Common Core Education And More About Federal Government Control

[Ross]

I believe this has got to be connected with Common Core some how.

'People Have a Right to Certain Weapons...':
School Workbook Rewrites 2nd Amendment

by
Fox News InsiderFox News Insider
//  Mar 25 2014 // 7:40am

A workbook given to Illinois middle schoolers redefines the Second Amendment. The workbook entry was pointed out by the father of a seventh-grader in Springfield, and posted to a Facebook page named Illinois Gun Owners Rights.

"This amendment states that people have the right to certain weapons, providing that they register them and they have not been in prison. The founding fathers included this amendment to prevent the United States from acting like the British who had tried to take weapons away from the colonists," the workbook stated.

The school's superintendent, Bob Hill, defended the wording, arguing that it reflects the reality of the Second Amendment "in the context of 2014." Nevertheless, parents were outraged at the school's decision, with the teacher and the head of the history department agreeing with them that the lesson should be changed.

Judge Andrew Napolitano gave us his take on Fox and Friends this morning, explaining that the Supreme Court has upheld in separate cases that the "right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental liberty [that] comes from our humanity." He pointed out that the Constitution prevents the government from interfering with that fundamental right.

Napolitano added that Illinois is the worst state in the nation for someone who wants to own a gun.

"Illinois has worn away at the right to keep and bear arms more than any other state in the union and the statistics show it. What's the worst city in the country for murders? Chicago. What's the second worst? District of Columbia. Where is it most difficult to keep and bear arms? Chicago and the District of Columbia. This [superintendent] is making it worse by giving students in the suburbs around Chicago an inaccurate understanding of their rights," he said.

(There is a Fox video located on the web site.)

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/03/25/people-have-right-certain-weapons-illinois-school-workbook-rewrites-2nd-amendment

[Ross]

25 minutes of audio about Common Core

The Dangers of Common Core

20th March 2014      by: Tom Woods      8 Comments


What's the real truth about Common Core? I talked to James Pesta of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on my podcast today. Listen below.

http://tomwoods.com/blog/the-dangers-of-common-core/

[Diane Amberg]

I just have to respond to this.
I don't know what the heck is going on in that New York School, if there is any truth to it, that is wrong, wrong, wrong... If it is a true public school! Groups like PETA cannot just drop letters or lesson plans in public schools any more than any other NGO, PIG or any other single interest group can. What age was it meant for and why?
If it is some sort of private school, then I guess they can do what they want. I know we have one all vegan  private preschool here which is PETA heavy. No leather shoes, no meat,etc.
I'd really have to see how that information was being used. Do you honestly believe a school knowingly would allow an animal to be duct taped to a wall? What if it was stolen from a farm and duct taped to the barn wall?  PETA gonna protest that too?  Give me a break! Aren't you even a little skeptical about this ?
Yes, firefighters do rescue classroom pets at school fires...people first of course. It's no different than what happens to pets  in fires where one lives. Some we can rescue, some we can't. Maybe PETA can have house pets banned too. Be very careful what you believe. They aren't known for sticking to the facts.
  I can't even drop off fire prevention contest rules in our district schools each fall without a permission to distribute letter,in hand,from the district superintendent's office. I've been doing it for years and everyone knows me, but it has to be reissued every year. Do you have any idea how much crap is dropped off at school with people trying to get access to the kids?
I'm really a skeptic on this, but I will check it out for myself. I also have a call into my girlfriend who is a currently a school psychologist in my district, about that form for that first grader's consideration for special ed.
Sorry, I don't believe any of it. I'd need real proof. I really don't know why some people are so quick to embrace and believe ANYTHING negative. There is enough really bad stuff out there without believing any piece of unproven junk that comes down the pike. Now go ahead and ripe my head off...you know you want to.

[Ross]

I just have to respond to this.
I don't know what the heck is going on in that New York School, if there is any truth to it, that is wrong, wrong, wrong... If it is a true public school! Groups like PETA cannot just drop letters or lesson plans in public schools any more than any other NGO, PIG or any other single interest group can. What age was it meant for and why?

If you read the article it said the questionnaire was lifted right off of PETA's web site.
A PETA web site for children.
I looked at PETA's web site and there it was. All it took was one click to find it.
No where, did it say that PETA did a lesson plan or dropped a note or letter.   
Read the article, it clearly stated the age.

