ABSTRACT
An examination of the standards promulgated by teacher education organizations such as the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF), the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) gives little indication of a commitment to academic achievement as their highest priority. Instead, they focus on having students learn to get along with others, be sensitive to other cultures, display "high-level thinking" and demonstrate a commitment to the promotion of social justice. Systematic instruction in reading, the learning of mathematical algorithms such as the computations associated with long division and the manipulation of fractions may be discouraged, as is the acquisition of the facts associated with science, history, economics, and geography.
