New Standardized Curriculum Rotten to the (Common) Core
Name one thing your federal government is currently doing right. If you think that is difficult, name one thing it does WELL, even if what it is doing is wrong. Can’t think of a single thing? Neither can I. The government cannot even do wrong the right way.
The larger problem we have is that we have gotten used to this. Which proves that human beings can get used to anything. We read the papers, watch the news, surf the Internet, see and hear all this ridiculous stuff the federal government is doing that it ought not to be doing – or stuff it ought to be doing and is doing badly or not at all – and our typical response is neither outrage nor action, but relief. Relief that we, personally, dodged that particular bullet.
Those of us with no children or grand-children in public schools may feel that way about the Common Core flap. But the controversy over Common Core is not your ordinary flap. Common Core is the liberals’ Normandy Invasion.
Feds Get an “F” in Education Reform
The federal government has been messing around in public education for years, and I challenge anyone to point out just one single improvement in children’s education that has resulted from this devastating intrusion. Unless you count the large and growing number of private and parochial schools and homeschoolers that now exist.
The numbers of private and religious schools and the numbers of kids being homeschooled have grown so much because many parents have gotten sick and tired of the government getting involved in education and messing everything up. So, those parents try to scrape together money they can’t afford in order to keep their kids out of it.
Common Core is the name of a federal program developed in “think tanks” that were funded by Bill and Melinda Gates and other well-meaning but misguided wealthy folks. It was pushed on the states along with the promise of federal money to create a “standardized” curriculum in Math and English for all elementary and high schools in the country.
Lowering the Standards Doesn’t Help
So far, about 45 states have dropped for this, as if state governments and the federal government were not picking the same identical pockets: ours. The goal of this program – and they don’t even try to hide or sugarcoat this – is to “reduce the disparity in proficiency between poor and disadvantaged students and everybody else.”
So, how do you think this works out? Do you think these “think tank” guys and gals have figured out a way to get poor and disadvantaged students to perform better, or do you think they just lowered the standards? Come on, it is a typical “One-Size-Fits-All” government program.
That would be bad enough in and of itself, but it is actually worse than that. None of the people who designed the Common Core curriculum had any experience in public education or knew much about how children learn! Can you believe that?
For example, this curriculum introduces “fuzzy math” as mainstream math education. What this means for parents who had a “traditional” math education, rich and poor alike, is that they cannot help their children with their math homework, even if they want to. It’s too confusing, and even the kids sitting there in the classrooms being taught this garbage are baffled. I’m guessing many of the teachers are as well.
It’s, Like, Dumbed Down, Like
As it is, many of our high school graduates cannot read, cannot make change or utter a sentence without using the word “like,”. And most of them have no idea why this is bad, much less why they should care. The best that this program can do is get more of them to “pass” some standardized test that has been “dumbed” down to their pathetic level.
The reason that American kids are outperformed by students around the world is precisely because the responsibility for a child’s education falls on the child’s parents first, local schools second and the federal government and teachers’ unions not at all.
If Michelle Obama and her husband had spent as much time worrying about whether our children were learning to think for themselves as they do worrying about whether they are eating their vegetables, we probably wouldn’t be bothered with this atrocity known as Common Core.
Bill
We the people need to wake up.Stand up for our rghts.We need to vote all government people out of office if they do not adhere to our constitution. We need report cards on our elected representatives if not up to our likes vote them also every Republican or Democrat that is in the Senate or House that jumps or bad mouths there elected representatives for President should be fired or voted out.(This means Repukeipulikan) I’m registered as one but thinking about some kind of a change. Stand up a America
Schools should scrap common core. Teach kids the way I was 60 years ago. Those who can’t keep up with can go to summer school like I did.
I day you’re absolutely right. I’m 61 years old and I think the common core should be scrapped. All kids should be on the same playing field. Those who can’t keep up, there’s summer school or after school tutoring. That’s the way to catch up with the rest of the world.
I agree, Sally. If you’ve ever tried to help a kid with his or her “new math” homework, you realize how insane it is. They’ve turned simple things (like 2 plus 2) into ridiculously complicated formulas that make no sense. Glad I went to school when I did.
Let us never forget the words of Ronald Reagan. .”im from the Government and I’m here to help.”
Let me add “RUN!” Jeb Bush, the Obama ‘s, the Gates. and the Clinton’s love common core and every other hair brain unproven scheme that will damage our children and grandchildren forever
Turning our kids into sheep… Follow the norm, and the little sheep trot off to perform their parlor-room antics. I agree in that the indoctrination of our kids to behave en-masse IS the Fed’s plan. More compliant, more complacent and more cooperative kids means those new adults will gleefully load they’re offspring into “the system”… & run around to the other end to watch the young ‘citizen’s’ pop out the other end!
This scenario should terrify everyone, but its either some kind of hypnotic trance that television has placed us in, or its fluoride in the water… We need to change things back!
Right Now…
John Kasich made the decision to start Common Core in the sate of Ohio. It is terrible, I want so badly to get rid of it, my Granddaughter started Kindergarten this Year, I am worried for her future!
I believe that a child should not be promoted to the next level if there grades are below passing. Even back in the 60’s i saw this tacken place, one of my class mates was unable to write.
I taught for 35 years. I see the pathetic results of Common Core everywhere I look. Young people who have no idea what parties were involved in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War…even events that have happened during their lifetime. They are incapable of using grammar correctly and, two plus two may be five–as long as it feels good! How terrifying to witness this destruction.
The ONLY thing the Feds do well is to ensure they are not over worked and they get their OFF time! The ensure THEY get pay raises annually, get preferential treatment with health care of their choice and NOT by the Affordable Health Care Act. They ensure their retirement pensions will adequately cover their livfe styles when they finally leave public service. This is why there are more millionaires in public service than anywhere’s else in America!
Government has ruined the education of our children. They don’t teach American History any more, kids can’t count change if the register doesn’t give them the answer. They don’t even teach kids to write cursive any more, how is a person supposed to sign their name? Printing is not very personalized. Get the government out of our schools. When the kids in college don’t even know the states in the country something is very wrong with the schools.
They say the truth hurts… It only hurts when you know there is a problem and you do nothing about it. I put forth the next question. What are “We the people” going to do? Act on the facts or just sit back and continue to take these blights on our Nation?
Dumb liberal-democrats are stupid, so they believe the lies of of the super-stupid PhD’s and the education system goes down the drain. Lowering the standards so the marks go up is like letter a street nigger operate on you because it has a knife..
The country grew, using simple abc’s and enforcing standards of behaviour. We have no standards now, except lies, cheats and back-stabbing by our “leaders”!