If it is some sort of private school, then I guess they can do what they want. I know we have one all vegan  private preschool here which is PETA heavy. No leather shoes, no meat,etc.
I'd really have to see how that information was being used. Do you honestly believe a school knowingly would allow an animal to be duct taped to a wall? What if it was stolen from a farm and duct taped to the barn wall?  PETA gonna protest that too?  Give me a break! Aren't you even a little skeptical about this ?

None of that has anything to do with the questionnaire or Common Core.

Yes, firefighters do rescue classroom pets at school fires...people first of course. It's no different than what happens to pets  in fires where one lives. Some we can rescue, some we can't. Maybe PETA can have house pets banned too. Be very careful what you believe. They aren't known for sticking to the facts.
  I can't even drop off fire prevention contest rules in our district schools each fall without a permission to distribute letter,in hand,from the district superintendent's office. I've been doing it for years and everyone knows me, but it has to be reissued every year. Do you have any idea how much crap is dropped off at school with people trying to get access to the kids?

So what?  My fireman brother gave instructions to grade school kids. Again none of this has anything to do with Common Core or the questionnaire does it?

I'm really a skeptic on this, but I will check it out for myself. I also have a call into my girlfriend who is a currently a school psychologist in my district, about that form for that first grader's consideration for special ed.

I have no use for shrinks, I think of them as educated idiots that have people fooled!

Sorry, I don't believe any of it. I'd need real proof. I really don't know why some people are so quick to embrace and believe ANYTHING negative. There is enough really bad stuff out there without believing any piece of unproven junk that comes down the pike. Now go ahead and ripe my head off...you know you want to.

Nobody is asking you to believe anything, so don't believe it.

Ask Obama he will tell you what you want to hear.

There are people that fail to learn, There are people that fail to ask the right questions, there are people that are afraid of the answers, or there people that want to believe everything is peachy keen. That is all fine, but history has taught us what happens with that attitude.

What do you know about the Common Core?
Have you done any studying on Common Core?
Where did it come from?
Who controls it?
Why do you think some states and some school boards are opting out of Common Core? (Oop's that must be a lie too.)
Do you understand propaganda?
At what age is the best time to start the use of propaganda?
Do you believe everything the government tells you?
Is our Government not to be questioned?

I know asking questions is not a good thing, unless done by a teacher with a red pencil, right?

[Ross]

Emphasis In Blue and Red are mine

The 'Show' of Support
for Common Core in
Georgia
Pro-Common Core groups astro-turf the illusion of overwhelming support for the program.

March 26, 2014 - 11:48 pm

Earlier this week opponents of the "Common Core State Standards" cautiously celebrated their first major victory as Governor Mike Pence signed legislation withdrawing Indiana from the nationalized education program.

But in Georgia, the pro-Common Core big business/big government forces outgunned the grassroots and celebrated victory on the last day of the session last week.  A look at their tricks can provide lessons for other states.

Republican State Senator William Ligon was the sponsor of anti-Common Core legislation this year and last.  The 2013 version of his SB 167, which called for a complete withdrawal from Common Core, failed to get out of committee.  This year's bill, revised multiple times, also failed to get out of the education committee.  Parts of the bill attached as two amendments to another education bill did not get approval on the last day of the session (with some supporters switching their votes).

On the side fighting Common Core and trying to enact legislation that would withdraw Georgia from the national education standards were tea party groups, alarmed parents and grandparents, dissenting teachers, and such groups as Concerned Women for America and American Principles in Action.

But even Democratic teachers and parents who oppose Common Core would not be able to fight the pro-Common Core rent-seekers — lobbyists, the Chamber of Commerce, principals, teachers, superintendents, and public radio and television employees.

The only thing that passed was a resolution to form a study committee on Common Core.  But even this was too much for Georgia Democratic State Representative Alisha Thompson Morgan, now running for state school superintendent.  In February, Morgan had introduced a House Resolution affirming Georgia's commitment to Common Core.

To even discuss Common Core in a study committee was crazy talk, she implied in her speech against the measure in the waning hours on the last day.  For evidence, she noted, "I've heard all kinds of things, like let's abolish the U.S. Department of Education."  To Morgan, the federal Department of Education protects students: "It's the federal government's job to ensure that we don't violate the rights of students."

