Free Republic

Election 2016: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush embraces one-size-fits-all national education standards that would turn schools into re-education camps for the left. His decision could cause trouble with GOP primary voters. As is the tradition these days, Jeb Bush, brother of one former president and son of another, has announced via social media that he is preparing to run for president, setting the stage for another Bush-Clinton contest in 2016 should former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton get the Democratic nomination. To be the Republican nominee, Bush must run a gauntlet of primaries where he'll need to persuade Tea Party...

Education: Oklahoma joins South Carolina and Indiana in opposing one-size-fits-all U.S. education standards that have turned schools into leftist re-education camps, with political statements masquerading as instruction. Not as much attention has been paid to Common Core as has been paid to ObamaCare. But like the faux Greek columns in Denver at Barack Obama's nomination in 2008, they were supposed to be the twin pillars of his legacy. Both, however, are fake promises, Trojan horses for government control of key sectors of American society and our economy. Five years ago, 46 states gave up a big chunk of their sovereignty...

When Bill and Melinda Gates go to Africa and see healthy people and sick people, they presumably have a single thought: what can we do to make everyone healthy? The problems are easily understood; goals can be clearly stated. Given a big commitment, there’s a high chance of success. ~snip~ What fascinates Bill Gates is something else entirely: namely, the variety and incoherence from school to school, city to city, and state to state. It looks so messy and inefficient. And he thinks: a guy with my money and management skills should be able to organize all this disorder, turn...

Propaganda: A lesson plan for third-graders linked to a controversial federal education initiative makes sure America's next generation does not forget who is the one we have been waiting for. During the Soul Train Awards in 2012, comedian and actor Jamie Foxx exhorted a wildly cheering crowd to "first of all (give) honor to god, and our lord and savior Barack Obama," exhibiting the all-too-widespread hero worship that casts rational thought aside and labels even legitimate criticism as virtual blasphemy. The same cult of personality is creeping into lesson plans and reading materials being created under the guise of the...

Common Core: Rather than defend a program accused of indoctrinating students via national standards and whose implementation is as bad as ObamaCare, Education Secretary Arne Duncan plays the race card. Perhaps nothing personifies the arrogant nanny state paternalism of the Obama administration more than this statement by Duncan on Friday: "It's fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were, and that's pretty scary."...

Schools: Opposition is rising to new national education standards pushed on public schools. They have turned schools into re-education camps for liberalism, with political statements masquerading as English lessons. If one had to include one speech by President Ronald Reagan as recommended reading in a national standardized curriculum it might be the one in which he stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" One might pick Reagan's first inaugural address when he said, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Or even his 1964 "A...

For all those “conservatives” who support Common Core education reform, congratulations: Your side is acting like typical liberals. You’re lying about Common Core and when that doesn’t work, you and your liberal allies are willing to use naked force. Whatever else Common Core is about, it’s not an attempt to implement “standards.” At least in one case, it’s a wholesale rewriting American history, the constitution and common sense. And in another recent case, it’s about the ability to belittle, harass, and arrest the parents who just won’t shut the hell up. We told you so. “Greenville County Schools is...