Thread: "Common Core" And The All-Too-Common Tendencies Of Heavy-Handed Government

Wednesday, 06 November 2013 18:00 On the Defensive, Shills for Common Core Hype Distractions

Written by Alex Newman









With opposition to Obama administration-backed Common Core nationalized education boiling over across the political spectrum, desperate lawmakers in Wisconsin who support the controversial scheme — even after devastating testimony exposed myriad flaws with the standards — are trying fiendishly to distract from real issues by inventing conspiracy theories and attacking respected experts. The attempt by a trio of Common Core-supporting Democrats in the state to impugn top authorities on the standards, however, is backfiring in spectacular fashion. Now, calls for the lawmakers to explain themselves and resign are growing.

The three state legislators who released public statements or letters trying to deflect attention from the facts about Common Core using false allegations about the messengers were: State Rep. Sondy Pope, State Sen. John Lehman, and State Rep. Christine Sinicki. All of them offered easily debunked misinformation and bizarre theories suggesting some sort of vast right-wing conspiracy was afoot. The trio is now at the center of a political firestorm in the state, however. Multiple media outlets and some of the experts are highlighting the absurdity of the bogus claims — and the apparent effort to put the focus on anything and everything aside from the facts about Common Core.

In a letter to the leadership of the state committee investigating the standards, for example, Rep. Pope and Sen. Lehman falsely suggested that testimony from some of the nation’s top authorities on Common Core was “funded” by a group associated with the “extremist fringe” John Birch Society. Doubling down on the wild conspiracy theories, the two Democrats went on to claim, falsely, that the prominent experts who testified were somehow “fronting” for “notorious groups” and “right-wing extremism.” Of course, none of the witnesses were doing anything of the sort, but that did not stop the lawmakers from further embarrassing themselves.

“We are certainly disappointed that this fringe organization has been invited by you to represent theoretically ‘mainstream’ opposition to the well-reasoned Common Core Standards,” state Rep. Pope and state Sen. Lehman continued in their letter. “With reasonable conservative voices available to discuss this issue, we hope that invitations to groups affiliated with the John Birch Society are not indicative of the agenda driving our committee's work.” It was not immediately clear which alleged invitations to groups affiliated with the John Birch Society the seemingly confused lawmakers were referring to.

Aside from the half-baked effort to distract the public from the escalating controversies around Common Core, the biggest problem with the claims, critics say, is that the allegations and conspiracy theories are simply not true. In reality, as the lawmakers would have known if they had paid attention to the testimony, the nationally recognized experts were reimbursed for modest travel and lodging expenses — not paid — by small donations literally collected in a hat from Wisconsin parents, grandparents, and activists. Multiple witnesses explained all of that during the hearings, and the actual hat used to gather the funds was given to state Sen. Lehman after his outbursts.

For more details about the reimbursement, see a recent article in The New American headlined: “Common Core: People vs. Big Government, Big Business, and Billionaires.” In brief: Attempting to counter biased testimony by vested interests funded by billionaires such as Bill Gates and taxpayer bribes from the Obama administration offered to state officials in exchange for imposing Common Core, concerned Wisconsinites began gathering donations. The American Opinion Foundation, a legally independent educational entity with Birchers on its board, then consolidated the miniscule funds collected from locals and wrote checks to reimburse the experts.

In light of the lawmakers’ factually challenged letter, one of the experts who testified against the standards at a recent hearing is demanding that state Sen. Lehman resign from his position immediately. Dr. Gary Thompson (shown at left), a child psychologist based in Utah who said he campaigned for Obama, released a scathing letter that was promptly picked up by multiple media outlets. In it, he lambastes the disgraced state senator for his bogus claims and for ignoring the real issues described during the testimony: “The bi-partisan, corporate-influenced policies of greed that are cognitively and emotionally abusive to our children.”

“On behalf of every African American, Latino, Autistic, gifted, depressed, anxious and learning-disabled child in the state of Wisconsin, I demand your immediate resignation from public office,” wrote Dr. Thompson in the open letter. “Your manipulative, race/religion-baiting, sociopathic, misleading press release is a textbook example of what is wrong with American politics and is clearly a window into the mind of a warped individual who values the spotlight over serious discussions related to our nation’s children.”

