Monday, November 2, 2015

My opinion of common core

I want to discuss common core just for a moment here. Studies show 57% of parents hate common core. I think the consensus by supporters that it's about how math is taught, with all the touch points and all. They think parents who oppose it are just stubborn and unwilling to change. But, I contend, that's not why we oppose it at all.

Look, I'm not an educator. I will leave how my kids learn to the experts. The problem with common core is the same problem with Obamacare, is that the government has no business telling us what to do. It has no business running healthcare. And it definitely has no business running education.

As a matter of fact, this was a key issue for many of the signers of the Constitution. Many states had schools run by churches, and they didn't want this to change. So this is why they made sure that the states had the right to control what kids learned.

Granted there were founders who believed the federal government should pay for education to make sure everyone was educated. Still, they wanted the states or parents or teachers to control what was being taught. In fact, until the 1960s, kids were educated in little school houses and parents did control what was taught.

So if Obama wants to pay for education, that's great. But he should not be controlling what is taught. If schools want to continue to teach common core material, great. But if they choose to go a different route, then that should be their freedom

Still, while the goal  -- standards, academic achievements, and accountability -- of common core may sound good, the results are not good. From what I have read, the experts who postulated this system do not value "background knowledge."  They decided it's unfair to the "underprivileged" to force them to memorize history or formulas, so they took this right out of any learning material.  In essence, they did this to level the playing field. 

The result, is that rather than the questions be filled with facts about the founding fathers, or American history, or about American Exceptionalism, they are filled with liberal indoctrination. They ask questions that refer to global warming as fact, for example, rather than listing it as one of the many potential theories. 

Because of the Constitution, schools cannot be forced to accept common core.  To get around this, the government "experts" simply put in reverse incentives: "Either you do it or we'll cut funds to your school." Considering most schools need government assistance, they have no choice but to accept. This is the same way Obamacare forced hospitals to accept government regulations even though most didn't want to.

The worse part of common core is that it has never been tested. So liberals are basically "assuming" it's going to work, and risking an entire generation of our kids to make this bet. Personally, I think, if common core is so great, why not just let schools adapt it on their own, rather than "force" it on them?

The bottom line is that parents and teachers are taken out of the equation in exchange for a few faceless bureaucrats in Washington.  This is wrong, especially when you want your kids to grow up with good conservative, Christian values. 

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