education

and future change,

“Education, in the broadest sense of the

term, plays a preponderant role in this development

aimed at fundamental changes in our

ways of living and behaving. Education is the

‘force for the future’ because it is one of the

Poised on the edge of the 21st century, Mayor’s

comments were not aimed at the traditional basics

of education (reading, writing, arithmetic), but

were couched in the context of global change. In

Director-General provided a grand vision,

“But we can be certain of at least one thing: if

we want this earth to provide for the needs of

its inhabitants, human society must undergo a

transformation. The world of tomorrow must

be fundamentally different from the world we

know as we step into the 21st century and the

How different must the world become, and in

what direction is this transformation taking society?

In 1947, Julian Huxley, the Director-General of

UNESCO, wrote a short but important work on

his organization, which was founded in 1945 but

didn’t come into effect until the following year.

Huxley openly proclaimed an evolutionary,

secular humanist rationale for this important UN

organ; “…the general philosophy of UNESCO

should, it seems, be a scientific world humanism,

In fleshing out this evolutionary philosophy,

Huxley demonstrated the desire for direct management

in the formation of human culture. As you

read through these assertions, carefully consider

the deeper implications Huxley impressed.

• “Our first task must be to clarify the notion

of desirable and undesirable direction of

evolution, for on this will depend our attitude

• “Thus the struggle for existence that underlies

natural selection is increasingly replaced

by conscious selection, a struggle between

• “From the evolutionary point of view, the

destiny of man may be summed up very simply:

it is to realise the maximum progress in

the minimum time. That is why the philosophy

of UNESCO must have an evolutionary

background, and why the concept of progress

cannot but occupy a central position in that

philosophy.

The analysis of evolutionary progress gives

us certain criteria for judging the rightness or

• “…UNESCO must constantly be testing its

policies against the touchstone of evolutionary

progress. A central conflict of our times

is that between nationalism and internationalism,

between the concept of many national

• “The moral for UNESCO is clear. The task

laid upon it of promoting peace and security

can never be wholly realised through the

means assigned to it – education, science and

culture. It must envisage some form of world

political unity, whether through a single

world government or otherwise, as the only

certain means for avoiding war…Specifically,

it its educational programme it 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. But, more

generally, it can do a great deal to lay the

foundations on which world political unity

As the educational agency of the United Nations,

Huxley overtly tied UNESCO’s philosophy

of evolution/world government into the process of

public learning. Consider this statement,

“…since the world to-day is in process of

becoming one, and since a major aim of

UNESCO must be to help in the speedy and

satisfactory realisation of this process, that

UNESCO must pay special attention to international

education - to education as a function

Huxley suggested other interlocking pursuits in

the quest for world change, such as eugenics (the

art of guiding human evolution through controlled

as “birth-control facilities” and reversing the

“wrong” ethics of modern medicine (an increase

in population/longevity is negative to evolutionary

productivity along with social welfare in an evolutionary

the “techniques of persuasion” as “Lenin envisaged”

to “overcome the resistance of millions to

Pulling all of this together, and using human

conflict as a motive for world change, Huxley

wrote,

“…the task before UNESCO is necessary, is

opportune, and, in spite of all multiplicity of

detail, is single.

That task is to help the emergence of a

single world culture, with its own philosophy

and background of ideas, and with its own

broad purpose. That is opportune, since this

is the first time in history that the scaffolding

and the mechanisms for world unification

have become available, and also the

first time that man has had the means (in the

shape of scientific discovery and its applications)

of laying a world-wide foundation for

the minimum physical welfare of the entire

human species. And it is necessary, for at the

moment two opposing

philosophies of life confront

each other from

the West and from the

East…

You may categorise

the two philosophies

as two super-nationalisms;

or as individualism

versus collectivism;

or as the American

verses the Russian way

of life; or as capitalism

verses communism; or

as Christianity verses

Marxism; or in half a

dozen other ways…Can

this conflict be avoided,

these opposites be reconciled, this antithesis

be resolved in a higher synthesis? I believe

not only that this can happen, but that,

through the inexorable dialectic of evolution,

Think about it: As a pretext to world unity, what

would happen if Christianity were to amalgamate

with Marxism? A new brand of social gospel

would emerge, centred not on Biblical foundations

but on humanistic consensus, with societal transformation

as the centerpiece.

