Common Core Education And More About Federal Government Control

[Ross]

Education: VIDEO:
Dad arrested for speaking up
at school board meeting

What law did he break?

Parents in Gilford New Hampshire went to a school board meeting to get answers as to why they were not notified that their children would be reading the book "Nineteen Minutes" which details, among other things, a violent sexual encounter between teenagers. On a day when we also hear that a California school district was trying to move forward with a "lesson plan that instructed middle school students to make arguments denying the Holocaust happened," isn't this the type of parental involvement we should be encouraging? I can understand if he was being abusive or if he kept the meeting from continuing, but to be put in handcuffs for a short outburst like this?

Watch and decide for yourself...

Video at http://www.caintv.com/video-dad-arrested-for-speakin

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Police State: Police Arrest New Hampshire Father
for speaking out
At School Board Meeting

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 12:50

On Monday night May 5,2014 William Baer, a New Hampshire father whose 9th grade daughter attends Gilford High School was arrested for speaking out about a controversial book called nineteen minutes that his daughter was assigned to read that contained a description of rough sex between two teenagers at a school board hearing

Please watch this disturbing video were public servants from the school board uses another one of our public servants( other wise known as a police officer) to incarcerate a father for caring aboutt what goes into his daughters mind.

http://www.caintv.com/video-dad-arrested-for-speakin

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In my opinion the School Board lacked the intelligence and leadership to provide answers. And rather than have an intelligent dialog and respond politely and properly to a parent they find it easier to call in the police.
In my opinion the parent should have politely asked the officer to remove his hand. The officer has no legal right to touch, unless he first announces, he is placing you under arrest. Just as I have no legal right to lay hands on you.

This is possibly a lawsuit for false arrest. Can the town afford that? Can the School Board afford that for calling the police? There happens to be plenty of video available. Just something to think about. Intimidation is a very bad move in my personal opinion. This parent might be able to afford to send his daughter to a private schools. He might even thank the School Board after the dust settle's because they failed in their job.

Just my opinion.

[Ross]

Feds threaten to punish
Indiana for dropping
out of Common Core

May 7, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana lawmakers recently voted to opt out of the "voluntary, state-led" Common Core public education experiment, and now they're paying the price.

The Indiana Department of Education received a letter from federal officials last week threatening to revoke the state's waiver from No Child Left Behind – reforms enacted under the Bush administration to improve public schools, HeritCommon Core protestage.org reports.

In 2009, U.S. Department of Education officials offered states exemptions from the more stringent provisions of No Child Left Behind in exchange for adopting the Common Core national education standards. Officials in Indiana and numerous other states jumped at the opportunity to ditch the tough No Child Left Behind requirements and adopted Common Core instead.

Amid strong public backlash over Common Core, Indiana lawmakers recently scrapped the national standards and instead opted to devise their own college- and career-ready standards by July 1 for use next school year, according to Heritage.org.

Then this letter came in the mail:

"IDOE (Indiana Department of Education) met ED (Department of Education) requirements in its approved ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act – also known as No Child Left Behind) flexibility request through the 2013-14 school year by adopting and implementing standards common to a significant number of states.

"Because the IDOE will no longer implement those standards, IDOE must amend its ESEA flexibility request and provide evidence that its new standards are certified by a state network of IHEs (Institutions of Higher Education) that students who meet the standards will not need remedial coursework at the postsecondary level."

In other words, the feds plan to revoke the Indiana's No Child Left Behind waiver if state officials don't demonstrate that the new standards will fully prepare students for a career or college, something that's far from guaranteed with Common Core.

The episode illustrates that despite repeated claims that Common Core isn't a federal program, federal officials are heavily involved in shepherding states into the national experiment.

"The saga of NCLB waivers is further evidence of the (Obama) administration's clear fingerprints on what is ostensibly a 'state-led' effort," Heritage.org reports.

"Indiana's work to remove Hoosiers from Common Core has paved the way for other states looking to exit the national standards boondoggle. And if state autonomy is something other states cherish, it's a path they should follow.

"Because the letters issued to Indiana (and several other states) show just how weak the phrases 'state-led' and 'voluntary' become when used to describe Common Core."

http://eagnews.org/feds-threaten-to-punish-indiana-for-dropping-out-of-the-common-core-experiment/

[Ross]

Slightly off course but still eduction

Behold -
What Our Institutions Of
Higher Education Have Become...