Dr. Thompson noted that the state senator was offered “clear, irrefutable, empirically based, credible evidence — from an impartial Doctor of Clinical Psychology who hates politics — that the testing practices you support under the Common Core Standards are experimental in nature, and that continuing down this path has a high statistical chance of screwing up the academic and emotional lives of African-American, Latino, autistic, gifted, anxious, depressed, and learning-disabled children in Wisconsin and beyond.” Instead, Sen. Lehman harped on silly conspiracy theories.

The clinical psychologist also pointed out that he came to testify of his own free will, without receiving a penny for his time or testimony, because he believes so strongly in “the need to stand up on behalf of children.” Rather than focusing on the enormous implications of the testimony and what it means for students in Wisconsin, however, Sen. Lehman chose to express “passionate concern” over who paid for Thompson’s coach airfare and his two-star hotel stay. “So I have to ask with all sincerity, my brother, what the hell is wrong with you cognitively and emotionally?” wrote Dr. Thompson, who serves as vice president of operations and clinical education at Early Life Child Psychological & Educational Services.

“Given the seriousness of what was alleged during a Senate Hearing from an impartial Doctor of Psychology, the vast majority of Wisconsin and American citizens really do not give a damn about who paid for my costs,” he continued. “What we as parents do give a damn about, and will be waiting with baited breath for, is your official response as an elected state senator to the allegations made regarding our children under your care.”

“Republican, Democrat, Independent, Christian, and Atheist parents are not fooled by your callous and sick need for attention at the expense of issues facing minority and special education children under your legislative care,” said Dr. Thompson. “On a personal note, you would not be in this uncomfortable situation if you had an ounce of the character, fortitude and love of country that the people who contributed to my expense check exhibit in droves.”

The theme of Dr. Thompson’s testimony before the state committee was “Our Children Are Bigger Than This” — apparently a notion that did not resonate with the three lawmakers. Among other key points, Dr. Thompson testified that the controversial standards could prove to be disastrous — especially for special-needs, gifted, and minority children. The national testing regime being developed with federal taxpayer funds is particularly troubling, the expert explained.

“Your callous disregard surrounding the issues of child abuse and the struggles of minority and special needs children in public schools in Wisconsin will be forever memorialized on the Internet,” Dr. Thompson concluded, pointing to a TV news clip that referred to the state senator’s “bizarre” comments. “Although I do not share identical political philosophies with ‘these people [who reimbursed expenses],’ I do have a lot to learn from them in terms of becoming better informed with what is going on in this country, and having the courage and fortitude to fight for the health and welfare of our nation’s children.”

The New American reached out to state Sen. Lehman for comment, but nobody returned messages. A staffer who answered the phone later said Lehman was not in the office today. It was not immediately clear whether the state senator planned to resign in the face of rapidly escalating criticism about his now-debunked claims and bizarre behavior. Other media outlets that tried to contact the lawmaker also reported that he has not responded to requests for comment.

Everyday citizens, though, are demanding explanations as well. In an open letter about the brouhaha, Wisconsinites Ruth Elmer and Edward Perkins described the ongoing battle as a struggle between David and Goliath — “our tiny little sum against the Gates Foundation’s millions; the efforts of concerned parents, grandparents and other concerned citizens against a supremely wealthy foundation that has busily been buying a path forward for CCSS over the past few years.”

The controversial Gates Foundation, of course, has poured upwards of $150 million into developing and promoting Common Core. “Yet, somehow, we, along with [American Opinion Foundation Executive Director] Alan Scholl and AOF (and by association JBS), which functioned as nothing more than a bank for the collection and disbursement of our modest funds, are painted as the suspicious characters, the extremists ... the bad guys,” the citizen activists wrote. “Those advancing CCSS in this state must have a lot to hide to engage in tactics of this nature. We don’t. We think Sen. Lehman, Rep. Pope, and Rep. Sinicki owe us — and the concerned citizens of Wisconsin — an explanation.”

With Wisconsin just one of many Common Core battlegrounds across America, it has become increasingly clear that the nationwide fight is really between concerned citizens and parents on one side — and Big Government, Big Business, and certain agenda-driven establishment billionaires such as Gates on the other. The powerful special interests promoting the controversial national standards may have billions of dollars to work with, most of it extracted from taxpayers. Those promoting local control, accountability, and proper education, however, have a passion and love for their children that can never be matched with mere money. No amount of conspiracy theories or attacks can change that. Lawmakers and policymakers should side with the people.

Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, politics, education, and more. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com.

Related articles:

Common Core: People vs. Big Government, Big Business, and Billionaires
Common Core: A Scheme to Rewrite Education
Orwellian Nightmare: Data-mining Your Kids
Under Pressure, Largest N.H. School District Looks Beyond Common Core
Common Core National Education Outrages Teacher Coalition
At Wisconsin Hearing, Educators Blast Common Core Education
Educators Expose Dangers of Common Core National Education
Lawmakers and Activists Rally to Stop Obama-backed “Common Core”
GOP Blasts Obama-backed National Education Standards
Parent Dares Challenge Common Core, Hauled Away in Handcuffs
Debunking Myth of Common Core Education as “State Led”

http://thenewamerican.com/culture/ed...e-distractions

Chuck Norris crushes Common Core initiative just by staring it down

Posted by EAGNEWS on Nov 14, 2013

DALLAS – Yesterday, tough man Chuck Norris waded into the Common Core controversy and drew some common sense conclusions.

He writes:

In 2007, a group of governors and state education chiefs got together to try to remedy the declining and degraded U.S. public academic system.Their goal was to establish a new set of standards that better prepared kids for college, careers and their ever-changing, hyper-connected and globally competitive world.
In short, as a result, the Common Core State Standards were born.
In 2010, standards were published and made available for mathematics and English language arts. Though standards for science and social studies are still in development, the goal is for states to have 85 percent of their curricula based upon the full spectrum of those standards.
CCSS advocates pitch that the initiative is a step in the right direction from the disastrous No Child Left Behind federal system. But not everyone is catching the CCSS fever. In particular, there are concerns about federal overreach into and control of their local academic arenas.
By 2009, 45 states had signed on to join; Virginia, Nebraska, Texas and Alaska declined CCSS adoption. Minnesota partially adopted the language arts standards but rejected the math ones. And some other states have since jumped ship in other ways. In August, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma and Utah withdrew from the assessment groups designing tests for the CCSS.