What would happen if individualism and collectivism

were to blend? A new civilization of global

democracy would be born, one that places “community”

above persons, and elevates the commons

(i.e., environment) ahead of the “narrow self-interests”

of individuals.

And what about the synthesis of capitalism and

communism? Such a hybrid would be called “economic

globalization.”

Does any of this sound familiar?

UNESCO and Seven Lessons for

Education

In 1999, UNESCO invited Edgar Morin, then

Director Emeritus of Research at the French

National Centre for Scientific Research, to help

formulate a better understanding of the basic philosophies

underpinning world change education.

Essentially, it was hoped that Morin’s work would

“stimulate discussion on how education can and

Morin focused on “seven complex lessons” or

“seven facets of essential knowledge” that he felt

was needed “in education for the future in all societies.”

1. Detecting error and illusion:

“Everything we know is subject to error and illusion.”

continually in a state of intellectual delusion and

error.

In attempting to explain the restructuring of

ideas, doctrines and beliefs in the establishment of

a new civilization, Morin attacks all foundations

of truth. This includes “official beliefs, sovereign

doctrines…unquestioned received ideas, uncontested

stupid beliefs, [and] triumphant absurdities…”

uphold it’s own belief structure is deemed error

and/or illusion. However, this idea, Morin admits,

is generated by ideas,

“…Myth and ideology destroy and devour

facts.

And yet it is by ideas that we can perceive

the shortcomings and dangers of the idea.

Whence the inescapable paradox: we have to

lead a crucial battle against ideas but we cannot

Morin deals with this paradox by providing a

recommendation: “We should always remember to

keep our ideas in their place as mediators and not

If this seems nebulous, that’s because it is. It’s

an attempt to walk a philosophical tightrope that

immediately throws the traveler down a dark pit.

In a sense, it’s the equivalent to emphatically declaring;

“there is no truth, and that’s the truth.”

But why would the author of this UNESCO

report follow this path of no-truth/no-reality?

Because education, according to Morin, is an act

of creating globally accepted “meta-viewpoints on

What is the “noosphere”? It’s the hypothesis that

all of humanity’s consciousness is prompting transcendent

evolution: a mystical premise that fits

hand-in-globe with the Gaia concept of a living,

interacting, evolving bio-Earth. In other words,

new world-views need to emerge that embody the

“facts” of cosmic, conscious evolution. In contrast,

illusions and errors – ideas, beliefs, or doctrines

that oppose this special awareness – must

original]

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As Morin concludes in his first complex lesson,

“If we can hope for basic progress in the 21

century it would be that men and women

could stop being the unconscious toys of their

ideas and not only their ideas but their own

self-deception. The major responsibility of

education is to arm every single person for

Intellectual houses built on foundations of truth

and reality are not appropriate for this New Global

Age. Rather, education that leads society into a

netherworld of shifting values is the key to world

unity. Why? Because pliable people are easily

mouldable.

2. Principles of Pertinent Knowledge:

In this section the UNESCO author hits on an

important point: if we want to understand the

world today, we cannot compartmentalize knowledge.

Rather, we have to see how various fields of

study overlap and work together, giving us a more

complete picture.

As the report states, “Society includes historical,

economic, sociologic, religious dimensions…Pertinent

knowledge must recognize this multidimensionality

Morin isn’t wrong. In fact, this is a significant

type of competitive intelligence/macro-approach

to information and knowledge.

However, the worldview embraced by Morin

and UNESCO seeks integrated knowledge as

a factor in an evolving global culture. “In this

planetary era we have to situate everything in the

As another UNESCO document reinforces,

“…the true challenge, which the international

community must face, is to visualize planet-sized

“Planetary citizenship must facilitate interaction

among citizens of the world, to build wisdom

and imagery on a planetary scale. Strengthening

the idea of a world civilization will provide

the stage for communicating, interacting, associating

and rejecting what will not fit in global

codes. People must become citizens of Earth,

3. Teaching the Human Condition:

The “human condition,” according to UNESCO

and Morin, is an evolved cosmic condition.