She listed the benefits bestowed by the U.S. Department of Education: the $400 million in stimulus funds in exchange for agreement to the Common Core standards, innovation grants, and data-tracking from "preschool to Ph.D." Morgan insisted this was not a Democratic or Republican issue.  She was speaking as "a mom" of a first-grader, and she was hearing great things from her teacher about Common Core — like developing "critical thinking skills." (remember critical thinking includes leaving you own prejudices out of the equation and having open and honest dialog or discussions.)


"Why are we still having this conversation?" Morgan asked.  No further discussion should be allowed: a March 5 education committee hearing on Ligon's bill had 68 people testifying, with the vast majority, 58, opposing Ligon's bill.

"I don't ever remember so many people testifying," she said: "It was the first time I recall groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Coalition of 100 Black Men joining together."

Plus, she had been overwhelmed by emails and other communication from teachers, parents, and citizens pleading to keep Common Core, a claim she repeated from what she had said at the education committee hearings on March 5 and March 12.  These Common Core fans, Morgan said, spoke up at "listening sessions" held across the state in the months leading up to the start of the session in January.  They greatly outnumbered those who spoke against it — proof that the public supported Common Core.

(Where are the e-mails and other documents of verification, remember this is a politician.)

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In spite of Morgan's arguments, the resolution for a study committee on Common Core passed, but it was the only — and largely symbolic — state level effort against Common Core this year.

Representative Morgan's characterization of the groundswell of support for Common Core, however, does not fit with what documents obtained from an open records request reveal.  Those testifying against Ligon's bill were largely members of the Chamber of Commerce — and public school employees: teachers, principals, superintendents, and administrators.  By my own count, 12 of them came from Tift County, 181 miles to the south of Atlanta, and they used school buses to get there. (they used taxpayers money for political actions not a nice thing to do)

They had apparently also used school buses to travel to the "listening sessions" across the state.  These were sham forums and used to present a show of openness on the issue.  In reality, the establishment, from Republican Governor Nathan Deal to the Education Committee chairman, Brooks Coleman (also a Republican), had made their decisions that Common Core was going to stay.  After the testimony of Tift County principal Mickey Weldon at the March 5 education committee hearing, Chairman Brooks Coleman thanked her and those who have been arranging the bus trips: "They bring those buses, and we appreciate them."

Five days previously, a mass email from Tift County Schools Superintendent Patrick Atwater to "principals" and others had gone out.  Dated Friday, February 28, 2014, it was titled "SB 167" and rated "high" in "importance."  It read,

We have just finished a conference call with Representative Alisha Morgan.  Tift County has a seat at the table for Wednesday's House Education Committee.  We are sending at least five staff to present and have begun to organize other counties to ride a bus with us.  Already, two other systems have agreed.  If you would like to go, please let me know and we will hold a seat on the bus for you.

Principals are invited!

This is a somewhat different account from what Representative Morgan has been presenting.  The Tift County school superintendent was strongly encouraging other employees to attend — and on a school day, during working hours.   A log shows payment for bus drivers for this and other trips. (more inappropriate use of taxpayers dollars.)

Employees could please the superintendent by attending and testifying in favor of Common Core — as they had done in previous months.  Furthermore, they were instructed on what to say as another correspondence will reveal.

So the groundswell of spontaneous support coming from teachers — as Morgan has presented it — is not accurate.  Obviously, teachers who dislike Common Core would fear for their jobs, especially in a district where there is pressure, or at least strong encouragement from higher-ups, to testify in favor of it.

Media outlets used the well-orchestrated shows of support at hearings and listening sessions as evidence of overwhelming support for Common Core by the business community and "education establishment."

Citizens and tea party groups, however, did not "have a seat at the table," or benefit from being on a payroll while lobbying.  They were concerned about the unconstitutional overreach of the federal government, and about children and grandchildren who would not be able to escape a national education program designed by special interest groups, and far-left academics.  But the media simply repeated the characterization of Common Core opponents as wearing "tin foil hats."

What is the lesson learned?  Fighting an entire federal bureaucracy is hard.

Common Core will, among other things, strengthen and grow that bureaucracy, and solidify business/educational establishment ties, and federal-state apron strings.

Common Core is the latest in efforts to make states dependent on the federal government for direction and funding of education.  Federal money comes with strings attached, and affects how employees of state education departments see themselves.  One Georgia Department of Education Title I specialist, at the Family Engagement Conference held in Athens, Georgia, in January, admitted, "We are essentially federal employees." That was the sense I got at this conference.  (As will also be revealed, state school employees were also encouraged by higher ups to advocate for more government funding.)

