Posted on 03/31/2014 8:27:20 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady
I have been a Freeper for 12 years and a teacher for 10. I work in Los Angeles, in a public school, and I teach English. I want to say something about Common Core, although my observations will be strictly limited to my particular domain: English. I cannot comment on the Math portion.
I will begin bluntly: I do not understand the conservative outcry about Common Core. Perhaps it’s only because I teach in California, but to me it is an improvement, at least in some ways. If you aren’t a teacher (and most conservatives aren’t, which is a pity) you don’t realize what California standards were like. Oh, the goals themselves weren’t particularly remarkable… in the end, the goals are always the same for English, no matter how they word them: children should be able to summarize, identify, describe, explain, compare, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize the plot, characters, setting, theme, mood, tone… same stuff they’ve done for years.
What was noxious about California standards was their pressure to conform to a liberal reading list. The text books they issued looked as if someone had gone down a checklist with authors arranged by skin color and nationality. I could almost hear the editor muttering to himself, “We need an Indonesian.” Very few authors were classic writers noted for their skill. They seemed to think one short story by Hemingway, one by Poe, and one by Bradbury was sufficient to represent the Dead White Males of the Pre-enlightenment Era (that’s sarcasm, for those of you in Rio Linda). The ESL textbooks were even more pointed: children were directed to read essays on how FDR saved America, how nuclear power is bad, bad, bad, how the 2nd amendment is contingent upon government permission(!), how migrant workers are victimized by pesticides… yes, it was cheery stuff.
Now comes Common Core, and one of the first things they addressed in the training was this: children raised on the simplistic language of modern-day PC authors cannot comprehend anything else, and did horribly on the periodic assessments. The periodic assessments, created by people who apparently hadn’t gotten the memo, had included excerpts from The Odyssey, Anne of Green Gables, Call of the Wild, David Copperfield… could a child raised on the toothless prose of Gary Soto and bell hooks even comprehend the long, intricate sentences that were common to writers many years ago? No, they couldn’t. Imagine that.
So this is what the Common Core material suggests: classic writers. Documents written by the Founding Fathers. Greek mythology. Mark Twain. Louisa May Alcott. Yes, really. Common Core steps away from guiding the teacher’s curriculum along the PC lines of “authors of color” and “writers who champion social justice” and actually recommends classics, but makes no effort to control what the teacher chooses. This, my Friends, can only be an improvement, because liberals were in charge of our books for too many years. Any choices by teachers will swing to the right because frankly, they were so far to the left that there was no way to go further unless you have 7th graders reading Andrea Dworkin, and teachers with that attitude would have already been doing it.
I don’t expect a wave of support… my sad experience is that many Freepers hate teachers with such a livid passion that I wonder about them. But I wanted to say this: Common Core is much less prohibitive in English than the previous standards. Again, I cannot speak to the mathematics, the science, the history… but I can tell you that in English, it’s an improvement, for the reasons I have given above. Okay, flame away.
“CONSERVATIVES REFUSE TO BECOME TEACHERS”
Could there be some selection in the colleges that train teachers? Like “conservatives never get good grades”?
When I was in school, the only way I’d get an A from my English profs was to couch everything in Marxist terms. If I didn’t, C- or D. Once I figured that out I aced every class.
Your comments are thoughtful. Thank you.
I don’t think you have been in education long enough to have gone through their *national standards* revisions.
Millions were spent on workshops, training, re-writing curriculums and assessments.
Our state of Ct had a whole web site devoted to collecting and making available lesson plans submitted by teachers to peer review.
Poof! All that disappeared....down the drain. Now there is CC....same old with a *new* name.
One thing you will learn, is that if you stay in the game long enough....you’ll be around for all the pendulum swings. Of that you can be certain.
My GD [grade 5] started taking the CC last week...I’m paying particular attention. Her district calls it the *Better Balance* test ....we nicknamed it the *Margarine* test.
It going to take a while for the teachers to revamp their lessons to begin *teaching to this test*. Only recently have professional evaluations been linked to student test scores. That, in itself, opens a whole host of problems for cheating. In my 33 years, I saw it and that won’t go away anytime soon.
Best of luck!
It depends on the college and the Prof. I stood toe to toe with many of mine and did not suffer. Of course I was in a College with a Vocational Education program, and the libs knew they had to be on their best behavior.
Ping for later reading by Mrs Zippo, the English teacher.
Did you watch the video?
“I was in the military for 11 years, “
Oh, in that case, after your 11-yrs of service I am surprised that you do not understand the military is not under Orwellian central control, that it is heavily reliant on “local” control (commanders) rather than a one-size fits all approach.
Centralize control along with centralized execution is folly (like centralized control and execution of education).
“For some things, you need the Federal government...”
Indeed, to protect our God given rights from an abusive central all-powerful government.
“otherwise, why have it at all? Why even be The United States? Why not just be 50 different countries?”
(You are aware we are a collection of sovereign states, a collection of “united states,” and we have the Guard in each state.)
At any rate, good Lord. It is clear you need a refresher on the role of the federal government, our constitution, our founding principles and the proper role of the federal government.
(Hint: The federal government is not there for The People to serve, it is there to serve The People).
,
From another FR thread:
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/03/125409-crazily-scary-common-core-problem-asks/
No. The Soviets were not in favor of leaving education to the liberals.
They were in favor of leaving education to the government.
Which is really what is at the core of “Common Core”. That is precisely why many conservatives dislike it.
I watched my daughter’s class take a common core spelling test the other day. It was all multiple guess. This was a third grade class. It is funny because my daughter’s homework from the night before was for me to give her a spelling test. An old fashioned spelling test. But the Common Core supplied test did not require students to write the words at all.
I hope you got The Fountainhead. That’s actually the best one. I mean, Atlas Shrugged is her magnum opus, but it’s very long. The Fountainhead is a little more accessible and gets the point across just as well, IMHO.
In case you haven't noticed, Big Government is embracing you. From behind.
I don’t know... I’ve heard that, but my experience was that well-written papers get a good grade, period. Of course, I used to wear my cammie jacket and steel-toed boots to school, and one of my professors was overhead to say “I’m afraid she’s going to kill me in the stairwell one dark night,” so that might have worked in my favor.
Education is not under “Orwellian control” either. I’ve been doing it for 10 years. You know what? You can lecture me all you want, but I’m the one who is actually IN it. I was in the Navy, and now I’m in LAUSD, and I’ll rely on my own data, not your remarks, thank you.
I am so sorry.
F? All good answers if you ask me! lol
I went to southern Calif schools in the 60’s (elementary around the Ojai area). We didn’t need any CC or NCLB, etc.
I will say as well, I think it is unfair to label conservatives in general, and Freepers in particular, as being anti-government.
Most conservatives are anti-BIG Government.
We understand that government is necessary and has (or should have) clearly enumerated functions. Most of us understand the necessity, recognize that there is a balance to strive for, and in general, have given it deeper thought than our political adversaries.
Are you the one wanting me to watch this Bill Whittle video?
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