“The particles that make up our organism

appeared in the very first seconds of life in

our cosmos, fifteen billion (perhaps?) years

ago; our carbon atoms were constituted in one

or several suns that preceded our own; our

molecules combined in the earliest convulsive

times of the Earth; these macromolecules

joined together within whirlwinds and one of

them, growing ever richer in molecular diversity,

metamorphosed into something new

and very different from the previous, strictly

This is fascinating. Morin completely contradicts

one his country’s most famous scientists,

Louis Pasteur, discoverer of the established Law

of Biogenesis [which states that life cannot arise

from non-living matter]. If Pasteur were alive

today, it’s highly doubtful that UNESCO would

embrace this eminent chemist. After all, Pasteur’s

worldview – “the more I study nature, the more I

stand amazed at the work of the Creator” – flies

in the face of UNESCO.

Morin, on the other hand, completely ignores

the proven work of his fellow Frenchman.

“A bit of physical substance organized itself

thermodynamically on this earth. Soaked in

brine, stewed in chemicals, jolted with elec-

trical charges, it came to Life…We, the living,

are a straw of the cosmic diaspora, a few

crumbs of solar existence, a tiny budding of

earthly existence.

We are part of cosmic destiny but we are a

fringe group: our Earth is the third satellite of

a sun cast our of its central throne to become

a heavenly pygmy wandering among billions

of stars…

Five billion years ago our planet was

formed, apparently an aggregate of cosmic

detritus from the explosion of an earlier sun

and four billion years ago living organization

emerged from a macromolecular whirlwind

in the midst of howling tellurian storms and

convulsions.

The Earth produced and organized itself

within its dependence on the sun and, when it

developed its biosphere, constituted itself as a

biophysical complex.

We are both cosmic and terrestrial beings.”

32

And therein lies the crux of the matter of the human

condition according to UNESCO: we are cosmic

entities. Cosmic accidents to be more precise,

but cosmic nonetheless. As Morin tells us,

“…every human being, like a point in a hologram,

bears the cosmos within himself. We

should also see that every human being, even

a person confined in the most ordinary life, is

In concluding this third complex lesson in education

for the future, this cosmic/evolutionary order

leads us down the path of fate and citizenship.

“Education should show and illustrate the

multiple facets of human Fate: fate in the human

species, individual fate, social fate, historical

fate, all these fates mixed together and

inseparable. One of the essential vocations of

the education of the future will be the investigation

and study of human complexity. It will

that will give awareness [prise de conscience]

of the common condition of all human beings;

the very rich and necessary diversity of

individuals, peoples, cultures; and our rootedness

brackets in original]

4. Earth Identity:

Understanding Morin’s stance on Earth identity

isn’t difficult. This is the culmination of education

for UNESCO: world civilization. Three quotes

from Morin will suffice to illustrate this point.

“Our planet requires polycentric thought that

can aim at a universalism that is not abstract

but conscious of the unity/diversity of the human

condition; a polycentric thought nourished

by the cultures of the world. Educating

for this thought is the finality of education of

the future, which in the planetary era should

“…we can glimpse the potential of a new creation

– earth citizenship – in the third millennium,

born of seeds and embryos contributed

by the 20th century. And education, which

both transmits the old and opens the mind to

“Today, the fundamental global objective of

all education aspiring not only to progress but

to the survival of humanity is to Civilize and

Unify the Earth and Transform the human

species into genuine humanity. Awareness of

our humanity in this planetary era should lead

us to a new unity and reciprocal commiseration

italics in original]

5. Confronting Uncertainties:

In German Hegelian philosophy, the dialectic

runs like this: Thesis, opposed by Antithesis, is

reconciled in Synthesis. Repeat this process until

the Final Goal is achieved.

Although Hegelian philosophy in its many forms

can be difficult to grasp, this dialectic is understandable.

