Common Core Education And More About Federal Government Control

[Ross]

SCHOOLS NABBED FOR HIDING
COMMON CORE DETAIL

Lawsuit accuses district of withholding from parents their right to decline
Published: 3 hours ago

Common Core, the federal education-standards initiative, can't stay out of the headlines.

Black leaders have called it racist, and it's been slammed by politicians such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"You think the math standards are bad, what will happen once the federal government starts setting the standards for how American history is taught to our kids?" he demanded. "Under the Obama administration, the instruction would not be about American exceptionalism; it would be all about how the United States causes victimization."

Parents and students have objected, and it's been blasted for teaching lessons such as how to sympathize with Hamas, create a Palestinian state and divide Jerusalem.

Now, a California school district is being accused of hiding the truth about the program to try to get more children involved.

The new lawsuit alleges that the Walnut Valley Unified School District is declining to tell parents about their rights to refuse involvement in the program.

The action was brought by the Pacific Justice Institute on behalf of Concerned Parents of California.

See what American education has become, in "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children."

"Just like everyone else, school districts must follow the law," noted PJI attorney Michael Peffer, who is the lead attorney in this case. "They may not agree with it, but they cannot ignore it. The statutes and regulations in this area are clear and unambiguous. The district doesn't get to pick and choose which rules it will follow."

The Common Core State Standards program, which is being discontinued and disassembled in some states already, revealed recently that only 44 percent of California students met the standards in English, and only 1 student in 3 in math.

"As we've just been reminded, the implementation of Common Core continues to be a disaster, and many parents want no part of it," said PJI President Brad Dacus. "Parents have the right and responsibility to do what is in their children's best interests, and California school districts have the legal obligation to make sure parents know their options."

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, explains K-12 schools "are required to apprise parents and guardians of their right under the law to request that their child be excused from statewide assessment testing."

But the notices from schools to parents about the 2015 tests uniformly failed to mention the requirement.

The omission, the case explains, deprived "petitioner and its members of their rights to have legal notice that their children may be excused."

Pacific Justice said it previously confronted Calabasas High School officials after one manager threatened to punish students who didn't participate.

In that case, the legal team said, the principal tried "to punish incoming seniors with loss of parking and other privileges for exercising their rights."

There, Principal C.J. Foss had sent a notice to parents saying, "Senior activities, parking, and off-campus passes require students to have participated in the CAASP testing."

The school reversed course after receiving a demand letter from PJI.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/09/schools-nabbed-for-hiding-common-core-detail/#Mb7AaE4xso1eSgcH.99

[redcliffsw]

Black leaders have called it racist, and it's been slammed by politicians such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"You think the math standards are bad, what will happen once the federal government starts setting the standards for how American history is taught to our kids?" he demanded. "Under the Obama administration, the instruction would not be about American exceptionalism; it would be all about how the United States causes victimization."


Gov. Jindal ought to come to the realization that the Federals began setting standards for history after the War For Southern Independence - thats' the Republicans who have perverted history and Jindal complains about Obama doing it too.  Students have been indoctrinated for 150 years with the same liberal thinking and untrue history from the Republican party - tyrants who changed America. 

Right here on this Forum we've seen the descendents of Republicans defend the government schools that their own people created, controlled and perverted.  Every time the W. E. Superintendent makes a statement, some Republicans will immediately will defend him as being truthful and demand that school taxes be raised.  We've seen the success of the Republicans and Obama - their so-called prominence, which is really their dominance as tyrants in America stealing the peoples' liberty by and thru government schools.

The Republicans and Obama support the socialist agenda by and thru government schools and agencies.  To the Republicans and reconstructed Democrats, Ross' defence of individual liberty is un-American, he's even been called hateful.  We know that's nothing new coming from a Republican or an Obama type. 





   

[Ross]

What Teacher Wrote
On 2nd Grade Girl's Homework
Has Thousands Outraged

Posted on September 20, 2015

With the implementation of the Common Core curriculum, millions of overwhelmed students are finding that the basic learning process has been replaced with unconventional, unnecessary policies that frustrate both children and teachers. However, one teacher decided to punish a 7-year-old student for writing something on her assignment, and it has some saying the educator went too far.

On September 16, Brenda Hatcher uploaded a photo to Facebook that has thousands questioning what has happened to the education system. The picture contains a warning to a second grade girl, who reportedly attends a school in Kansas, reprimanding her for the way she wrote her name on her assignment.


The warning appears to chastise the student for her ability to do something that perhaps the other students haven't yet learned in class.

"Stop writing your name in cursive," the note reads. "You have had several warning."
Immediately, social media users erupted in disbelief and anger over the teacher's chastisement of the young girl.

mmediately, social media users erupted in disbelief and anger over the teacher's chastisement of the young girl.