A UC-Santa Barbara student is alleging that during her first day of class last fall, her black studies professor named Otis Madison "warned any Ted Cruz-supporting 'tea baggers' to get the hell out of his classroom before he sent them home to their mother in a body bag."  This apparently happened during a course called "The Obama Phenomenon."

Alice Gilbert was the student who recalled this incident, and she's speaking out in The College Fix. She's one of many who's starting to come forward and talk about their experiences as conservatives in American universities, where conservatism definitely isn't cool. And evidently, it's not just the students who preach that narrative.

Anyone remember when college campuses were supposed to be the places for free thought, tolerance, diversity, open discussion, and LEARNING?  Anyone?

While nothing shocks me anymore in this country, I find this sort of treatment in our universities sickening.  Before I became a full-time Chick on the Right, I used to teach at the university level part-time, in addition to my full time day job, and my students NEVER knew what my political affiliation was.  It simply wasn't any of their business, and it wasn't my job to tell them.

It was my job to teach them the subject at hand.

For some odd reason, many liberals don't understand that concept.  They don't understand how to keep their personal feelings - and prejudices - out of the classrooms.  They seem to have a real issue focusing on DOING THE JOBS THEY'RE BEING PAID TO DO.  It's becoming a very obvious, huge problem in our universities.

And it's the reason I wonder on a daily basis whether or not my four-year old daughter will even go to college one day. If she's not going to come out with a tangible set of skills, God knows that she, her father, and I are not going to shell out 100-grand+ for her to spend four years getting her head filled with a bunch of useless liberal crap that won't give her any return on her investment.   

Universities should pay attention to that sentiment, actually, because I'm not the only conservative who feels this way, I'm not the only conservative who's sick of this crap, and I'm definitely not the only conservative who is willing to NOT give money to many universities because they're obvious liberal indoctrination centers.

In other words, we're onto you.  And we're out here busting our asses and writing checks, too.  So just keep that in mind, universities, because someone's gotta pay your bills, right?

http://chicksontheright.com/posts/item/25825-behold-what-our-institutions-of-higher-education-have-become

[Ross]

Slightly off course but still eduction

Behold -
What Our Institutions Of
Higher Education Have Become...

A UC-Santa Barbara student is alleging that during her first day of class last fall, her black studies professor named Otis Madison "warned any Ted Cruz-supporting 'tea baggers' to get the hell out of his classroom before he sent them home to their mother in a body bag."  This apparently happened during a course called "The Obama Phenomenon."

Alice Gilbert was the student who recalled this incident, and she's speaking out in The College Fix. She's one of many who's starting to come forward and talk about their experiences as conservatives in American universities, where conservatism definitely isn't cool. And evidently, it's not just the students who preach that narrative.

Anyone remember when college campuses were supposed to be the places for free thought, tolerance, diversity, open discussion, and LEARNING?  Anyone?

While nothing shocks me anymore in this country, I find this sort of treatment in our universities sickening.  Before I became a full-time Chick on the Right, I used to teach at the university level part-time, in addition to my full time day job, and my students NEVER knew what my political affiliation was.  It simply wasn't any of their business, and it wasn't my job to tell them.

It was my job to teach them the subject at hand.

For some odd reason, many liberals don't understand that concept.  They don't understand how to keep their personal feelings - and prejudices - out of the classrooms.  They seem to have a real issue focusing on DOING THE JOBS THEY'RE BEING PAID TO DO.  It's becoming a very obvious, huge problem in our universities.

And it's the reason I wonder on a daily basis whether or not my four-year old daughter will even go to college one day. If she's not going to come out with a tangible set of skills, God knows that she, her father, and I are not going to shell out 100-grand+ for her to spend four years getting her head filled with a bunch of useless liberal crap that won't give her any return on her investment.   

Universities should pay attention to that sentiment, actually, because I'm not the only conservative who feels this way, I'm not the only conservative who's sick of this crap, and I'm definitely not the only conservative who is willing to NOT give money to many universities because they're obvious liberal indoctrination centers.

In other words, we're onto you.  And we're out here busting our asses and writing checks, too.  So just keep that in mind, universities, because someone's gotta pay your bills, right?

http://chicksontheright.com/posts/item/25825-behold-what-our-institutions-of-higher-education-have-become

[Warph]

Missouri Legislature On Verge of Finalizing Legislation
To Withdraw State From Common Core

(SPLC accuses Missouri of being infiltrated by "right-wing extremists" in 3... 2... 1...)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. –
http://eagnews.org/missouri-legislature-passes-bill-to-withdraw-from-common-core/

Both chambers of the Missouri legislature have passed a bill to end the state's involvement in the Common Core educational standards. One final committee approval is required before sending the bill to the Governor's desk for a signature.