In order to achieve the Final Goal,

an initial Thesis is put forward – call it the First

Agenda. This First Agenda is radical, and will

never be accepted as it stands: it needs a modifier.

Hence, an opposing idea or force, Antithesis,

is brought into the picture – call it Planned Opposition.

In the inevitable disorder that occurs,

reconciliation/appeasement is demanded, and the

agreed upon new position, the Synthesis, moves

the process one step closer to the Final Goal.

Repeat until the last Synthesis becomes the Final

Goal. [See the Hegelian Dialectic chart, produced

Another way of expressing this is to use the

Latin term, Ordo Ab Chao: Order out of Chaos.

To achieve the Result, introduce Chaos. Out of the

cry for Order, introduce a Solution that brings the

desired Result.

This philosophy can be found in Morin’s UNESCO

report under the fifth complex lesson. Writing

on order and disorder, and then liking confrontation

to social change, the author states,

“The uncertain adventure of humanity is

simply the continuation of the uncertain adventure

of the cosmos, created from an accident

that defies our imagination, and pursing

its course of creations and destructions…

…The Earth itself, which probably originated

in a pile of cosmic refuse spit out from a solar

explosion, is self-organized in a dialogue between

…A new consciousness is emerging. Confronted

by uncertainties on all sides, man

is swept up in a new adventure. We have to

learn how to confront uncertainty because we

live in a changing epoch where our values

are ambivalent and everything is interconnected.”

Paradoxically, while the Earth and Mankind is

the product of a colossal accident (according to

Morin), educational activities – an undeniably

planned action – seeks to purposefully introduce

a new utopian society through the chaos/order/results

principle.

Clearly, traditional values and realities cannot

be tolerated in the pursuit of this future world, for

they form a grounded opposition based on history

(observed central government rule in Nazi Germany

and the Soviet Union), and the logic of the

real human condition (a recognition of greed, lust,

and power). Note, this grounded opposition is not

a pre-planned action (Thesis/Antithesis) meant to

introduce uncertainties (chaos) that would thereafter

lead to the desired transformation of civilization

(the Final Synthesis). “Reality” that stands

on history and traditional values, therefore, must

be downplayed as “illusion.” Pliable thinking is

required for building the utopian future.

“Reality is not easily legible. Ideas and

theories are not a reflection of reality they are

translations, and sometimes mistranslations.

Our reality is nothing more than our idea of

reality.

…the worst illusions are found within intolerant,

6. Understanding Each Other:

Global tolerance is a benchmark for UNESCO,

and so Morin touches on this social code of conduct,

driving home the point of reforming thought

processes towards planetary harmony.

“We should connect ethics of inter-personal

understanding with the greater need for globalized

understanding in planetary era ethics.

The only globalization that would really serve

mankind is globalized understanding, globalized

spiritual and intellectual human solidarity.”

41

“Our planet needs mutual understanding in

all directions. Given the importance of education

for understanding, on all educational

levels and for all ages, the development of

understanding demands a planetary reform of

mentalities: this is the task for education of

7. Ethics for the Human Genre:

In this final lesson, Morin’s charge to UNESCO

is that “we take responsibility for the anthropo-

So how does he suggest this guiding of humanity

as a prime mission? Direct social development

by educating for an ethics of planetary unification,

All of this is embodied in the Living Earth/Gaia/

noosphere belief of human/cosmic evolution, with

a political Final Goal.

“Humanity is no longer simply a biological

notion but it should be fully recognized in its

inseparable inclusion in the biosphere. Humanity

is no longer a notion without roots, it

is rooted in a ‘Homeland,’ the Earth, and the

in original]

“…we can define our finalities: the pursuit

of…humanization via accession to earth citizenship…

for an organized planetary community.

UNESCO On The Ground

As yeast infects dough, so too UNESCO’s philosophy

of world humanism has worked its way

through our educational systems. Philosophically,

Huxley’s organization hasn’t changed, nor has its

grand vision of transformation been altered in the

least.

Reflecting on education as a tool for transformation,

a joint UNESCO/Government of Greece report

“…the potential for education is enormous.