"The thing is is [sic] that she doesn't write everything in cursive," Hatcher responded. "That's her own personal signature. I had to learn to write in cursive when I was young. This should never be something a teacher frowns upon."
Regardless of the progression of the class as a whole, it's inexcusable that an educator would attempt to hinder a student's learning, simply because they are picking up on things quicker than others. However, it's possible that the teacher is also a victim and is simply trying to adhere to some requirement of either the school or curriculum.

Still, the warning prompts questions on what will happen to the girl if she continues to write her name in cursive.

"I'd also like to know what the teacher's punishment was going to be," Hatcher continued. "What are you gonna do Mrs. Teacher? Suspend her from school for being 7 and able to write in cursive? Does she not get to go out for recess?"
Although the child is not her own, Hatcher has encouraged everyone to continue to share the post in an effort to resolve the problem. Within three days, the post has reached over 75,000 shares.

Hopefully, the school will respond to the indignation over obstructing a students harmless progress. Until then, the viral post is sure to shed a much-needed light on the restrictions within the education system.

http://madworldnews.com/teacher-girls-homework/

[redcliffsw]

Government schools - do you really want to keep financing them by forcing people to pay taxes for government schools? 

If so, which brand of socialism do you prefer?  Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Bernie Sanders or some other?

[Ross]

ANOTHER DISTRICT CAUGHT
ILLEGALLY PUSHING
COMMON CORE

Schools 'cannot keep parents in the dark about their rights'
Published: 12 hours ago

Just days after a lawsuit was filed alleging a California school district was violating the law by failing to tell parents of their Common Core opt-out rights, the same claim has been leveled against a neighboring district.

The first action was brought by the Pacific Justice Institute on behalf of Concerned Parents of California against the Walnut Valley Unified School District.

When the suit was filed, PJI attorney Michael Peffer said: "Just like everyone else, school districts must follow the law. They may not agree with it, but they cannot ignore it. The statutes and regulations in this area are clear and unambiguous. The district doesn't get to pick and choose which rules it will follow."

Now, Pacific Justice is representing another school district, Conejo Valley Unified School District, northwest of Los Angeles.

The organization has filed documents with the court showing that CVUSD "did not comply with California law requiring it to tell parents that they could opt their children out of the controversial common core testing."

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, said of the new case: "School districts cannot keep parents in the dark about their rights to opt their children out of common core testing. If school districts think they can get away with violating these clear requirements, they are greatly mistaken."

See what American education has become, in "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children."

Peffer explained the California Education Code and Code of Regulations "grant parents a number of important rights that serve as checks and balances to the educational bureaucracy."

"When these rights are ignored, the system is out of balance. This lawsuit aims to restore parental choice, increase transparency, and challenge the status quo," he said.

The Common Core program has been controversial nationwide.

Black leaders have called it racist, and it's been slammed by politicians such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"You think the math standards are bad, what will happen once the federal government starts setting the standards for how American history is taught to our kids?" he demanded at one point. "Under the Obama administration, the instruction would not be about American exceptionalism; it would be all about how the United States causes victimization."

Parents and students have objected, and it's been blasted for teaching lessons such as how to sympathize with Hamas, create a Palestinian state and divide Jerusalem.

The Common Core State Standards program, which is being discontinued in some states already, revealed recently that only 44 percent of California students met the standards in English, and only 1 student in 3 in math.

"As we've just been reminded, the implementation of Common Core continues to be a disaster, and many parents want no part of it," said Dacus. "Parents have the right and responsibility to do what is in their children's best interests, and California school districts have the legal obligation to make sure parents know their options."

The lawsuits, in Superior Court in Los Angeles, explain K-12 schools "are required to apprise parents and guardians of their right under the law to request that their child be excused from statewide assessment testing."

But the notices from schools to parents about the 2015 tests uniformly failed to mention the requirement.

The omission, the case explains, deprived "petitioner and its members of their rights to have legal notice that their children may be excused."

Pacific Justice said it previously confronted Calabasas High School officials after one manager threatened to punish students who didn't participate.

In that case, the legal team said, the principal tried "to punish incoming seniors with loss of parking and other privileges for exercising their rights."

There, Principal C.J. Foss had sent a notice to parents saying, "Senior activities, parking, and off-campus passes require students to have participated in the CAASP testing."

The school reversed course after receiving a demand letter from PJI.


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/09/another-district-caught-illegally-pushing-common-core/#2AmjhIubAx2vPEkr.99

[Ross]

Lawmakers fear Islamic
'indoctrination'
in schools

NASHVILLE — Tennessee seventh-graders spend a portion of their time in a world history course studying "the world of Islam."

The amount of time spent on the topic, and what students are actually learning during that time, has some lawmakers and parents in an uproar and the state planning to review standards.

