Posted on 03/24/2014 12:55:55 AM PDT by Olog-hai
More than five years after U.S. governors began a bipartisan effort to set new standards in American schools, the Common Core initiative has morphed into a political tempest fueling division among Republicans.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce leads establishment voices—such as possible presidential contender Jeb Bush—who hail the standards as a way to improve student performance and, over the long term, competitiveness of American workers.
Many archconservatives—tea party heroes Rand Paul and Ted Cruz among them—decry the system as a top-down takeover of local schools. The standards were developed and are being implemented by states, though Common Core opponents argue that President Barack Obama’s administration has encouraged adoption of the standards by various parameters it set for states applying to get lucrative federal education grants. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I’ll never understand the point about the “competitiveness of US workers.” When I think of US workers, they are people working in Wal-Mart, or McDonalds or on an assembly line. They can be taught basic functions - they don’t need a college education.
Who are these people competing with? Is there a “worker Olympics” somewhere.
The word “competitiveness” is being used as something like a thought-terminating cliche. It’s meant to end argument without actually presenting any critical thought.
As for US workers, they’re more than just the ones you mentioned. However, they all share the same issue.
If I remember correctly, the whole “competitiveness” scare goes back to the 1980s when the Japanese supposedly started outstripping the U.S. in science, engineering, and mathematics. Ever since then it has been a boogieman issue used for increasingly heavy-handed federal involvement in local schools to try and churn out genius automatons, to the detriment of everything else.
Power to the common core comrades...
Who needs Lenin when you got Jeb Bush...
From what I have been able to discern, it was NOT “developed by the states” at all. It was hatched in DC and dispensed to the states. Beware...
Didn’t it start back in the late 50s and early 60s when the Russians were able to send men into space and we weren’t. Good thing we cured that. < /s>
"Competitiveness", when you are judging yourself by the performance of others, or"Competency", when you are developing your own natural talents to their best potential?
(Hint: the Framers thought we should have the freedom to pursue happiness.)
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.