Continue Reading…



Written By : Chuck Norris
November 12, 2013 In 2007, a group of governors and state education chiefs got together to try to remedy the declining and degraded U.S. public academic system. Their goal was to establish a new set of standards that better prepared kids for college, careers and their ever-changing, hyper-connected and globally competitive world.
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In short, as a result, the Common Core State Standards were born.
In 2010, standards were published and made available for mathematics and English language arts. Though standards for science and social studies are still in development, the goal is for states to have 85 percent of their curricula based upon the full spectrum of those standards.
CCSS advocates pitch that the initiative is a step in the right direction from the disastrous No Child Left Behind federal system. But not everyone is catching the CCSS fever. In particular, there are concerns about federal overreach into and control of their local academic arenas.
By 2009, 45 states had signed on to join; Virginia, Nebraska, Texas and Alaska declined CCSS adoption. Minnesota partially adopted the language arts standards but rejected the math ones. And some other states have since jumped ship in other ways. In August, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma and Utah withdrew from the assessment groups designing tests for the CCSS.
And Congress.org noted, “Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah are all currently considering full withdrawal with other fiscally conservative states sure to follow.” And in September, Florida Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order restricting Florida’s involvement with the CCSS national assessments because of concerns over federal overreach of the program.
I commend the governors and state education chiefs who tried to improve the substandard and dilapidated state of U.S. public education, despite decades of attempts by federal and state governments to improve it. But there are good reasons that so many states have rejected or are questioning the ultimate value of the adoption of CCSS.
Let me tell you my core problems with CCSS and why I believe that the standards are not the solution for America’s broken educational system. (I’m going to unfold these problems in depth with solid evidence in successive weeks, concluding with what I believe would be a far better option than CCSS.)
My first issue with CCSS is one that is hot on the blogosphere and in the news: The feds have abandoned their commitment to stay out of local academic affairs by using CCSS to usurp power over public schools and influence young American minds.
In fact, one of the biggest defenses by CCSS advocates is their belief that the federal government — particularly the White House — is in no way behind the standards’ implementation, development and utility.
PolitiFact examined the words of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who said last July that CCSS is being “used by the Obama administration to turn the Department of Education into what is effectively a national school board.”
PolitiFact categorically evaluated Rubio’s statement as false.
But recent evidence shows that Rubio is right and PolitiFact is wrong. The feds already have started invading local school districts via CCSS in three ways: funding, influencing classroom curricula and siphoning student information from schools. Let me explain each in turn.
First, if the feds are so far removed from CCSS, why is it that the Department of Education has funded it with $350 million and motivated states to adopt the standards by rewarding Race to the Top grants and waivers from No Child Left Behind? (Please read and ponder that question again.)
For example, according to Politico, in August, the Department of Education granted NCLB waivers to eight school districts in California that agreed to the White House’s pro-Common Core preferences.
Politico further reported that the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state superintendents, has shared that it regards district-level waivers “as an example of federal overreach — and a direct threat to their authority over schools.”
Politico also noted, “California teachers unions also oppose the plan, warning in a June letter that the waiver sets up a ‘privatized “shadow” system of education in California’ that leaves children ‘susceptible to market exploitation and profiteering.’”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to see the federal government funding anything that it didn’t eventually have its hands into.
The Foundry explained: “The waivers are set to expire for 34 states and the District of Columbia at the end of the 2013-2014 school year. The Department (of Education) is offering renewal but is requiring states to reaffirm commitments to its policies. (Notice: “its policies”!) This includes increased emphasis on ‘college and career-ready standards,’ which most states have interpreted to mean Common Core national standards and tests.”
I know that Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who is a former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (interesting that it’s Barack Obama’s former turf), is working desperately to distance the federal government’s connection to and influence over CCSS. But if Duncan is going to be successful in maintaining that separation, for starters, he needs to drop the funding (monetary coercion) and refrain from using first-person plural pronouns when discussing who is responsible for the Common Core State Standards as he did when he told a group of journalists in June: “ We’ve set a high bar for states.” (Italics mine.)
I am personally challenging state and federal representatives to get on board to stop this Common Core insanity. I will be researching each politician to see who is and who is not supporting CCSS, and before this series is complete, I will be publishing their names in my columns, and they reach millions. I’m sure my readers will find my list of names helpful the next time they walk into the voting booths!
Stop Common Core right now!
In Part 2, I will give the second and third pieces of evidence of the feds’ collaborations and entanglements within CCSS, namely that the feds are influencing curricula already and — the most astounding piece of proof — that the feds are creating a national database to store your kids’ private information obtained through a technological project within CCSS.
Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com.

http://www.rightwingnews.com/column-2/feds-3-tentacles-in-the-common-core-part-1/


Read more at http://joeforamerica.com/2013/11/chu...0UVS7O4D8sE.99

Education

Fed Up With Their Kids’ Failing Math Grades Under Common Core, These Parents Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

Nov. 15, 2013 1:05pm Dave Urbanski

Related:

• Common Core,
• Video

Parents fed up with their kids’ declining math grades under newly adopted Common Core standards took an unorthodox step to remedy the problem: They pulled their children out of school for an hour a day to teach them at home.
Nine parents took their seventh- and eighth-graders from math class at Evergreen Middle School in Hillsboro, Ore., reported KATU-TV in Portland, citing a sudden drop in grades and performance.
Seventh-grader Amy Craig had always been an “A” student in math until this year when she brought home a “D,” her mother Julie Craig told KATU. Another mom said her daughter, previously a sold “B” math student, is now failing the subject.
Julie Craig took her daughter out of math class after her grades dropped. (Image source: KATU-TV)

So the parents keep their kids at home for an hour each morning, then the kids head to school for the rest of the day.
This is the first school year that every Oregon public school has been using Common Core teaching standards, KATU reported.
“Our teachers would tell you math is more challenging this year than it was a year ago,” Rian Petrick, principal of Evergreen Middle School, told the station.
Petrick said he’s not surprised some students are struggling, as Common Core math standards call for fewer numbers and formulas and more word problems and real-world scenarios, along with more group work.
Evergreen Middle School principal Rian Petrick said newly adopted Common Core standard have proven difficult for some students. (Image source: KATU-TV)

