Posted on 11/17/2013 5:50:33 AM PST by kristinn
(Update: Adding more on opposition to Core, where Duncan spoke)
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it fascinating that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from white suburban moms who all of a sudden their child isnt as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isnt quite as good as they thought they were.
Yes, he really said that. But he has said similar things before. What, exactly, is he talking about?
In his cheerleading for the controversial Common Core State Standards which were approved by 45 states and the District of Columbia and are now being implemented across the country (though some states are reconsidering) Duncan has repeatedly noted that the standards and the standardized testing that goes along with them are more difficult than students in most states have confronted.
The Core was designed to elevate teaching and learning. Supporters say it does that; critics say it doesnt and that some of the standards, especially for young children, are not developmentally appropriate. Whichever side you fall on regarding the Cores academic value, there is no question that their implementation in many areas has been miserable so miserable that American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, a Core supporter, recently compared it to another particularly troubled rollout:
You think the Obamacare implementation is bad? The implementation of the Common Core is far worse.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Common Core is garbage. But what gets lost in this discussion is the fact that there shouldn’t even be a federal Dept of Education in the first place.
http://www2.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/duncan.html
Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public school in Arlington, Va.
I think part of common core is about bashing America for the worlds ills. Simple minded brain washing from the left.
I said (or at least meant to say) that the problem is the parents who believe it’s their job to drop their kids off and let somebody else be their kids’ parent. You didn’t do that. You are part of the solution.
The public school in our town went to a curriculum that is designed to teach underprivileged kids who haven’t had exposure to a lot of stuff. It’s worked well in inner cities and among new immigrants. It’s memorization, period. Bores regular kids to death. But they went to that curriculum anyway because we’ve got a lot of illegals and all the federal grant money they bring to the community. We’re getting gangs, we’re getting a society where the government is supposed to provide everything... it’s the entitlement mentality that has destroyed the inner cities and now the school is employing the same “solutions” as are used for the inner cities. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I don’t know, but I do know that there is no teacher or school in the world that can bring a kid up to speed when they’re fighting an apathetic, gang-type, entitlement culture at home.
Yes, there are curriculum problems and other problems too. I’m home-schooling my son because the school is a waste of time for him. But sometimes the schools do crappy stuff because they’re trying to be everything to the kids - because it’s an entitlement society where immature babies are procreating for welfare money. No curriculim in the world is going to fix that, and the teachers know it and are frustrated by it.
And some crappy things are because the teachers and administrators know they can get away with it because it’s very difficult to pay for the public schools AND pay for your own curriculum, as you and I have done. If parents were willing and able to walk away from a crappy public school system - with their property taxes actually paying for the education that the kids get, at home - schools would be better places because of the accountability.
I’m glad you did what it took for your son. Your story sounds similar to mine, except that my son was a sophomore in high school and it was an immovably-censoring English teacher who was the last straw. She saw no problem with it because she’s been here 6-7 years and nobody’s complained before. They all just ignored her requirements and let her think she’s doing fine. How many kids has she indoctrinated and nobody even cared? We’re “supposed” to just trust that she’s the expert and censors their sources for good, valid academic reasons. That’s the mentality that I say gives us the troubles, including the trouble of bad curricula.
Was Arne Duncan in charge of the Chicago schools? If so, what was his role, if any, in Obama and Ayers’ plans to teach sub-Saharan Supremacy to inner-city teachers so they would teach inner-city kids that they aren’t American and that America raped them, the genetically-supreme race? That was what the Annenberg Challenge money was used for, at the urging of Jeremiah Wright and his racist pals in academia.
And here I thought it was because common core taught that the Boston Tea party was terrorism just like 9-11.
Like you said memorization is boring but it is till needed. That said math is good for memorization but sight words are not. Sight words do not teach the roots of the words and give most students no basis to grow on. The school my son was in taught sight words and was the reason he was falling farther and farther behind.
As for the cost I spend in excess of $3000 dollars per year on top of my taxes to pay for schools in out area. For this I get private tutoring with the local college french instructor for my daughter. I also get private composition instruction from a teacher with 25 plus years of education. The rest goes for curriculum which we teach ourselves. Granted not everyone can afford this. It takes a rather large chunk of our income but it is what we choose to spend for our kids future.
If I were a liberal in 2013, I’d be laughing and crapping on everyone too.
From Wikipedia:
“Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and later Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. His senior thesis, for which he took a year’s leave to do research in the Kenwood neighborhood, was entitled ‘The values, aspirations and opportunities of the urban underclass.’ While at Harvard, Duncan co-captained the varsity basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American. From 1987 to 1991, Duncan played professional basketball, mostly in Australia, with teams including Melbourne’s Eastside Spectres, of Australia’s National Basketball League. Duncan also participated in the 2012 and 2013 NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Games. While in Australia, Duncan met his future wife, Karen Luann Duncan. They live in Arlington, Virginia. Their children, Claire and Ryan, attend public elementary school there. In May 2012, he stated that he supports same-sex marriage.”
Duncan previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.
Arne Duncan twitter:
Pleased to announce with President Martelly a $15M grant from @USAID to strengthen literacy in Haiti. pic.twitter.com/JYH9TcxJ6a
IIRC, Duncan was well after the "annenberg" challenge, though he no doubt supports its goals.
I considered home schooling, and I decided against it because of what I’ve seen in the work world.
My kids are going to have to understand some people are evil. They lie. They cheat. It’s never going to be fair. There are some very smart people who have no situational awareness, and they get walked all over.
I know I’ll have to teach them everything at home as best I can. But I can’t teach them how to defend themselves, and what they believe in. They’re going to have to learn that out there. It will give them the best chance to do well in life.
I wouldn’t doubt love at fist sight when O laid eyes on him...
>> their child isnt as brilliant as they thought
Kinda’ like Obama’s regime...
“Isnt it amazing how the people surrounding this POTUS and the POTUS himself are all coming out with the most outrageous and Arrogant statements.”
Yes it is. It is because the administration and Dem party leadership believe they have complete and secure government control. They don’t believe they have any serious political opposition—they even have a fervent and hard-working supporter (McCain) who ran for Pres for the former opposition party. They also control the media and most social media not to mention having deep pockets, a research organization (media matters), and an aggressive propaganda network (MSNBC). Once they achieved gov’t control of the health care system, they climbed onto the pedestal they have sought for decades and which was the jewell in the crown championed by their most revered member, the late Ted Kennedy. There is no opposition, only a clear road ahead for them.
Or so they think. Most DC Repubs think that, too.
They are missing two things—One is that most Americans don’t want to be under a socialist thumb, can remember being more free, and actually want good education for their children. No amount of power or propaganda can erase that although it can be suppressed for a long time.
The second thing is economics. Socialism cannot pay for itself. It is an unwavering law of reality. Greece, Venezuela, Argentina, etc. Eventually the USSR ran out of money. Our socialists try to ignore economics but the laws of economics won’t go away.
Socialism requires you to fool yourself and that only goes so far. Reality heavily favors conservatism.
- Obama keeps all of his appointed home partners just a pillow away...
The Demagogic Party Institutional Racists ping for the day, thanks kristinn.
By, how well you can dunk a basketball.
Neurolinguistic programming in the hands of a bureaucrat is an ugly thing.
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