Not only can it inform people, it can change

them. It is not only a means for personal

enlightenment, but also for cultural renewal.

Education not only provides the scientific and

technical skills required, it also provides the

motivation, justification, and social support

for pursing and applying them. Education

increases the capacities of people to transform

their visions of society into operational

realities. It is for this reason that education is

the primary agent of transformation towards

This 1997 report also connected the dots between

the many international agreements and

summits that took place during the 1990s, with a

particular bent towards the goal of “sustainable

development” – a catch-phrase that encompasses

socialistic management practices regarding land

use, population and development, the utilization

of natural resources, and other environmentally

sensitive areas. In essence, “sustainable development”

is an administrative/political process that

focuses on impacting two cultural structures:

economics and social activity – with government

policy intentionally leveraged to enforce change

in these two sectors.

Discussing the role of political arrangements

and education, this UNESCO document bridged

the global with the local.

“At the heart of this new international consensus

is a new vision of education, public

awareness and training as the essential underpinning

for sustainable development…Within

the action plans, education is no longer seen

as an end it itself, but as a means to:

• bring about the changes in values, behavior

and lifestyle that are needed to achieve

sustainable development, and ultimately

democracy, human security and peace;

• disseminate knowledge, know-how and

skills that are needed to bring about sustainable

production and consumption patterns…

• ensure an informed populace that is

prepared to support changes towards sustainability

emerging from other sectors.

These action plans are to be implemented

not only for international institutions such as

the United Nations system, but also and most

This is where the rubber meets the road: bringing

the global agenda down to all levels of society.

Hence, UNESCO’s educational programs are not

merely academic exercises; they are intentionally

designed to influence global, regional, national,

and local educational systems – they are intentionally

designed to impact your culture. Here are

some examples,

Global Influence: Through Ministerial level

roundtables and conferences where national

representatives seek common ground and agree

to implement UNESCO action plans. The next

significant Ministerial level roundtable will take

place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, October

19-20, 2007.

Regional Influence: Each year UNESCO operates

regional meetings and consultations in every zone

on the planet, supporting a broad range of educational,

cultural, and scientific programs.

This year, starting with a UNESCO/US White

House conference, the organization has embarked

on a series of six regional meetings on literacy and

teacher education. Eradicating literacy is a noble

endeavour, however, even literacy is treated as a

steppingstone to internationalist goals. In 2000,

Gene B. Sperling, US Assistant to the President

for Economic Policy, brought these two concepts

together while attending a UNESCO Forum on

Education for All, “It is hard to imagine a more

effective investment in the success of open markets

and global integration than an expansion of

National Influence: In the United States, almost

800 schools use International Baccalaureate Organization

programs. The IBO was jointly established

in 1968 by UNESCO, the Ford Foundation,

and the Twentieth Century Fund. Today, and over

the years, the IBO and UNESCO partner in developing

school materials that promotes planetary

Another national example is the 2005 Luneburg,

Germany meeting titled “Higher Education for

Sustainable Development: New Challenges from a

Global Perspective,” which looked for ways to reorient

education toward sustainable development

Local Level: Typically, national and international

UNESCO strategies filter through to the local

level. After all, the local is where higher decisions

are ultimately aimed.

Some interesting Canadian examples exist for

2005 that are worth mentioning, as they reflect the

wide scope of UNESCO’s involvement in Canadian

culture. The following items were taken from

Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

• “Combating Urban Racism,” Ottawa, ON, Jan.

24 [focusing on policies to fight discrimination,

xenophobia, and racism].

• “Growing Up in Cities,” Gatineau, QC Feb.

21/Vancouver, BC, Sept. 13-14 [connecting youth,

non-profit groups, and civic governments as part

of UNESCO’s Growing Up in Cities Network].

• “Taking Stock and Moving Forward,” a meeting

of the Saskatoon Teacher’s Association, Saskatoon,

SK, Feb. 14 [focused on worldviews as an

education theme, with the community as a unifying

force].

• “Forum for Responsible Citizenship,” Quebec,

May 19-20 [engaging a sustainable development

theme for schools].

