AmeriCorps 'reeducates' only on value of service

In the deep, dark corners of talk radio and Congress, fears have been building in the past week that plans to expand AmeriCorps will inevitably lead to a sinister organization designed to inculcate our youth, much like the Soviets tried to brainwash their children to the Communist Party.

Even our esteemed Rep. Michele Bachmann has appeared on various broadcasts with dire warnings about the program: "The real concern is that there are provisions for what I would call reeducation camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums," the Republican said. "It is a dream come true for people who want to transform our country from a free-market economy to a centralized, government-planned economy."

I've had experience with a group like this once. I was sitting in a plaza in Havana many years ago when a kid in the obligatory Communist Party red neckerchief walked up and told me to get my feet off the park bench. I didn't like it one bit. So I decided to see if I could uncover some subversives currently working in Minnesota's AmeriCorps underbelly to see what they were up to.

I found one in Duluth: Pam Reed-Beck, also known by her clever cover name, "Grandma Pam."

Grandma Pam is 63, likes motorcycles and doesn't sound like the kind of person who could be reeducated to anything. After she was laid off as a lab technician, she seized an opportunity through an AmeriCorps program that teaches reading to kids who have fallen behind.

"This is the best thing I've ever done," said Grandma Pam. "I love it. Wonderful."

Grandma Pam had just finished "reading duets," a one-on-one exercise with a child who was struggling, but was rapidly catching up due to the personal attention. "There aren't too many jobs where you can see immediate results," she said. "But we've made amazing progress."

"That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard," she said. "I've worked in factories where I was the only woman. You learn to stand up, rear back and bare your teeth."

There are 800 people like Grandma Pam in the state, working through ServeMinnesota, the local agency that coordinates AmeriCorps, according to Audrey Suker, executive director. Suker said people are paid a minimal stipend, $11,400, to work in 13 different programs, from building houses to helping poor kids get into college, to teaching 15,000 kids how to read. Asked about rumors they are trying to influence people, Suker laughed "Well, we are trying to encourage lifelong volunteerism."

They seemed to have done just that for Melanie Thompson, 22, who is in a pioneering program to help students with math in St. Cloud. She had just graduated from college and was trying to decide on a career. Because of Math Corps, she now wants to be an elementary school counselor.

"I've been very lucky, gotten a lot of support in my life, and I wanted to give back to the community," Thompson said. "I've really enjoyed seeing the kids gain confidence in their math skills."

Asked if she was being reeducated, Thompson laughed. "No, I haven't seen that at all," she said.

I noted at least two mainstream Republicans on the ServeMinnesota board, former Sen. David Durenberger and analyst/advertising executive Tom Horner. I asked Horner if he's had any success on the reeducation front.

"My concern is these ludicrous comments play to the worst aspects of those who are more interested in fear-mongering than moving our country forward," Horner said. "It would be horribly short-sighted to not be enthusiastically in favor of programs like this. As a Republican who favors a focused and limited government, I think AmeriCorps is a great value."

Horner doesn't want AmeriCorps to be mandatory, and thinks it's highly unlikely. Yet, he says, the program "gets people involved in their community and makes us a better state."

People such as Grandma Pam, who gushed proudly how some innovative teaching was helping first-graders advance dramatically by sounding out "nonsense words."

Teaching nonsense to children: Now that sounds like something the critics could get behind.