House Bill 1490 (HB1490) passed through the state senate on May 1 by a 24-8 margin. It had previously passed the house by a 132-19 vote. Since the Senate version differed from the House version, the House had an opportunity to accept the amendments offered by the Senate, but refused. That sends the bill to a joint conference committee, with members of both chambers, to work out the differences in the bill and finalized the version going to the governor.

A spokesman for Rep. Bahr, the bill's chief sponsor, said, "The conference was requested by the floor leader since the house passed a four page bill and the senate sent back a 44 page version. He did not feel like there would be enough time for all 150 house reps to pour over all of the new information in the bill to pass it speedily and also doing their duty."

The amendments do not stop the bill from taking important steps to re-establish local control of education and end involvement with Common Core in the state. HB1490 states that "[each] local school board shall be responsible for the approval and adoption of curriculum used by the school district." It also would sanction "work groups composed of education professionals to develop and recommend academic performance standards" which would ultimately be used to replace Common Core by the 2016-2017 school year.

[redcliffsw]

Common core is just another government/socialist project.  Even if it's defeated, the government schools will not improve and never will. 

If you like socialism, one thing you can do is to support government schooling. 

[Diane Amberg]

Lets see..no Gov't schooling= lower classes who stay ignorant, can't find work in today's high tech world, so we the taxpayers, have to pay for them with food stamps,.welfare and all the free stuff.Which is better? Either way the public pays. HA!

[Ross]

Lets see..no Gov't schooling= lower classes who stay ignorant, can't find work in today's high tech world, so we the taxpayers, have to pay for them with food stamps,.welfare and all the free stuff.Which is better? Either way the public pays. HA!

You just don't get it do you.
Perhaps you should do some studying before you post.

Common Core is FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, can you comprehend that.
This is stated through out this thread.

Common Core is also CORPORATE OWNERSHIP, is that comprehensible?
This is also stated through out this thread!

We do not need the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT controlling every aspect of our lives in my opinion and also in the opinion of supposedly educated people as well as the opinion of EDUCATORS AND EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS. And the same applies to the majority of STATE GOVERNMENTS.

This too is illustrated through out this thread!

Lets see..no Gov't schooling

I don't know about Delaware, maybe your state is part of a different country.

Here in Kansas (as most states) we have the Kansas State Department of Education which has provided guidance  and laws for the various School District Governing School Boards.
Governing means Government which is Locally Elected Officials.

The Kansas State Department of Education, was founded on January 29, 1873, Government has been involved in Education for a very long time here in Kansas.
Please do some studying on the subject Diane.

And have a great weekend.

[Ross]

Glenn Beck's new book, "Conform:
Exposing the Truth About Common Core
and Public Education,
" takes on the controversial new curriculum.

Beck was on "The Factor" tonight to discuss the Common Core, a curriculum which has some parents and teachers very upset.

Common Core "is about taking our kids and molding them into good little citizens however the state wants those good little citizens," Beck said, adding that the left loves this curriculum.

"This is about control and conform, period," he said.

(For some reason I can not get the video to post here, so I have to provide a link.)
Watch the full interview at:

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/05/13/%E2%80%98-about-control-conform%E2%80%99-glenn-beck-slams-common-core-oreilly-factor

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When Glenn Beck mention's the state, I am certain he is referring to the Federal Government.
If I am wrong, I would not object to being corrected properly. Thank you.

[Ross]

Thorner: Chilling truth behind Common Core

May 20, 2014


LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – On Tuesday, May 13, the Northern Illinois Patriots , President Greg Clements, sponsored Dr.  Duke Pesta, Freedom Project Education Academy Director — an online school offering a complete classical education for students from Kindergarten through High School, free from public school spin and Common Core indoctrination — as its featured speaker at Austin's Saloon and Eatery, 481 Peterson Road in Libertyville. Dr. Pesta's topic:  "Common Core:  Dangers and Threats."

Pesta_IL patriots As a teacher himself, Dr. Pesta is not anti-teacher despite his negative opinion of Common Core.  If truth be told, many teachers oppose Common Core but are told to keep quiet or lose their jobs.  Pesta received his MA in Renaissance literature from John Carroll University and his Ph.D. in Shakespeare and Renaissance literature from Purdue University.