In Common Core, big business sees benefits from data-collection, curriculum development and new electronic delivery devices (such as student-ready computer tablets), assessment development and administration, and computer software and hardware upgrades for mandatory federally administered tests. (Big Money to be Made by some)

How to Break the Stranglehold

The liberal media and Chamber of Commerce-affiliated sites smeared Common Core opponents and ignored the scholarly critiques of Common Core.

At hearings, Senator Ligon was challenged by a state representative with inappropriate questions about specific standards.  Not surprisingly, those who ask the questions cannot answer them — even though they pride themselves on being educators. The media used the set-up to present Ligon as uninformed about his own legislation.

The use of taxpayer-supported Public Broadcasting (with their radio stations operated by the Atlanta public school system) to advocate and report on Common Core is of concern.  Georgia Public Broadcasting trained teachers in Common Core, produced curriculum materials, and hosted one-sided conferences and roundtable discussions
(We have learned locally how that does not work for the benefit of citizens, didn't we?)

Pro-Common Core workshops by Chamber of Commerce-affiliated groups were offered to public school employees and parent volunteers at at least one event essentially supported by taxpayers.

These aspects will be investigated in forthcoming articles.  The battle over Common Core is not over.  Given the entrenched nature of the education bureaucracy,it is to the credit of the grassroots (everyday people like you and me)that Common Core has gained so much attention — and has made the bureaucrats fight so hard.   They are, after all, used to implementing policies and spending money behind the scenes.

Still, the grassroots are outgunned.  They need to know that the enemy fire is coming from multiple directions.  The sources will be explored in forthcoming articles.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-show-of-support-for-common-core-in-georgia/

[Diane Amberg]

Well Ross, your attitude toward posters sure hasn't improved.
Yes, I read the PETA article. If you want to do word play fine, then tell me how that letter got into student hands? The teacher? Nope ,can't do it. I said it was wrong! Teachers can't free lance like that, especially with hot button topics and organizations such as PETA. I'm sure you already know that from your own son's school experiences. (He hasn't quit yet has he?) You were the one who suggested a flimsy relationship somehow with Common Core. Yes, I know now pretty much everything about Common Core, as far as it has gotten. Much has yet to be done and proofed.
No, I will not answer your totally stupid  leading questions. Go play with your own kind. . I'll be sure and tell Missy your take on school psychologists so we can both have a good laugh. My word,you rip me even when I agree with you.  Ready for the padded room yet?

[Ross]

Well Ross, your attitude toward posters sure hasn't improved.
Yes, I read the PETA article. If you want to do word play fine, then tell me how that letter got into student hands? The teacher? Nope ,can't do it. I said it was wrong! Teachers can't free lance like that, especially with hot button topics and organizations such as PETA. I'm sure you already know that from your own son's school experiences. (He hasn't quit yet has he?) You were the one who suggested a flimsy relationship some how with Common Core. Yes, I know now pretty much everything about Common Core, as far as it has gotten. Much has yet to be done and proofed.
No, I will not answer your totally stupid  leading questions. Go play with your own kind. . I'll be sure and tell Missy your take on school psychologists so we can both have a good laugh. My word,you rip me even when I agree with you.  Ready for the padded room yet?

You are way off topic again.
TTFN

[Diane Amberg]

You brought up PETA and Common Core in the same title, not me, bubby.
You do understand that Common Core is state and not federal don't ya? Even Kansas approved it. Perhaps you've been reading the muddy water myths again.

[Ross]

You brought up PETA and Common Core in the same title, not me, bubby.
You do understand that Common Core is state and not federal don't ya? Even Kansas approved it. Perhaps you've been reading the muddy water myths again.

I did not write the article about Common Core and the PETA questionnaire, please pay attention.

Perhaps you don't understand, a lot of states opted into a federal program in hopes of collecting millions of dollars from the federal government.

A few states are backing out of the federal program and even some local school boards are saying no.

I'd only suggest you study up on the facts. But I  doubt you will because you don't even read the posts on this or any other thread for comprehension in my personal opinion.

You have my sympathy's. Thank GOD I found my tin foil hat.

[Ross]

DO WE NEED COMMON CORE
TO MAKE MATTERS EVEN WORSE

Check out the terrible paper that earned a player an A- at North Carolina