"There is a big difference between education and indoctrination," U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a statement issued Thursday.

"It is reprehensible that our school system has exhibited this double-standard, more concerned with teaching the practices of Islam than the history of Christianity. Tennessee parents have a right to be outraged and I stand by them in this fight."

Blackburn's criticism joins the calls of state lawmakers and parents in several Tennessee counties upset over the middle school curriculum. Parents in Maury, Williamson and other counties have expressed concerns about the class. They say their children were required to memorize the five pillars of Islam and to write "Allah is the only God" as part of an assignment, according to several local and national mediareports.

Both are basic tenets of the Islamic religion, and simply learning them or repeating them doesn't make anyone Muslim, said Paul Galloway, executive director of advocacy organization American Center for Outreach.

"To learn what the first pillar is has nothing to do with indoctrination. You can't trick someone into being a Muslim," said Galloway, who is Muslim.

There is a basic level of misunderstanding driving this fear and outrage, he said. In Arabic the word "Allah" means God. Christians who speak Arabic use the word Allah to talk about God all the time, Galloway said.

He noted there is a difference between teaching students about religion and proselytizing, and argued no one is in favor of public schools trying to convert children to any particular religion.

Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said the intent of the curriculum is to provide a deep understanding of how world religions have affected world history. However, in a statement late Thursday she acknowledged the state is speeding up the review of social studies standards.

"While we desire to maintain the intent of this approach, we believe a statewide social studies standards review process will help further an appropriate balance in the coverage of world religions," McQueen said.

"In light of recent concerns from educators and stakeholders, the department has asked the State Board of Education to move the social studies standards review process up ahead of the traditional six-year cycle."

Elizabeth Fiveash, director of legislative affairs for the Tennessee Department of Education, sent an email to lawmakers Tuesday in response to concerns about the curriculum. In her email, obtained by The Tennessean, she acknowledges the "Islamic World" is covered in seventh grade. But she notes Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Shinto are also covered in various courses throughout middle school and high school.

Students have learned the same content included in the seventh-grade curriculum for years, Fiveash said. The information was mainly included in the sixth-grade curriculum until the state Board of Education adopted new content standards in July 2013, she said.

"While it appears that some seventh-grade teachers are covering Islam longer than Christianity, it's important to note, that the last chapter of the sixth-grade textbook covers the rise of Christianity extensively. That chapter is repeated at the beginning of the seventh-grade textbook," Fiveash wrote to lawmakers.

Several conservative Republican state lawmakers weren't satisfied. In more emails and public statements obtained by The Tennessean, they call for the revision of the curriculum.

"The section on 'Ancient Israel' isn't called the 'Jewish World,'" Rep. Tilman Goins, R-Morristown, wrote in an emailed response to Fiveash.

"If a study of a geographic region such as 'The Middle East' were to discuss the major religions found there, so be it! But until there is a section on India referred to as 'The Hindu World,' I do not believe this favoritism toward Islam should be allowed to continue to exist."

Rep. Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton, agreed with Goins. In an emailed response, he said the "time is here for those accountable to either 'out' the ones responsible for the bias or stand and defend their position."

In her original email, Fiveash is clear that the standards were developed in conjunction with Tennessee teachers and were publicly available for review or comment before they were adopted.

The recent outcry caused state Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, to take a look at the standards. Holt, one of the chief opponents of a bill providing undocumented immigrants with in-state college tuition this year, agreed with his colleagues that it's time to remove the "strong bias in favor of Islam" from the curriculum.

"While I can certainly understand the desire for cultural knowledge, it must never be at the cost of our own cultural identity," Holt wrote in a post on his blog, a site he uses to issue statements and raise money. "Many of our children are not being taught the Ten Commandments in school, but instead the Five Pillars of Islam and the 'Prophet' Muhammad as a sovereign to Jesus Christ."

Holt noted the recent shooting death of five U.S. service members in Chattanooga by a man called a "perverted jihadist" by Vice President Joe Biden.

"Tennesseans have seen the radical side of Islam, and many have grown skeptical of this 'peaceful religion,'" Holt wrote.

Tennessee officials have a history of scrutinizing Islam. Two East Tennessee sheriffs made controversial comments about Muslims recently, and several officials at various levels attempted to block the building of a mosque in Murfreesboro in 2012.

The state reviews standards every six years, but general outcry over the controversial Common Core caused the state to start that process earlier for math and science. McQueen said in her statement the process will start in January.