• “Workshop on the Earth Charter Festival,”

Montreal, QC, Oct. 30 [a workshop to focus on

global interdependence as envisioned by the Earth

Charter, a soft-law document that establishes an

ethics for world integration].

One final example that transcends local to global

is the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network.

This program seeks to promote ideals of

global unity and world peace through a network of

over 7000 schools around the world. According to

the Canadian Commission for UNESCO,

“Associated Schools promote UNESCO’s

ideals by conducting pilot projects, and by

developing innovative educational approaches

and materials to address local, regional and

Even though there may be some general good

that comes through such a program, such as tsunami

relief for South East Asia as a result of school’s

participating in the UNESCO Network, the grander

vision of evolutionary world governance is still

at the core of UNESCO’s activities.

So how do you deal with UNESCO at the local

level?

UNESCO and You

Each person is in a unique place and position,

and will respond in ways beyond what the author

of this report has thought of.

Some general rules apply, however, in making a

measured response to UNESCO influence at your

level, and to any other critical situations as they

arise,

1. Know your facts. Study the history, philosophy,

personalities, and current activities in order to

have an integrated knowledge of the situation.

2. Document your positions. If possible, have

the actual materials on hand. And strive to ensure

that the documentation is true to the context of the

criticism.

3. Be tactful in your response. There is a time and

a place where emotional responses, forcefulness,

and confrontational elements come into play, but

tactfulness and discrimination should always be

the hallmark.

4. Offer sound, logical reasons for your criticisms.

Couch your positions/reasons in factual

evidence and rational lines of progression.

Here are some suggestions and possible points

of contact.

Parents: If your child or youth is in a public/private

school, keep close tabs on the curriculum and

material used in shaping your child. Ask questions

such as; is the school using UNESCO materials?

(If so, ask to review them). What worldviews does

the school present in their curriculum? (Many

school staff might not understand this question, so

you may need to employ other questions/terminology

in order to ascertain what is being taught).

More often than not, a hands-on review of the curriculum/

teaching materials is necessary in order to

determine what is being presented. Provide constructive

and reasoned responses where needed.

As a parent you are responsible for your children,

and if you see educational directions that

are questionable, it’s your responsibility to act

(remember the above rules!). Therefore, due

diligence in the school system is essential – and

where possible, be helpful in other ways, thereby

building relationships and credibility.

Home schooling families, obviously, don’t face

the same issues as public/private school families.

Regardless, it’s important to engage your community

and peers as opportunities presents.

School Staff/Teachers: Be alert to materials and

teaching techniques that promote world citizenship

and global ethics building. If such curriculum

is required in the classroom, utilize it as a launching

pad to critical thinking. Examine the claims

carefully, and encourage the use of historical

outside materials in defining and defending positions.

Encourage students/staff to think rationally

and logically.

School Board Members: Be extra diligent to the

influences of UNESCO worldviews as they filter

down from official education departments. Communicate

with staff and parents regarding your

use/disuse of certain materials, and provide critical

feedback to higher officials. Remember, you

are not just the conduit for top-down decision

makers, but a buffer between the community and

the educational bureaucracy.

Politicians/Policy Makers/Bureaucrats: The pressure

is enormous to conform and follow the politically

accepted line. Develop a logical outlook,

deeply examining what is being asked of you.

Voice your concerns, and let the community know

where you stand. Be firm in defending liberty,

truth, and rationality. Refrain from the political

herd mentality when a higher office orders

UNESCO/global governance agendas to be implemented,

and offer sound reasons/alternatives in

countering/handling the internationalist approach.

Regardless of who you are or your position in

life, become involved in youth. Instil values of

truth, reality, and an appreciation for fact. Offer

counterpoints to the continual bombardment

of ambiguous global values and ideals. Lead by

integrity, honesty, and sound thinking. Recognize

the real human condition, and offer tangible hope,

not utopian humanistic dreams that have historically

produced nothing but nightmares.

It has been said that the youth of today are the

leaders of tomorrow, and that’s true. But the leaders

of today are the ones who chart the course. Be

a leader.