“Our teachers feel like it’s the best thing for kids,” Petrick said, “making them look much deeper into mathematics than they have in the past.”
But asked whether the standards were the best thing considering nine families pulled their kids from math class over stress and struggles, a Hillsboro School District spokeswoman present for the KATU interview stopped Petrick before he could answer.
“You don’t have to answer that, Rian,” she interjected. ‘That’s an aggressive question.”
According to KATU, while the state won’t test students on Common Core math standards until 2015, it has predicted that up to two-thirds of middle schoolers could fail those standards based on a similar test.
The Oregon Department of Education did not immediately return a request for comment from TheBlaze Friday.
Separately, Oregon state Rep. Lew Frederick noted a “searing critique” of Common Core by Catholic scholars on his Facebook page, KATU added. The statement issued last month reads in part: “Promoters of Common Core say that it is designed to make America’s children ‘college and career ready.’ We instead judge Common Core to be a recipe for standardized workforce preparation.”
The critique also states, “Common Core adopts a bottom-line, pragmatic approach to education. The heart of its philosophy, as far as we can see, is that it is a waste of resources to ‘over-educate’ people.”

video at link below

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...eir-own-hands/


Great Video...All right now that is what I'm talking about, good for you MOMS!!!!!!!

This Could Be One of the Best Cases Ever Made Against Common Core – No One Expected It to Come From a High School Student

Nov. 15, 2013 7:23am Jason Howerton

Related:

• Common Core,
• Video

Speaking at a local school board meeting earlier this month, a Tennessee high school senior issued a brief and incredibly insightful address on the problems with Common Core standards.
Ethan Young, a student at Farragut High School in Knox County, Tenn., made his case as to why he believes the school district should drop the new national education standards, a set of guidelines that were never voted on by Congress, the Department of Education nor by local or state governments.
(Related: Parents Fed-Up With Failing Grades Under Common Core Take Matters Into Their Own Hands)
“The president essentially bribed states into implementation via ‘Race to the Top,’ offering $4.35 billion taxpayer dollars to participating states, $500 million of which went to Tennessee,” Young said. “And much like No Child Left Behind, the program promises national testing and a one-size-fits-all education, because hey, it worked so well the first time.”
“If nothing else, these standards are a glowing conflict of interest and they lack the research they allegedly received,” he added.
Young also argued that Common Core standards display a “mistrust of teachers,” a line that prompted applause from the audience.
(YouTube)

“I stand before you because I care about education, but also because I want to support my teachers,” he said. “And just as they fought for my academic achievement, so I want to fight for their ability to teach. This relationship is at the heart of instruction, yet there will never be a system by which it is accurately measured.”
The high school senior went on to argue that “standards-based education is ruining the way we teach and learn.” He also revealed that legislators and administrators have told him “that’s just the way things work.”
Now, he’s daring to ask: “Why?”
“I’m gonna answer that question: Bureaucratic convenience,” he added. “It works with nuclear reactors, it works with business models, why can’t it work with students? I mean how convenient, calculating exactly who knows what and who needs what. I mean, why don’t we just manufacture robots instead of students? They last longer and they always do what they’re told.”

“Somewhere our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves.”

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The problem is, the extremely bright student continued, “education is unlike every other bureaucratic institute in our government” because the “task of teaching is never quantifiable.”
“If everything I learn in high school is a measurable objective, I have not learned anything,” Young proclaimed. “I’d like to repeat that. If everything I learn in high school is a measurable objective, I have not learned anything.”
Government bureaucrats will never be able to measure “creativity, appreciation, inquisitiveness” but they are the “purpose of education,” he lectured.
“Somewhere our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves — pleading, screaming and trying to say to us that we teach to free minds. We teach to inspire. We teach to equip, the careers will come naturally.”
Watch Young’s entire inspiring, must-see speech below:



http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...chool-student/


This kid a starting to get around!!!!!! Good for him!!!!!!! Hopefully people are wising up to this Common Core and this kid is doing great explaining it to everyone!! I brought his other video down lower on the thread before!

Common Core…stealth jihad directed at America’s children

Posted by Diane Sori

While we’re all focused on the Middle East right now, especially on Syria, a form of stealth jihad is sneaking into our country…a form of which affects all states…all schools…and all our children…and it’s name is Common Core.