"While standards describe the minimum learning expectations for students in each grade, curriculum and instruction are local decisions made by districts, schools, and teachers," she said in her statement.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/10/lawmakers-fear-islamic-indoctrination-schools/72038416/

[Ross]

ISLAMIC INDOCTRINATION BROUGHT TO YOU
BY COMMON CORE
AND THESE PARENTS WON'T HAVE IT

Michael Becker — October 3, 2015

If you've followed the forced acceptance of Common Core by the US Department of Education onto school districts across the nation you won't be surprised to learn that Common Core is being used as a tool to indoctrinate elementary and middle school students into Islam.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Another school district is facing parental outrage over lessons on Islam, the latest in what's becoming an all-out offensive against what many characterize as blatant "indoctrination."

"How can you assure us that our children won't have to study Islamic religion?" parent Pam Keene recently asked members of the Rutherford County School Board.

[...]

The Common Core-aligned social science assignments require students to write or recite "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet," the Five Pillars of Islam, and other things that conflict with family beliefs.
Could you imagine for one second if students were required to recite the tenets of faith of Christianity?

The ACLU and Democrats across the nation would be burning down schools and burning offending teachers and administrators at the stake.

School districts are claiming that they're powerless to stop it. Education bureaucrats at both the state and federal level will make sure Common Core is not messed with. That would inhibit their ability to control your child's mind.

Now, locals are focused on rooting out Islam from the school curriculum, but it's a decision Rutherford Director of Schools Don Odom said is out of the district's hands.

At the recent board meeting, Odom "told the group that he and the board understand their concerns, but pointed out that textbooks are no longer chosen by the board or a local textbook committee.

He recommended that concerned parents contact the State Department of Education through its website to complain.
Right Don. That's certainly going to help. NOT!

As I've said many times, putting your children in public school is child abuse.

http://joeforamerica.com/2015/10/islamic-indoctrination-brought-common-core-parents-wont/

[Ross]

Common Core ties to
Libya,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, left, greets U.S. President Barack Obama
upon his arrival at Qubba palace in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, June 4, 2009.
President Obama is due to address the Muslim world
in a speech during his visit to Egypt.

By Bethany Blankley - - Tuesday, April 7, 2015
"Where did Common Core come from?" is a question I often hear from parents  as I travel the country speaking about the Islamic infiltration of America.

Because in 2014-15 America, public school students via Common Core are:

• Participating in public school-sponsored trips to mosques via taxpayer expense, girls must wear head scarves (Colorado parents complain)

• Debating whether or not the Holocaust was "merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain," (an eighth-grade assignment defended by the Rialto Unified School District, Los Angeles)

• Pledging allegiance in Arabic (New York)

• Observing two "Muslim holy days," (New York City)

• Being taught Islamic vocabulary lessons (North Carolina)

• Being taught Islamic culture (Tennessee)

• Being taught world history from Islamic perspective (Florida) that includes learning about the five pillars of Islam (Maryland father, a Marine Corps veteran, complains and is banned from school grounds)

• Told to proselytize by creating a pamphlet about Islam to "introduce Islam to 3rd graders" that introduces Allah to children as the same God of the Christians and Jews (Michigan)

• Reciting in class the Shahada, "There is No God but Allah," and the Muslim call to prayer (Massachusetts)

Parents in every state are outraged, protesting and asking, "Why is Islam being taught in public schools?" and "How did this happen?" "Where is the ACLU?" "Where are the people 'protesting against' religion being taught in public schools?"

Common Core origins

The short answer is that President Obama's push for "hope and change" translates into completely transforming America — for the worse. Common Core is but one of many parts of an intricate plan to infiltrate every area of American society with Islam. Which is why, Common Core's origin and funding came from Qatar, Libya and Saudi Arabia.

Globally, Common Core originated from the "One World Education" concept, a global goal orchestrated by the Connect All Schools program. Its origin is funded by the Qatar Foundation International (QFI). The director of QFI's Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics is Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder, Hassan al-Banna.

According to the WND website, in 2011, QFI "partnered with the Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to facilitate matchmaking between classrooms in the U.S. and international schools through ... the 'Connect All Schools' project." QFI states on its website that the initiative was founded in response to Mr. Obama's infamous 2009 Cairo speech, during which the Muslim Brotherhood was seated in the front row.

Mr. Obama's mentor, domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, received $49.2 million from Vartan Gregorian, a board member of the Qatar Foundation, who also is involved with Mr. Obama's White House Fellowships Commission. Gregorian is an integral part of Connect All Schools, through which Qatar invested $5 million to teach Arabic in American public schools.

Domestically, in America, Common Core was "created by" the National Governor's Association (NGA), Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Achieve Inc., ACT and the College Board. The Common Core State Standards are copyrighted by the NGA and CCSSO, a private company, which means they cannot be changed.

Many groups helped create these standards (chief among them, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations) but Pearson Education, an NGA donor and CCSSO's listed business and industry partner, is integral to Common Core.

Pearson Education designs "education products and services to institutions, governments and direct to individual learners." Listed on the London and New York Stock Exchange, of its numerous investors, the Libyan Investment Authority is its largest financial contributor, holding 26 million shares.

