Be aware parents of young children! There’s a monster infiltrating your schools. The extent of harm this beast may cause will be unknown until it’s too late.
You may have heard its soft rumblings from a distance, but anyone courageous enough to get a really up close look, can smell and see its rotten core.
The Common Core, that is.
Everyone should understand how this beast was allowed to be created; especially in light of the fact that the federal government is prohibited from creating a national curriculum per a 1965 Legislative Act.
Enter the loophole: the authors of the Common Core English and Math State Standards were bankrolled by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. And, the copyright doesn’t belong to anyone voters and taxpayers can easily come after.
Upon completion of the monster… (i.e. standards), a few experts were brought in to validate them.
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, professor of education reform at University of Arkansas, said, “Common Core English will set our kids two years behind the two years they are already behind the rest of the world when it comes to reading and writing.”
Another member of the review committee, James Milgram, a retired Stanford math professor and the man responsible for most of the mathematical calculations for the Apollo moon missions, said, “It’s an absolute joke to think common core math will prepare your kids for a college career. No way.”
One of my favorite propaganda videos can be seen on You Tube. “Three Minute Video Explaining Common Core State Standards,” is an excellent example of how the monster is trying to be masked.
The narrator tells us, “Up till now it’s been pretty hard to tell how well kids are competing in schools …and how well they’re gonna do when they get outta school.” (I played this line six times and yes, the narrator said gonna and outta.)
The next cartoon shows two classrooms one in St. Louis, one in Shanghai and the narrator asks if the graduate in St. Louis is as prepared as the graduate in Shanghai to get a job. She promptly answers, “No.”
We are told we should think of Kindergarten through 12th grade like a giant staircase. “What if everyone’s stairs were made of different heights? Well here we go again… they are. So boy in Seattle who’s rocking an A in English Literature could be getting a C on his Chicago friend’s staircase.”
According to the video, “We need to create consistent steps in our staircase.”
Now there’s drawings of staircases labeled Seattle, Chicago, Shanghai and Paris all the same heights.
Towards the end of the three minute indoctrination video, the narrator says, “With the same rules, everyone can compete on the same kind of staircase.”
Wake up and smell the mediocrity monster.
When did the repeated use of the word “same” replace individualized instruction and pursuit of knowledge?
This is America. As a parent and an educator, I would rather my kid not be the same as everyone, but rather be an individual who deserves an excellent education, in an arena where ingenuity is applauded.
The metaphor of kids trudging up a staircase – the same staircase as everyone else, in sync no less – should scare the bejeezus out of all of us. Even the monsters under our beds.