Forced on the states by the Obama administration…enabled by Obama’s federal stimulus law…Common Core will be implemented this school year in the 46 states that have adopted it, thus eliminating local control over the kindergarten through12th grade curriculum in those states. The adoption of Common Core means that teaching becomes a one-size-fits-all affair that will NOT address the needs of the ‘special needs child’…neither the gifted child nor the slow learner…because NO deviation from the standard norm in teaching is allowed.
And there will be NO escaping Common Core as its curriculum and teaching methods will also apply to private schools and the home schooled. In fact, many Catholic and other private schools are adopting Common Core in preparation for college-entrance exams…exams that will be based on Common Core criteria.
Simply put…the truth about Common Core is that it will revamp America’s public educational system and NOT for the better as Common Core also allows for a rewriting of American history, with the new curriculum and accompanying textbooks showing a definite slant and bias towards islam, while at the same time mocking or ignoring America’s Judeo-Christian roots and values.
And with one of its most in-your-face leftist agenda aspects, the Common Core curriculum has, for example, replaced the world’s great literary works with what’s called ‘informational texts’…another name for government propaganda. Shakespeare, Hemingway, and the other literary giants will be replaced by ‘informational texts’ extolling the virtues of same-sex marriage, abortion, drug use, and the all-important acceptance of all things islam. Students in the lower grades will now divide their time between literature and these leftist writings until high school, when literary works will make up a mere 30% of English/Language Arts instruction.
And the teaching of math under Common Core guidelines means getting the right answer just does NOT matter anymore as long as the student can explain the faulty reasoning they used to get to that wrong answer. 2 + 2 = 5 is OK…just explain how you got that answer. And Common Core puts many students mathematically two years behind those of many high-achieving countries. For example, Algebra 1 would be taught in 9th grade NOT 8th grade as previously taught, making calculus inaccessible to them in high school, and this would affect top-tier college entrance requirements.
Also, contrary to the traditional American belief that justice is based on individual rights, Common Core teaches ‘Social Justice’ meaning teachers must teach that America is an unjust and oppressive society that should be changed.
And the most unbelievable of all is that Common Core is using our public schools, Catholic schools, and private schools to indoctrinate our children into islam. ’The Five Pillars of Islam’ are an integral part of Common Core teaching beginning in pre-k and lasting through the12th grade. For example, students have muslim beliefs lessons where they must watch videos, research pre-selected web sites, complete worksheets, and create posters about the duties of muslims.
I wonder if that includes a muslim’s duty to wage jihad…as written in the qur’an.
And even with all this, Common Core still self-promotes itself as a fair and just universal set of educational standards that will unite all students under a common learning system…under common leftist political beliefs…with a curriculum in place that proponents say is designed so that every student graduating from high school is prepared to either enter college or the workforce. But what proponents do NOT tell you is that Common Core actually lowers school standards negating the very thing they promote themselves as doing.
And Common Core is far from the educational panacea that most dissatisfied with our public system of education hoped for as Common Core remains…NO matter how it’s packaged and sold…a one size fits all form of education that ignores the fact that each child is unique…each child’s learning skills or lack thereof is unique…and each state’s educational guidelines are unique.
In fact, Common Core is actually ‘dumbed-down’ education with less teacher responsibility than ever before as there is NO incentive to reach for higher standards, as all states will be judged by the same mediocre national benchmark enforced by the federal government…the Obama federal government.
So while Common Core proponents are in total support of the already ‘too much in control’ federal government setting even more educational standards than they already do, they fail to accept the fact that the federal government should NOT be involved in public education at all nor should they be setting any educational standards as public schools should be under state, county, and local auspices with standards set within each school district to meet the needs of the students going to school in said district.
And when you add in the specific negatives in how Common Core was implemented ‘red flags’ should be waving in the faces of every parent with school age children…’red flags’ waving because Common Core was pushed through state legislatures by unelected bureaucrats who created the Common Core ‘standards’ using monies garnered from special interests groups…meaning there was NO legislative vote by elected officials reflecting the will of the people or the will of the parents.
And in addition to all the educational negatives, schools that have implemented Common Core have government permission to collect private data on each student including religion, medical, and psychological info, and to do so WITHOUT parental consent. WITHOUT parental consent… meaning once again the federal government is butting into our personal lives and doing so without a warrant or just cause…doing so simply because they can.
Also, Common Core does NOTHING to address how teachers actually teach for even with Common Core standards in place teachers will still be teaching to the test…maybe NOT the same tests that are now in effect…but standardized tests nevertheless…with the end result being that parents and teachers will have even less control over their child’s education than they do now.
So with a curriculum so deviated from the much needed basics…reading, writing, and arithmetic… with a curriculum that reeks of the leftist liberal political agenda…and with a curriculum that smells of Agenda 21 indoctrination….Common Core should be rejected by all school districts for the sake of our children…for Common Core is rotten to its very core.
Diane Sori is the Editor of The Patriot Factor and a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline.
Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter.


http://dcclothesline.com/2013/09/16/...icas-children/


The dumbing down of America...

