Posted on 05/13/2015 12:48:04 PM PDT by walford
HOOKSETT, N.H. – The New Hampshire Union Leader published a guest op/ed from a teacher who identifies herself as a liberal. Diane Sekula is a teacher in Hooksett, NH and she was responding to a published article that said Common Core is a conservative flashpoint.
Sekula writes:
I come from a staunch Democrat family. By most people’s standards, I would be considered liberal. I am also, however, very much against Common Core. Public dissatisfaction with Common Core is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of importance for anyone interested in doing what’s best for the children of New Hampshire.
She points out that this current path that education is on is one she saw in the former Soviet Union. Wait a minute… a liberal bringing up Communism?!?! Are we sure she’s not a closet tea party activist? (Just kidding…)
During my time teaching with the Peace Corps, Moldova was at a point of transitioning from a Communist society to a democratic society. I was instructed to help teachers incorporate opportunities for individual thinking and creativity into their lessons, as this was not done under Soviet rule.
Under Soviet rule, everyone was taught the same thing, testing was everything and you were labeled because of it. Teachers and students were still largely operating through this system while I was there. I would hear comments from teachers such as, “Don’t bother with him, he can’t do it.” There was no discussion of individual learning differences, the impact of hunger, other outside influences or whether the standards, lessons or materials were working. Is this not what we have now with Common Core?
The day last fall when I heard that administrators went around to math teachers’ classrooms at my school and took away their old texts, manipulatives and other materials, leaving them only with the new, Common Core-aligned math materials, my blood froze. What happened to differentiation, professional experience and judgment, and inspiring students with creative and fun lessons?
I’ve avoided using terms like “Communist Core,” etc. because it seems like an overly partisan approach to opposing Common Core. That said I find it fascinating to read this comparison from a teacher who actually experienced Soviet-style education. So, according to this teacher, we’re going back to the USSR. Based on how she described education in Moldova I can see her point. Heck, Common Core replaced the foundations of Euclidian geometry with a method that a school for gifted students in Moscow created, tried and then jettisoned when it failed. (See Ze’ev Wurman’s review of the Common Core Math Standards)
Note: I don’t say it often enough, but a mega hat-tip to Jamie Gass of the Pioneer Institute who finds article like the one I’m sharing below and emails them out to his list. He’s helped to spark many blog posts.
Poobably spent her time in an American Gulag.. Like Detroit or Chicago or Baltimore as a kid.
In Soviet Union, school indoctrinates you.
For those of us who were actually taught about communism in elementary school, this is a “No 5h1t Sherlock!” moment.
New York State had the Board of Regents Examinations, successful passing being mandatory for the issuance of an academic diploma. Each exam rigorously tested for a minimum of factual knowledge in every known subject. That's what I though "Common Core" was supposed to be about.
What is it actually about? Commie indoctrination?
Bkmrk.
I teach in Ohio. It is a small, urban school in which I teach eleventh grade English language arts. This used to be American literature. It still is, to some extent. By following the prescribed content, we’ve read exactly two literary texts: “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.” The rest of the CC prescription is informational text. We’ve read the Declaration, the Preamble, the Bill of Rights, Patrick Henry’s “Speach to the Virginia Convention,” “Federalist Papers Number 44,” Dr. King’s “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail,” Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments,” the Iriquois Constitution, Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the 4th of July,” Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address and the Emancipation Proclamation and several other historical informational texts. We were just about to read a lovely ten page narrative about the Chinese building the transcontinental railroad when I had enough and supplemented with other material.
You might think that the informational text is all good and well; however, CC requires that all of those documents be examined through a victim’s lens. It’s all about the evil white man. In fact, the CC standards for To Kill a Mockingbird (which I teach every year highlighting the conservative values within, and sorry for no italics) focus on the development of the female characters! What?
Can we all finally see that we have been completely overtaken by communists?
There was a giant banner at a Soviet textile factory I visited once. Our guide interpreted it for us as saying “The Plan is Law!” The education fascists who came up with Common Core probably wish they could put up the same sort of thing in every high school in America.
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Does the name "Diana Moon Glampers" ring a bell?
One of the goals is to dumb down society because one segment of American society can't/won't compete academically to better themselves, so it's unfair that others strive to be the best that they can be, therefore, nipping intelligence in the bud is desirable under Common Core.
My kids are in public school, doing common core testing right now. Yesterday, my 8th grade son had to write an essay after reading four articles. Two argued that manned space flight should be undertaken, for various reasons, including the opportunity to somehow understand our environment better by doing comparative planetology. One was about robots and was an obvious attempt at distraction. The fourth said that manned space flight was not feasible and, considering what we don’t know yet about our own planet, such as our oceans, we should study Earth first. One of the questions posed was what criticisms could be made about the study-earth-first essay’s position? It made it clear which point of view was the acceptable one, and which was the one that should be attacked. My son found this to be manipulative.
Last year, my daughter, in HS Common Core testing, read pieces questioning why borders are necessary. She wrote a whole essay about how “good fences make good neighbors” because she was so ticked off at the naive, Kumbaya-singing tone of the materials she had to read.
Common Core = Common Coma.
Drones.
Useful idiots.
When did the “powers to be” decide that our world would be better off by destroying the creative power of the individual?
..dumbing down, collectivist, prematurely sexualized—God help us...
Get YOUR children out of the government indoctrination centers - NOW!!
Federalized, compulsory schooling will always be unpopular with students and parents for the following reason.
Advocates of educational approaches that are popular with students and parents have little interest is forcing their ideas on others, since force isn’t necessary to promulgate their ideas.
Advocates of unpopular educational approaches are naturally drawn to environments where their ideas can be imposed by force on students and parents.
Smart gun?
Izzat sorta like a smart liberal?
This is not surprising when you consider the close parallels between the philosophy of the Soviet Union and those who wrote Common Core.
Please,don't take me wrong -- I despise Common Core.
But this article is a perfect example of propaganda.I'm all for getting rid of CC, but simplistic and obviously exaggerated (they came for my teaching materials!!!) accounts like this one are not ultimately effective.
Critical thinking,people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.