According to the Financial Times, the Libyan Investment Authority was founded by Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam; more than five Gaddafi family members own shares. The Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR, a recently designated terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates), Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Muslim Brotherhood invested in Pearson Education through the Libyan Investment Authority.

Despite this connection, according to the Guardian, Pearson Education claims as a public company operating in a free market it has no control over its shareholders' terrorist-related activities.

Common Core was implemented in states that accepted federal funds from the 2009 "Race to the Top" initiative, which encouraged states to receive federal money to adopt new standards that would improve their public school children's test performance results.

In order for a state to participate, the state board of education and the state's educational professional standards board would have voted to adopt Common Core standards. Each participating state has posted the Common Core Standards on its state department of education website.

Two years prior to the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative, in 2007, the FBI uncovered documents revealing the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its subsidiary organizations like CAIR, planned to indoctrinate American K-12 students by teaching Islam.

The seized documents were part of the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terror-funding trial in U.S. history. The FBI uncovered the Muslim Brotherhood's manifesto "on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America" (Exhibit 42945 and Exhibit 42946).

After states applied for "Race to the Top" federal funds in 2009, Pearson Education created Common Core curriculum and standards. Pearson Education is also the sole evaluator of teachers in some states. In order for New York State to continue receiving "Race to the Top" federal funds, it had to implement "reforms." Pearson Education now solely administers the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA).

New York State no longer evaluates its teachers — a private company does — whose primary investors fund terrorism and propagate Islam.

Additionally, no state or federal oversight exists for university programs (under Title VI of the Higher Education Act) that train K-12 teachers to develop lesson plans and seminars on "Middle East Studies." These programs and teacher training materials were developed by Pearson Education and largely funded by Saudi Arabia.

Parents must and can act

In order to end Common Core and eliminate the Islamic indoctrination being taught in public schools, parents must demand:

• Their state school board members be investigated and/or fired and replaced.

• Their state legislature and governor reject "Race to the top" federal funds and implement legislation or reverse its state education department's implementation of Common Core in their state, and at a minimum, in the interim.

• Their child not participate in state testing.

Parents can also take their children out of public schools altogether.

Parental rights are guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that parents possess the "fundamental right" to "direct the upbringing and education of their children." The court has declared that "the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations" (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35). The Supreme Court criticized the Nebraska state legislature for attempting to interfere "with the power of parents to control the education of their own" (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402). And ruled a parent's right to raise his/her children means a parent is protected from unreasonable state interferences, one of the unwritten "liberties" protected by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 399)."

Parents must say no more: The $632 billion the federal government spends each year on public school "education" is being wasted on violating the First Amendment, by the federal government instituting a religion through the teaching of Islam in public schools.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/7/bethany-blankley-parents-must-reject-common-core-i/?page=all

[Ross]

Crimes of the Educators: A Must-Read Book

A new book by the late Samuel L. Blumenfeld and journalist Alex Newman explains most everything that is wrong with American education. The book is Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children.

Blumenfeld and Newman say that "socialist utopians have been responsible for inflicting more pain on the human race than adherents to any other political philosophy." These utopians are going strong in the realm of education. Some have entered the fray in order to make money. The authors say, "Public education represents the largest river of government cash flow in the United States, and the educationists get the money no matter how much failure they produce."

Crimes of Radicals

Progressives have taken over public schools, schools of education, and teachers unions. Education concepts based on the work of Paulo Freire, "a leading Marxist theoretician," progressive John Dewey, education theorist and unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, and others have created a path of destruction as their faulty premises are used to teach future educators. The fallout is affecting children in classrooms every day.

John Dewey "advocated moving education away from individualistic high literacy in favor of social collectivism." Dewey "wanted students to discuss information in groups rather than receive information by listening to a teacher." This "cooperative learning" should more accurately be called "groupthink learning" because disagreeing opinions are drowned out by consensus.

Cooperative learning bases grades on students' performance in a group. Competition is the hallmark of a capitalist, individualistic society, but "to the socialists, individualism creates a competitive spirit that is opposed to a collectivist spirit, which is needed in a socialist society," according to the authors.

Crimes Against Reading

Read much more at:
http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/educate/sept15/crimes-of-the-educators-a-must-read-book.html

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A Calendar of Indoctrination

At the NEA convention, teachers were given colorful 2015-16 school calendars created by the union's Read Across America Campaign. The calendar is titled "Read, Discover, Explore" and it claims to celebrate "a nation of diverse readers." One unfortunate but critically diverse characteristic that exists among students is that while some students can read, some can't. What is the NEA doing to right this crippling wrong that harms so many students? Is the union encouraging a strong, phonics-based, proven-effective reading program for all students? No. Instead, the NEA's goal is that of left-wing extremists, aimed at dividing even the youngest Americans into subgroups according to race, heritage, sex, sexual identity, disabilities, and ideology.