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Keep you're kids home day is all set, parent in Baltimore manhandled for standing and asking a question by security at a common core meeting http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=XEQmUnisDEM
If you participate, make sure to call the school and tell 'em why you did this.

Arne Duncan: Common Core Opposition From “White Suburban Moms”

Posted by: Allison Martinez Posted date: November 17, 2013




Anytime anyone in the Obama Administration is talking, race is always involved. In the most recent gaffe, United States Education Arne Duncan said that most of the opposition to Common Core was from

“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.”

Secretary Duncan made his comments in front of a group of Superintendents in Richmond, Virginia on November 15, 2013. Arne Duncan’s comments were made to a meeting of the Council of Chief State Schools Officers Organization (CCSSO). This is one of the two organizations that own the public license to the Common Core Standards.
No transcript or video of the speech appears to be available. However, Politico’s Libby Nelson, who was at the event, took copious notes. According to Nelson,

“Education Secretary Arne Duncan told an audience of state superintendents this afternoon that the Education Department and other Common Core supporters didn’t fully anticipate the effect the standards would have once implemented.
“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,” Duncan said. “You’ve bet your house and where you live and everything on, ‘My child’s going to be prepared.’ That can be a punch in the gut.”

Apparently, Duncan seems to be totally clueless to the growing coalition of Tea Party and Labor Union members who oppose the cognitive abuse that is taking place under the guise of education and high stakes testing. The new grassroots coalition that is growing may well change the political landscape in subsequent elections.
The problem is that Arne Duncan continues to see any critique of the Common Core as a desire to return to “lower” standards. Duncan has refused to admit that some of the standards are simply developmentally inappropriate. He refuses, despite the copious evidence, to admit that the earlier standards in many states were actually higher than the Common Core Standards. Even Dr. Jason Zimba, author of the Common Core Math Standards has said that the Common Core goal of “College and Career Ready” simply wouldn’t be good enough for most traditional universities, stem, or international competitiveness.

Instead, Duncan finds it easier to say that anyone who differs from him is a racist, and that simply is not so.
Duncan called for CCSSO members to start selling the standards as a way to make America’s children internationally competitive.

Overcoming that will require communicating to parents that competition is now global, not local, he said.”
When confronted with the truth through lower test scores and other indicators, the unhelpful response, in Arne’s view, is to say, “Let’s lower standards and go back to lying to ourselves and our children, so that our community can feel better.” The more productive response for a community or a state is to ask, “What can we do to get better, so our students can graduate from high school, succeed in college and be competitive for good jobs?” Because other communities and states are asking themselves that question and making smart improvements to their schools and education systems.

Interestingly, Secretary Duncan has refused to meet with those who have answered exactly that question, with evidence to back their claims. Duncan has repeated ignored reports from even “Common Core friendly” sources that have indicated that the consortium tests would fall far short of anticipations and would cost far more than expected.
Earlier this week, American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten spoke on the Common Core Initiative at a National Education Writers Association meeting in Washington D.C. At that meeting, Weingarten stated,

You think the Obamacare implementation is bad? The implementation of the Common Core is far worse.

Indeed, and Arne Duncan’s ego and arrogance will cost of generation of American children.


H/t Washington Post, Blaze

http://freepatriot.org/2013/11/17/ar...suburban-moms/


This guy is a twitt!!!!
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan speaks to students at School Without Walls August 27, 2013 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

More here:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...ent-brilliant/

PLEASE If you can't home school your kids at least supplement their education with some extra curriculum home schooling education....

Not a White Suburban Mom: Common Core About Future Control of the Nation

Posted by: Allison Martinez Posted date: November 18, 2013

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This Common Core critic is not a white suburban Mom. In the wake of recent comments by U.S Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan that those who oppose Common Core are “white suburban Mothers,” this post may be of interest.

