Many Lawmakers Unwilling to seek Facts, Challenge Education and big Business Lobby
With multitudes of Parents fearing for the future of their children’s education, a few key lawmakers who can end the fears have their heads in the sand.
The National Governors Conference was held in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. Secretary of Education Arney Duncan addressed the Governors’s Education and Workforce Committee. The Secretary answered questions posed by Governors and panel discussions with experts were held. All was televised by C-SPAN. Not a word was uttered about Common Core Standards that have the nation’s parents in an uproar as the Governors met in nonpartisan unity.
You may recall that it was the National Governors who first sanctioned national Common Core standards sight unseen after receiving assurances from Duncan and multi-billionaire Bill Gates that Common Core was just what the education system needed to become competitive.
Big business was pleased to see another school to work program, since the one implemented by Bill Clinton and Dick Riley became a colossal failure. This earlier school to work program, based on the European Socialist model, matched students with potential jobs in middle school and their academic program was to be tailored for that job through high school. Parents who had visions of little “Johnny” becoming a doctor, lawyer, professor or corporate executive wanted no part of training their son to be a mechanic, carpenter or plumber. The program was made slightly more attractive by an agreement with technical schools to award associate degrees for these trades. Some of the students have done quite well and started their own companies. However, there were not enough to supply workers for large corporations. They want many trained workers, hence Common Core is designed to prepare most of the next generation for the workforce, with only the elite being prepared as part of the ruling class.
The Democrat Governor of Kentucky, chairman of the committee, likely chose the topics for discussion.
Secretary Duncan was urging Governors to help him lobby Congress for more money for schools to intervene in education of children from birth to K-5. One Democrat governor suggested that government schools need to begin home visits to expectant mothers during their pregnancy to get an earlier start on preparing children for school. The Governor of Alabama reminded his colleagues that parents are the first teachers of young children.
In the South Carolina Senate, a bill to stop Common Core was stalled in committee. Senator Mike Fair from Greenville reportedly contradicted himself by allegedly saying we have spent too much money implementing Common Core to stop now. Then he proposed evaluating it in two years after we spend a lot more money implementing it in South Carolina Schools.
Meanwhile, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a panel of 5 educators who have studied Common Core extensively, including two members of the evaluation board that refused to sign off on the standards, held a series of forums.
The panel consisted of:
Emmett McGroarty, JD attorney, TruthinAmericanEduca
tion.com
Sandra Stotsky, Ed D. Language Arts
James Milgram, Ph D Math professor Stanford University
Terrence Moore, Ph.D. Hillsdale College
Jane Robbins, JD. attorney. Dr. Robbins participated in the recent program at Greer High School with Sheri Few.
The significance of this panel was that they appeared on a two-hour program “Frances and Friends” broadcast throughout the nation and world on Sonlife Broadcasting Network that is carried on Channel 344 on Direct TV as well as Dish TV and a large number of cable systems.
The program ran twice on Thursday and twice on Saturday of last week. More information may be found at www.frances
andfriends.com.
Additional websites with credible information on Common Core negative aspects are http://truthinamericaneducation.com.
www.christianpost.com
www.sherifew.com
Forty-six states have adopted Common Core. Math and English standards will be implemented in most this year. Truth in American Education reports that some 35 states are to some degree fighting Common Core.
Common Core eliminates local control over K-12 curriculum in math and English, instead imposing a one-size-fits-all, top-down curriculum that will also apply to private schools and home-schoolers.
Common Core proponents are speaking in the tradition of “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan, and if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”
Proponents claim that it is not a federal mandate, instead using language like “state-led” and “voluntary.”
The Common Core website states, “The federal government was not involved in the development of the standards… It is a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help students succeed.”
Diane Ravitch, former assistant Secretary of Education, writes in the Washington Post: “They were developed by an organization called Achieve and the National Governors Association, both of which were generously funded by the Gates Foundation. There was minimal public engagement in the development of the Common Core. Their creation was neither grassroots nor did it emanate from the states. Instead, Common Core is being driven by policymakers in D. C.”
Ravitch adds, “We are a nation of guinea pigs.”
Dr. Jane Robbins, a senior fellow for the American Principles Project said, “Common Core has never been piloted. How can anyone say it is good for kids when it’s not in place anywhere.”
Robbins said the curriculum replaces the classics with government propaganda. “They de-emphasize the study of classic literature in favor of reading so-called ‘informational texts’ such as government documents, court opinions, and technical manuals.”
Sheri Few, founder of South Carolina Parents Involved in Education and candidate for State Superintendent of Education, along with Dr. “Mick” Zais, will be discussing Common Core in South Carolina at the February luncheon of the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club, Thursday, February 27 at Noon at the Poinsett Club. Reservations are required. For reservations call (864) 630-2315.