The NEA Read Across America calendar's message to teachers says, "Our students need to see themselves in the books they read." While the priority should be that students know how to read, literacy is not what this calendar is about. The calendar is simply one more tool in the union's social-justice toolbox.

A calendar suggestion for September is that students write and illustrate stories from "their own culture," completely missing the point that American students' culture is American and it is advantageous for them to assimilate.

December's book is A Boy and A Jaguar, about efforts to protect big cats around the world and condemning evil humans who kill animals.

In June, the NEA calendar celebrates Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. The featured book is Not Every Princess, published by the American Psychological Association, which includes "strategies to help children imagine, play, and envision themselves beyond the limited roles and expectations that gender stereotypes create." The calendar suggests parents and teachers "check out" the "Rainbow booklist," an annual bibliography of "quality books with significant and authentic Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning content, which are recommended for people from birth through eighteen years of age." Rainbow Books is a joint project of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association, and others.

Much more to read at:
http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/educate/sept15/a-calendar-of-indoctrination.html

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Ali Baba Babble and Common Core

"Open sesame" is that mystical phrase from "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." It unlocks the cave sanctuary where all of the treasure is secured. But, in light of Common Core, "open sesame" has unleashed a deluge of questionable educationalists who see this moment as an opportunity to pile up their extremist treasures under the guise of Common Core — and they seem to have been largely successful. Common Core, at the moment, is bad stuff. But it has the potential to become extremely bad stuff. For months, in post after post and article after article, the great debate has been about various lessons and approaches that have emerged. Are they or are they not Common Core sanctioned? I used to think that was a valid question. Not anymore.

The very sponsors of Common Core hardly seem to mind these curriculum excursions into their absurdity, such as rewriting American history to coalesce with the current "PC" mindset. They seem barely ruffled by eye-popping, stomach-churning developments in sex education — for the littlest of students — who are now exposed to startling information and vividly detailed sexual escapades, all under the guise of "healthy living."

The Common Core oligarchs seem somewhat soothed by the politically charged alterations to historical documents and events, provided they tumble to the left of center. In short, Common Core's whoop seems to be "open sesame" — everything and anything is up for "reform."

Anyone and everyone seems welcomed in the Common Core tent of the macabre. If you're up for skewering America and its history, hop on board. If you're inclined toward seedy sexual stuff, welcome home! If you're in favor of disrupting and disturbing a particular activity like coal or petroleum production or sanctifying every tree and bog and swamp, then there's a slot for you in the Common Core mayhem. Itching for a fight about who should control nutrition for kids? You're welcome aboard. Cranky about tenure or teacher sovereignty in the classroom? All aboard. It seems anyone with a beef gets a plate at the Common Core buffet of all-you-can-eat nonsense.

Got beefs? Maybe against the military or the Tea Party? Scribble out a unit or a lesson package. You're in. Got a hang-up about climate change or homosexual marriages? Fire away. Got a bug up your nose about Christianity or religion in general? Just punch out a screed about fanatics and zealots and it'll find it's way into Common Core.

The point? Common Core has given educational cover for a slender minority to pollute the actual education environment with any issue whatsoever, and it seems to give those issues — no matter how hare-brained or offensive — a certain legitimacy. Common Core has become the new "open sesame" because, by its very nature, it suggests that what is, is not acceptable. America must be altered, changed, renovated, rejuvenated, redirected, and most especially, cured. But only if those cures pass a certain muster.

Read much more at:
http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/educate/sept15/ali-baba-babble-and-common-core.html

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Ali Obama and His Forty Thieves Are
Robbing our Children of a Decent Education

Having directed the musical, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," when I taught speech and drama in a middle school many years ago, I am very familiar with the story and would add my comments to the excellent article by Denis Ian.

"Open sesame" opens the door to the vast "treasury" of every strange ideology and radical belief of Common Core-progressive educators and politicians, who are all playing their parts so well. The Chief Thief is Ali Obama, with his understudies played by Secretary of Education Ali Duncan. Chief funders are Ali Bill Gates and Ali Pearson Foundation (the main publisher of the e-books and tests for Common Core).

The 40 thieves have many layers, starting with the national cartel who actually wrote the standards (state and local educators were not involved). Governors, state boards of education, or bureaucrats signed on to Common Core, sight unseen, coerced by the possibility of winning $435 billion in grant money coming from the vast treasury of "stimulus money" from the chief thief, Ali Obama.

The next layer of thieves are the state legislators, who were originally bypassed and not consulted when the governors or bureaucrats signed on, but eventually agreed and gave their support (either willingly or silently by not opposing it); the teachers unions who (with the exception of a few states) are supporting this debacle and are receiving large hand outs (bribes) from the private treasury of Ali Bill Gates and other state and federal grants to do so.

