A strange education plan

A lot of people fret over how to reclaim wayward teenagers and how to get them excited again about learning in school. Still more are rightly concerned about ways to improve public schools. It's good to study alternative approaches to these problems. But, as with all frustrating problems, it can be easy to get carried away.

It's probably safe to say that most people wouldn't accept, on its face, the idea of taking drug-addicted teens, putting them in swimsuits and making them exercise in saunas and other steamy environments as a way of detoxifying them. Even if, as proponents of this method say, the procedure cleanses them so they can think clearly again, education officials should want to see some empirical research from reputable researchers before buying into the idea.

All of which makes a host of plans being pushed by certain Utah lawmakers, including some plans closely tied to the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard and his Church of Scientology, rather suspect.

As the Deseret Morning News reported earlier this week, a group known as Innovations in Education has gotten the ear of some state leaders to the extent that its proposals made it into a bill that would have redirected $1 million toward implementation. Gov. Olene Walker vetoed funding for the idea, but many lawmakers continue to pressure state education officials to implement the programs anyway.

The sweating-in-the-sauna program is only one aspect of the plan. Other parts include improving school ventilation systems, providing nutritional supplements and implementing study skills programs that are similar to Scientology programs.

Some lawmakers apparently thought the controversial items were removed before lawmakers passed on the proposals. Others can't remember them. Still others defend the ideas.

The confusion is compounded by disputes over whether certain school districts agreed to co-sponsor a conference this week by Innovations in Education, and whether certain others said they were interested in the detoxification programs.

We applaud innovation, but it has to be done with some reasonable expectation for success based on objective, verifiable data. This goes doubly for ideas that sound extreme or that threaten to violate church and state separation.

Through the years, public schools have cut back important non-academic courses in physical education and music — two disciplines that can be demonstrated to increase learning in other areas. Perhaps it would make more sense to re-emphasize these in mandatory courses first before grasping at new methods.