From: btennison@jb.com
Subject: Helpful analogy
Date sent: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 15:09:21 -0800

All: During a recent OBE discussion with a parent here, I used the following analogy with tremendous success. It won't work with everyone but it may be one more tool we can use. We were discussing the funding of local OBE and how federal grants impact local education. He just could not see how the money gave the FEDS power over our local curriculum so I pointed out the following:

Several years ago the Federal Government decided the "National Speed Limit" should be 55 MPH. The had no rights whatever in dictating to the States what each state's speed limit should be so they tied it to the money. No Federal highway dollars without a 55 MPH speed limit. How many states failed to fall into line? Coast to coast, 55 MPH! The States didn't admit they had caved in, they came up with all kinds of reasons why this had been THEIR DECISION and had been decided by local citizens.

I'm sure I could have come up with several other examples of how citizens of every state came up with the same idea, virtually "overnight", in order to fall in with Federal guidelines.

Bob