Endnotes:

p.289.

report, December 1997, p.36.

Morin, 1999.

Affairs Press, 1947), p.8.

p.22.

(Mott Media, 1990)

p.22.

pp.43-44.

report, December 1997, p.36.

FC

the President for Economic Policy, United States of America,

International Consultative Forum on Education for All, April 28,

2000, www.unesco.org/education/efa/wef_2000/speeches/sperling.

shtml.

article “Social Engineering for Global Change” at www.forcingchange.

org/store/1874178/page/1130090.

for UNESCO. For the German example, see pages 10-11.

Commission for UNESCO, p.31.

Nope, That’s Not Money

Editor’s Note: This short article, which provides

important economic food-for-thought, is used by

permission of the author. For contact information,

and to learn more about Mr. Rubino’s work, see

the details at the end of this article.

By John A. Rubino, August 20, 2007

Prudent Bear’s Doug Noland has for years been

pointing out that one of the drivers of the credit

bubble has been the ever-broadening definition of

money. As the global economy expanded without

a hic-up, more and more instruments came to be

used as a store of value or medium of exchange

or even a standard against which to value other

things – in other words, as money. Thus mortgagebacked

bonds and even more exotic things came

to be seen as nearly risk-free and infinitely liquid.

In Noland’s terms, credit gained “moneyness,”

which sent the effective global money supply

through the roof. This in turn allowed the U.S.

and its trading partners to keep adding jobs and

appearing to grow, despite debt levels that were

rising into the stratosphere. For a while there, borrowing

actually made the world richer, because

both the cash received and the debt created functioned

as money.

With a few months of hindsight, it’s now clear

that debt-as-money was not one of humanity’s

better ideas. When the U.S. housing market – the

source of all that mortgage-backed pseudo money

– began to tank, hedge funds found out that an asset-

backed bond wasn’t exactly the same thing as

a stack of hundred dollar bills. The global economy

then started taking inventory of what it was

using as money. And it began crossing things off

the list. Subprime ABS? Nope, that’s not money.

BBB corporate bonds? Nope. High-grade corporates?

Alas, no. Credit default swaps? Are you

kidding me?

No longer able to function as money, these

instruments are being “repriced” (a slick little

euphemism for “dumped for whatever anyone

will pay”), which is causing a cascade failure of

the many business models that depend on infinite

liquidity. The effective global money supply is

contracting at a double-digit rate, reversing out

much of the past decade’s growth.

But here’s where it gets really interesting. The

reaction of the world’s central banks to the freezing-

up of the leveraged speculating community

has, predictably, been to create massive amounts

of new fiat currency and hand it to the banking

system. They’re not dropping twenties out

of helicopters yet, but functionally it’s the same

thing. By swapping dollars, euros and yen for

no-longer-money bonds that are plunging in price,

creating some paper profits where there once were

catastrophic losses, the Bankers hope to revive the

animal spirits of the leveraged speculators. Specifically,

they hope to stop the financial community

from going further down the moneyness checklist

and eliminating any more instruments.

But you don’t forget a brush with death that

easily. The process of debt reclassification has a

momentum that a few hundred billion new dollars

won’t stop. And once corporate bonds and

agency bonds and emerging market bonds have

been crossed off the list, the system will start

eyeing the dollar. Is it really a store of value after

falling by half against oil and gold in the past five

years? Didn’t the Fed just create a tidal wave of

new dollars and promise to create infinitely more

if needed? Isn’t the U.S. economy hobbled by the

implosion of housing and mortgage finance and

hedge funds and (soon) derivatives? Don’t Americans

owe more per capita than any people in human

history? And a realization will begin to dawn:

Maybe the paper currency of an over-indebted

Doubleday, 2004, ISBN 0-385-51223-6). This

handy volume gives a terrific overview of debtmoney

concerns, and makes a strong case for asset

ownership wealth/value. You can order this book

through Mr. Robino’s website, www.dollarcollapse.

com.

publication dedicated to documenting and

analyzing the socio-religious transformations

now sweeping our world. Owned

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