The next layer of thieves are the superintendents and local school board trustees who are allowing this travesty of education into their schools, even though they have heard testimony after testimony from expert witnesses, parents, and students about how bad and harmful it is. School boards are also kept in line by the bribes coming from the state and federal treasuries, if they are willing to jump through all the hoops offered to them.

And lastly are the teachers who either truly believe in this new radical ideology and way of teaching or are so afraid of losing their jobs that they go along with it. Many courageous or disgusted teachers across the nation, however, have already resigned over this issue.

And who are the people who are being robbed blind by this vast group of thieves?

Much more to read at:
http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/educate/sept15/robbing-our-children-of-a-decent-education.html

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The NEA is a Social Justice Organization

The Orlando National Education Association (NEA) Representational Assembly further cemented the teachers union's standing as a social justice organization. Educating students seems almost a sideline to the union goals of changing societal values and governmental regulations to reflect what the NEA thinks they should be. Whether it is promoting a radical LGBTQ agenda, climate-change activism, UN globalism, anti-capitalism, sex education and abortion rights, unfettered immigration policies, gun control, or any other liberal, progressive agenda item, the NEA fights at the forefront.

In her opening speech as NEA union President, Lily Eskelsen García said, "We truly, truly are the NEA. We are the rabble-rousers. We are the activists." She spoke about her first time as a delegate at an NEA convention, saying, "I had this sense: we're going to do something. We're going to do something important. The people in this room are going to come together and something will be better for someone else's child." That's a grand sentiment, but unfortunately most of what the NEA does and believes in doesn't translate into making it "better" for anyone's children. In fact, harm occurs when the union forces radical social-justice ideas down the throats of the nation's families.

Promoting social justice themes was the subject of delegate-adopted New Business Item 10. NBI 10 says, "the NEA will use its communication tools to highlight examples of NEA members who incorporate social justice into their teaching practice or community engagement." The union will promote curriculum developed by those who teach social justice and tell the stories of those members who take activist roles in their communities.

NEA Executive Director John Stocks, who is often referred to as a social justice warrior, gave his traditional July 4th address to the assembly. He promoted challenging "institutional racism," spoke of his own experience benefitting from "white privilege," and said American systems are failing.

"Simply said, America is not working for most Americans and that has a tremendous impact on our students, our schools, and our future," according to Stocks. But many would disagree with Stocks about why America doesn't "work" for some. Stocks fails to realize his union's focus on social justice causes instead of teaching students is one of the main reasons that students and communities fail. If teachers focused on teaching students the fundamentals that would allow them to rise out of ignorance and poverty, the nation would be a better place.

Instead, Stocks told the delegates, "Sisters and brothers, I've been an organizer all my life. I've been a part of progressive causes and social justice organizing my entire career." Maybe Stocks doesn't understand that social justice organizing doesn't help students learn. Maybe he doesn't care.

Stocks tried to rouse delegates by speaking of a "New American Majority." He said, "This movement is fueled by growing income inequality, the scourge of racial injustice, attacks on our voting rights, a political system rigged to benefit the wealthy and powerful, the corporate takeover of our public school system, and the threat of global climate change."

Stocks praised radical groups, calling them "new organizational formations." He specifically promoted "Occupy Wall Street, Freedom to Marry, Moral Mondays, Black Lives Matter, The Fight for $15, the Dreamers, and NextGen Climate." Stocks says, "All of these organizations have at their heart a desire for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice; and the real possibility of uniting our nation in a grand alliance."

Human and Civil Rights Award Winners

Much more to read at:
http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/educate/sept15/the-nea-is-a-social-justice-organization.html

[Ross]

Nation's largest teachers union endorses Clinton for president

The National Education Association endorsement comes amid grumbling from some members that it's too soon.
By KIMBERLY HEFLING 10/03/15 02:12 PM EDT

The National Education Association defied some of its state affiliates Saturday with an endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, which came after an in-person, closed-door conversation between members and Clinton herself.

"This is exactly the right time if you're going to impact the primaries," NEA President Lily Eskelsen García told POLITICO after about 75 percent of the 175-member NEA board voted to endorse Clinton.

Eskelsen García called it a resounding endorsement, adding: "If we want to have education's voice in this primary debate, you get involved now."

Clinton praised the NEA and teachers in general in a statement after the endorsement was announced. "I know from personal experience that a teacher can make a profound difference in a child's life," Clinton said.

But the move by the board of the nation's largest union to give her a primary endorsement nod is sure to further aggravate many rank-and-file members who wanted more time to consider the candidates — especially as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wages an unexpectedly competitive run and Vice President Joe Biden weighs his options.