After a common core meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, this home school father held shot “meeting after the meeting” with activists. He is a father who homeschooled his six children, among them an F-16 fighter pilot and Air Force Captain.
First, this father dissects what the school officials discussed at the meeting and what they did not know. He said they were unaware of the recent changes at the College Board and the alignment of the SAT and the Common Core.
Then he went into what is the real issue. In his view, what is at stake is not just the political environment in the near term election, but into future elections. He was deeply concerned that the Common Core would change the future political environment for his children and his grandchildren.

“Whoever controls the nation, will control education, not only in this generation, but in successive generations. “

He quoted Abraham Lincoln saying,

‘The philosophy of education today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow’…. As a parent I am concerned not only for my own children, but for my children’s children too.”

Thus, the political agenda implicit in the Common Core will set the stage for the future political battles. He suggested that if the state wanted to talk about rigor in education, they needed to look at what worked in the past rather than the Common Core. He noted that 100 years ago, education was not about what to think but how to think. He indicated Common Core did not do that.
He closes by encouraging listeners to do their own research and find the areas of concerns for parents and teachers.


Published on Sep 4, 2013
Father of six homeschooled children, has wisdom to share with this nation. Investigate Common Core because the philosophy of the education today will be the philosophy of the government tomorrow. Teach people how to think not what to think.


Allison Martinez

Allison Martinez writes as the “Arctic Conservative” lives in northern Alaska. An economist by training, AC lives as an economic refugee on the edge of the country.



http://freepatriot.org/2013/11/18/no...of-the-nation/

Common Core Math: Redistribute the Wealth

Posted by: Allison Martinez Posted date: November 16, 2013




It isn’t so much the math taught, but the graphical presentation and implications of the assignment of this Common Core math assignment. The assignment attempts to associate the redistribution of wealth with the mathematical axiom “Distributive Property.” This is a clear attempt to associate the government action of wealth redistribution as a scientific principle in young minds. Why else would the distributive property be taught with this policy measure?
This is outrageous indoctrination and really too bad, since this is one of the few assignments that seems to actually teach mathematics. In this case, the concept is order of operations. In order of operations, students learn the sequence by which mathematical problems are solved with multiple operations.*It appears as a 5th grade math assignment.
There can be no doubt that his effort is intentional. The page is featured on Scholastic’s Website Titled “Your Government, Your Voice.” It may be found in the fourth row, fourth column of that website.
While the assignment was covered last January by Neil Boortz in his show notes, it is being distributed once again in schools as displayed on the Facebook wall of activist William Robert Looman. As Neil Boortz stated earlier this year, the graphic shows a cute young girl with a bag of money teaching that people with bags of money should be giving it away. As Boortz stated,

The problem is HOW this government school document teaches the lesson. The headline at the top of the document reads “Distribute the Wealth.” And there you have the picture of the pretty little girl with the cute little pony tail. She’s holding a bag of money in one hand, and giving away some of that money with the other. Yes! She’s distributing her wealth! But if you study the picture you’ll see there’s an even more subtle message. She’s not handing money away from her wallet or her purse. No! That wouldn’t get the real message across! Why pretty much every little girl has a wallet or a purse. No .. this little sweetheart has a BAG of money! Not every little girl has BAGS of money … so this girl must be really RICH! And since she’s rich her money needs to be redistributed! So she’s being a good little rich girl and she’s smiling as she hands her money away.
This doesn’t happen by accident. There was a lot of thought put into the wording and the image on this math workbook page … here is a chance to use a math lesson to teach wealth redistribution. This is what happens when you turn the education of your child over to a government education establishment controlled and staffed (with a few exceptions) by Democrats and liberals.
We’ve seen this before.

The whole assignment is below.

As a side note, the scholastic website with this assignment also features Clifford the Big Red Dog. Who thought that Clifford the Big Red Dog stood for Big Red Government? Wow! That one somehow escaped me in times past!
*[For those of faint memory, the rule is parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, immortalized in the expression of Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally]



Allison Martinez

Allison Martinez writes as the “Arctic Conservative” lives in northern Alaska. An economist by training, AC lives as an economic refugee on the edge of the country.

http://freepatriot.org/2013/11/16/co...te-the-wealth/