Common Core: It's a Trap

The Thanks Project ^ | 03/25/2014 | Steve Berman

[lifeofgrace]

Indiana is the first state among the 45 who adopted Common Core standards since 2010, to drop out.

Governor Mike Pence (R) said:

I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back, designed our own standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed standards that meet the needs of our people.

As a parent, with two small boys approaching school age, I am (slightly) encouraged by this.  The research I've done into Common Core indicates that it's a trap.  Like a lobster attracted to the food (money) in the trap, once he gets in there and eats, he never gets out.

Common Core, which is almost universally been hailed by educators as the panacea for our education system, is in fact a poison pill.  Who said that state educators and boards of education can't get together and come up with ways to cooperate and help each other with curriculum without producing a monstrous "standard" for everyone?  The push for Common Core is not based on a better standard, it's based on taking control away from the two groups that Governor Pence mentioned:  citizens and parents.

It's bad enough that public schools are forced to teach from a worldview that is, in many cases, 100% opposite of mine.  It's bad enough that most educator-based organizations are liberal--far left, and believe that my kids belong to them, not me, to be trained up as adults.  Common Core is not about the standards: it's a power grab.  It's a way for the educational elites to take control of state-based testing standards and curriculum from local school boards.  Once that happens, then the other two options for educating my kids will be compromised:  home schooling and private schools will be subject to these same curriculum and testing standards.

This means that if I want to home school my children, I'll have to teach the same worldview that the Common Core prescribes, and my kids will have to be tested.  Not only that, it will extend far beyond just testing, into questions like "do you have guns at home?" or "what is your sexual identity and do your parents agree with it?".  And at some point, I won't be able to answer "none of your d**n business" because such an answer will disqualify my child from graduating.  If I send my kids to private school, they too will have to toe the line.

Kudos to Governor Pence to see the trap and avoid it.  Let's hope that other states follow suit.

[BillGunn]

Bump

[9YearLurker]

In contrast, here’s a pathetic, vacuous article on NRO from the former governor of Alabama that reflects the level of thinking (i.e., about the level of intellect of Jeb Bush) by which this idiocy could have been so widely adopted:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/374112/why-i-support-common-core-standards-bob-riley

[knarf]

bump