"There needs to be more input by the membership for these unions and I don't think it's being done," said Lori Mueller, a third grade teacher from Eland, Wis., who is co-president of her local NEA affiliate. "The leaders of my national union are picking for me, and I don't like that."

Mueller — a Sanders supporter — said she's upset by both the timing of the process and that Sanders wasn't given more of a chance.

After NEA's announcement, Sanders thanked members like Mueller who back him. "We are going to win this nomination and the general election because of support from grassroots Americans. We are on track to do just that," Sanders said in a statement.

NEA's action now positions the union as a more emboldened political player this election cycle. When the union sat out the divisive 2008 Democratic primary between Clinton and then-Sen. Barack Obama, many members felt they had lost an opportunity to influence the race and the policies of the eventual winner.

It's the opposite approach of the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the International Association of Fire Fighters, which have opted to delay endorsements — something labor insiders attribute to uncertainty over Biden and Sanders.

But overall, Clinton is beating Sanders badly in the early bid for labor's backing, mostly due to the early endorsements from the AFT and now the NEA. Collectively, she has the endorsements of unions representing about 6 million members — or nearly half of the country's 14.6 million union members. But unlike presidential campaigns of the past, union leaders are seeing a social media uprising among members unhappy about the endorsement process.

Among NEA's ranks, the New Hampshire affiliate came out for Clinton. But the Vermont NEA arm endorsed Sanders. Branches in Massachusetts, Nebraska and New Jersey asked the national leaders to hold off.

Janet Anderson, vice president of the Massachusetts affiliate with 110,000 members, said teachers are in a particularly "vulnerable moment." The challenges, she said, range from corporate interests using test scores and charter schools to undermine public education to a case before the Supreme Court involving California teachers that could impose right-to-work rules on government workers nationwide.

"Our members want a more deeply democratic union," Anderson said. "They want power that emerges from the grassroots and does not come from the top down."

Though Obama ultimately won NEA's support in the 2008 general election, teachers unions have been lukewarm or cold to him ever since. The administration has pushed policies the unions largely reject, such as teacher evaluations based on student test scores. Last year, delegates at NEA's national convention passed a resolution calling for Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign.

Mueller, the Wisconsin teacher, said she voted for Obama twice and now regrets it. She said she fears Clinton will continue more of Obama's education policies. "I do think she will carry that on," Mueller said.

Thousands of delegates to the NEA's July 4 annual convention will have a chance to vote on a candidate to endorse in the general election.

Eskelsen García said it's Clinton's longstanding commitment to children and health care issues that has her and others convinced Clinton is the best candidate. She noted in 1999, NEA awarded Clinton its highest honor, the "Friend of Education" award.

"Everyone was just blown away by the fact that she said, 'I have an open door. When somebody wants to talk to me, they can come in and talk to me,'" Eskelsen García said about Saturday's meeting.

Clinton has long advocated for early childhood programs, an issue important to many teachers. Last year, she launched a campaign encouraging parents to talk, read and sing to their babies. And Clinton broke with the Obama administration to back a key union priority just this week. She said she backs repealing the so-called Cadillac tax on pricey health care plans.

But not all of her education positions are universally liked by teachers. At an early campaign stop in Iowa, Clinton said she supports the concept of the Common Core standards. She opposes the use of vouchers that use public money to send students to private schools, but has said she supports charter schools that are "held to the same standards" as public schools.

On the trail, Clinton has pointedly devoted more energy to her college affordability proposal. That's, in part, likely a reflection of how politicized K-12 education issues have become. K-12 politics have divided the Democratic Party's historically allied teachers unions and so-called reformers who back charter schools and other forms of school choice as well as using strong accountability measures such as test scores to evaluate teachers and schools.

Clinton has had a keen interest in K-12 education dating to her early days as first lady of Arkansas. Then-Gov. Bill Clinton tasked his wife with reforming education in Arkansas.

Would Clinton have won the teachers' endorsement back then? Consider that one the ideas of the education standards committee she led back then was calling for competency tests for all teachers, which teachers hated. Arkansas wanted to require teachers to pass the test to keep their jobs. Teachers who failed had to get more training.

"Over and over again I was asked, 'What are you going to do about all the incompetent teachers?'" Clinton told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1984, according to Politifact Florida.

Now, many teachers and both unions fume over evaluations pushed by the Obama administration that judge them at least in part based on their students' test scores.

The NEA statement announcing the endorsement included quotes from teachers praising Clinton's work to protect special education services and public schools, along with a pledge about testing.

"Clinton will reduce the role of standardized tests in public education because she agrees with educators that no bubble test can measure a student's curiosity. Teachers need more time to teach and students need more time for learning," the NEA said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/clinton-nea-teachers-union-endorsement-214402#ixzz3ndCv7dxl