Hardwick's HB2489/ Credit for IB Diploma Goes Down in Committee

HB2489  to give 24 hours credit to IB Diploma students failed to get out of the Education Committee, today March 27. For a summary of the problems with the bill see the article below from Eagle Forum.  There were eight votes for it, and it needed eleven. Two members were absent and two voted Present.   Following is the list of legislators who voted No and Yes. Representative Horace Hardwick, who sponsored the bill, had six Democrats and two Republicans to vote with him on the bill.  He had three Republicans to vote against him. 
 
No votes that kept it from getting out of committee, our friends on this bill: Rep. Mark Martin, Rep Tommy Dickenson, Rep. James Norton, Curren Everett, Rep. Eric Harris, Rep. Sid Rosenbaum, Representative David Rainey, and Rep. Toni Bradford 

Yes votes who voted for Hardwick's bill. Rep. Betty Pickett, Rep. Janet Johnson, Rep. Shirley Walters, Rep. Michael Lamoureux, Rep. Nancy Blount, Rep. Rick Saunders, Rep. David Cook, Rep. Eddie Cheatham  
Jeff Wood and  Benny Petrus were absent and Mike Kenney & Bill Abernathy as Chair and Co Chair voted present.

Eagle Forum Opposes HB2489 Giving College Credit to High School Graduates with IB Diploma

Eagle Forum of Arkansas opposes HB 2489 by Representative Hardwick which would require Arkansas colleges to give 24 hours credit to students with a high school diploma in the International Baccalaureate Program (IBP). The IBP is global education, often called International Studies. Following are six reason Eagle Forum opposes this bill.

1. Statements and documentation from citizens in many areas where this program has been implemented, as well as leading educational researchers, say the program undermines Christianity and patriotism and promotes moral relativism, total disarmament and pacifism. See link to three Washington newspaper articles below. 1

2. Walker, the worldwide IBO director, spoke these words in a speech in 1995: "How do we reconcile a spirit of inquiry with a patriarchal culture that values received wisdom and rote learning? How can a secular curriculum be adopted in a country where religious faith, rather than empirical observation, defines the limits of truth? Is it possible to be a free-thinking individual, perhaps perceived as amoral, in a culture where the rules and rituals are unconditionally accepted and rigorously adhered to?" [Received wisdom includes religion, cultural norms, and education passed down through teachers, etc.] 2

3. Students' tests in IBO program in the 11th and 12th grade in the United States are actually sent to other countries for grading. This has been confirmed by school officials in Arkansas. There would be no way for teachers not to teach the IBO curriculum and philosophy since the tests are not even graded by them, and the tests will drive the curriculum just as the tests drive the curriculum in Arkansas.

4. IBO officials promote total disarmament. There is no doubt then they would oppose citizens Second Amendment right to bear arms. In one of its documents IBO heralds the "UN International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World 2001-2010." Following is a bullet point from that document. "Culture of Peace in Promoting international peace and security through action such as the promotion of general and complete disarmament."

For rest of this point on disarmament, two more reasons to oppose the bill, and for links to documenttion, see Tuesday below or just scroll down if sent here.