The number one reason I oppose Common Core is that it is unconstitutional. It removes local control and gives it to the Federal Government. There is a lot of propaganda out there right now (heavily funded by those who stand to gain power or money), trying to focus the attention on things like making American schools more nationally competitive and preparing students for the workplace. If they can sell these seemingly well-intentioned goals to the masses, the masses will sell all of our birthrights (freedom) for a mess of pottage (higher test scores, etc.). We need to be careful not to give away our freedom and constitutional rights for any reason - in this case because we believe the propaganda they are feeding us. Study deeper! You must find out what is going on behind the scenes in order to judge for yourself if the trade-off is worth what you are giving up for it.
You had me at UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
See this article for exactly WHY Common Core is unconstitutional.
"We cannot oppose Common Core because it does not align with our values. We must oppose it because it violates this country’s principles. The pundits, journalists, etc. who report and commentate on Common Core only serve to further the disease. The commentary should end at Common Core being unconstitutional because it is not an explicit power delegated to Congress and therefore the Tenth Amendment is remedy."Say Common Core was struck down because of the values it teaches, but was kept in place with neutral, or conservative values. Again, many would applaud this as victory. However, you’ve only picked off the flower of the weed, which has roots growing ever deeper through the soil. This is no victory. For it is only a matter of time until someone strikes at the values again and replaces them with their own, thus growing the flower back."
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Here is a video presentation by Terrence O. Moore, history professor at Hillsdale College, about how the Common Core destroys minds and souls. You can start at the six-minute mark without missing any of the main presentation.
THIS blog entry is about Moore's book, The Story Killers, which you can find HERE.
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Read this blog post by Wendy Hart, Alpine School District school board member, entitled "Why I Oppose Common Core".
A couple of my favorite quotes, but you simply must read the whole, brief post!
"What are the options should you object, as a parent, as a school, as a district? What are the options if we decide, once we have full implementation and actual experience to back up the Common Core experiment, that we made a mistake? How do we amend? How do we turn back? A few years from now, it will be too late. We have just signed on to a system to eliminate, through attrition, virtually all other options in public education."
"But if it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by...any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward [district], it is a belief against all experience." --Thomas Jefferson__________________________
Podcast interview of Heidi Huber of Ohioans Against Common Core by Doc Thompson (The Morning Blaze). Listen to the CC segment 39:00-53:30.
Doc Thompson Interview
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This is a great 13-minute video called The Assessment Landscape by Chris Tienken. It's about how one national standardized curriculum without scientific evidence to support their plans is dangerous. It's a must-see.
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This link goes to an interview of Christina Michas by Canada Free Press's Sher Zieve. This article goes into many of the facets of Common Core, one of the topics is highlighted below.
Interviewer: “Common Core” appears to have all of the earmarks of the old USSR’s programming system for children with several new innovative and chilling twists. It is also firmly tied to Agenda 21—the land-grabbing and human suppression and depopulation program.Christina Mechas' response simply must be read in its entirety. Take the time to read this one!
Why would Canadians care what 's happening in U.S. school systems? It affects all of us - in and out of public schools and in and out of our country.
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From whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com:
With all the pushback across our country against Common Core standards and testing it’s almost impossible to keep up! Here is an incomplete list with links to some important, recent news stories you may have missed.____________________________________________
This article from NPR.org points out that there is criticism of Common Core from all political parties. One quote from the article:
"The mutual criticism of Common Core extends to potential uses and abuses under the new standards. Both sides also say Common Core represents an end-run around federal prohibition against a national curriculum. And both argue that the new standards were not really state-driven. They say the Obama administration all but forced states into it by requiring adoption of the new standards in order to be eligible for more than $4 billion in federal "Race to the Top"."
Here are a simple article about the Race To The Top (RTTT) contest for federal funds:
Diane Ravitch - A Pig in a Poke
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CC debate from Jan. 6, 2014 in Logan, Utah One hour, thirty-five minutes.
While it could only scratch the surface on every issue, some good points were made. If you're not willing to watch the whole thing, at least watch the following short segments:
1:10:40-1:12:37
1:19:32-1:20:56 (it's SO much more complex than the state school board wants the public to see)
1:24:00-1:25:56
1:34:00-1:36:52 (very important point about one of the dangers of aligning with 44 other states)
It's not just about standards! One of the biggest problems is that TESTING drives what is taught because educators' jobs are now being directly tied to the test scores of their students. Teachers are having to spend their time making sure the kids can spew forth answers on the tests - at the expense of so many other facets that are important in education, including critical thinking, the arts, physical education, and developing people of good character. In addition to preparing the students for their mandatory tests in 3 subjects, many, many teachers are reporting that required testing takes so much of their teaching time that time for these other subjects is being reduced considerably. And of course so many important traits of really good teachers cannot be measured on a test!
This debate didn't even address data mining and many other pertinent issues. I have been reading multiple articles every day for months and I am still learning new things about it every day. A two-hour debate simply cannot convey all the facets and implications of this problem.
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On the subject of accountability TO educators BY parents:
1-minute audio clip
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What do you think? Is Freedom of Education or Equality in Education more important?
Our state school board and the top lawyer at the Utah State Office of Education believe equality in education is more important than freedom over education.
Carol Lear, USOE top lawyer, was asked, “Why is there no amendment process for the CCSS standards?” She did not claim that there was any amendment process. Instead, she replied: “Why would there need to be? The whole point is to be common.” (Email received April 2012 by C. Swasey from C. Lear)
Quote from Leslie Castle, top USSB member: “I have always understood that it is the principle of “equality” not “freedom” that was the guiding principle of our constitution… I have always understood the theme to be equality…not freedom but equality. This is something I have never understood in your writings because you continue to reference freedom over equality…”I think this explains a lot! See the whole article HERE.
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The Heartland Institute's commentary on CC science standards states the following, among other very interesting things:
"Individual liberty advocates counter that centralization in education is as foolish and damaging as centralizing the economy. They note the ideological tendencies of science education toward politics as a substitute for actual science, particularly in the area of highly debatable global warming alarmism, which is falsely assumed as reality in these standards. The standards also promote a simplified understanding of science and are still incoherent despite revisions, according to several sets of reviewers. They ignore central scientific concepts and push a progressive teaching style that has been proven to erode student learning, especially for disadvantaged students."___________________________________________
Quotes from many different senators speaking out against Common Core can be found HERE.
HERE are many of the Common Core, testing and student data privacy push-back bills happening right now, almost all over this nation. The following statement comes from the end of the article:
If you are a Utahn, did you notice Utah is on the “to be announced” list? We have no stop Common Core bill yet. We have too little political pressure from the people upon our leaders.But it's not too late, Utahns! Contact our governor and his education advisors. They need to know what the voice of the people is on the subject of education reform. These issues do not go to a vote. Utah's citizens have never voted on whether or not we should be in the Common Core movement.
But these people hold the power to get us out:
Utah Governor Herbert: http://governor.utah.gov/goca/form_governor.html
Utah Education Director: ckearl@utah.gov
Utah School Superintendent: larry.shumway@schools.utah.gov
Utah State School Board: Board@schools.utah.gov
Your local school board: http://www.onlineutah.com/schooldistricts.shtml