He has taught at major research institutions and small liberal arts colleges, and has been active in education reform, developing and implementing an elective Bible course that is currently available for public high school students in Texas. Currently he is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh in addition to his role as Academic Director of Freedom Project Education.

The chilling truth behind the new national standards are sure to terrify you, as they did to those who attended the Northern Illinois Patriots event.  A question Dr Pesta asks at the beginning of each of his events is how many are familiar with Common Core?  As is the case most often, 90 to 95% are still foggy about the nature of Common Core.

Dr. Duke Pesta, using research done by others, presented Common Core as the drive it is toward complete government control of our children's education through a series a slides and commentary titled,  "Common Core:  Dangers and Threats."   Dr. Pesta considers Common Core a hugely bi-partisan problem. In Wisconsin Republicans refused to allow a vote to be held on Common Core legislation.  Nationally, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie are in total support of Common Core, as is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Duke Pesta divided his presentation into three parts

Part 1:  How did Common Core come about?   ​a Research Fellow in Education at the Heartland Institute

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) implies that that all states were consulted before they signed on to Common Core, as though it were a democratic thing instead of Banana Republic tactics. Not so!  Joy Pullman, a Research Fellow in Education at the Heartland Institute, traces the writing of Common Core back to five individuals.  One of its writers, David Coleman is considered the chief architect of Common Core. According to Dr. Pesta, Coleman is not qualified to write on any subject. Worrisome is that Coleman has since moved on to become president of the College Board where he will integrate the AP assessments with Common Core standards.

Hence, the curriculum was written by a small group of individuals and then copyrighted by two Washington lobbyist groups, making it devoid of any government ownership. This is important because the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Acts was the first federal attempt to regulate and finance schools. In 1979 the law that created the Department of Education forbids it to exercise "any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum" or "program of instruction" of any school system.  The mechanism of control were the tests all students had to take to be written by the people who created Common Core. To pass the tests, the Common Core curriculum had to be taught. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $170 million to support the creation and implementation of Common Core State Standards. To date they have contributed $2.5 billion.

But there is no way Common Core could have been brought into the nation's schools given that it was the product of a small group of activists supported by billionaire Bill Gates.  As background, in 2001, President G.W. Bush came up with "No Child Left Behind" which he gave over to Senator Ted Kennedy to write.  "No Child Left Behind" was a disaster from the beginning as it was based on "outcome" education, which is akin to socialism.  Every single child was expected to meet the same arbitrary standard through high stakes testing.




Fast forward to 2009. President Obama is now in office. It was in 2009 that President Obama took $5.1 billion of taxpayer money and offered it to states to sign on to his "Race to the Top" program.  The catch:  If states accepted "Race to the Top" money they had to accept Common Core State Standards (CSSS) sight unseen.   Additionally, a waiver was granted to states so they could opt out of Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program if they signed on to Obama's" Race to the Top" program.

Forty-four states agreed to trade their K-12 math and English targets and tests for those of the Common Core's State Standards yet to be written. Now that CC is in place, in some states longer than others, Dr. Pesta looks upon Common Core as "No Child Left Behind of steroids." He also refers to Common Core as a social justice curriculum that comes before the ABC's.  Remaining at its core is a one-size fits all definition of education.  But what if the high standards can't be met?  It becomes obvious that the only way to get more children to the same place is in time to lower standards.

Part 2:  Nature of Common Core Curriculum

Although it is often said that Common Core is not a curriculum but a set of standards, Common Core standards are being put into textbooks which then become curriculum.  Pierson, as the largest education product sales company on earth, has a monopoly on education products, including textbooks.  This month Bill Gates — the second richest man on earth who almost single-handedly funded and marketed the entire Common Core movement going back to UNESCO and its goal to bring a master curriculum worldwide – has joined forces with Pearson to create a one size fits all curriculum.  Although it is claimed that states can deviate 15% from what is being taught in other states, if this were true there would have to be a different test for each state.

Dr. James Milgram, professor of mathematics at Stanford University, and Dr. Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita at the University of Arkansas and former Senior Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education, as members of the Common Core Validation Review Panel were the only experts on the panel in their subject area.  Both Milgram a math expert and Stotsky an English expert refused to give Common Core Math and English standards, respectively, a good recommendation as did the rest of the panel.  Both have gone on to testify with a warning voice to state legislatures and school boards about the inadequacy of the standards.

Hear Dr. Milgram talk about "What happened to Math education and why Common Core won't help."

James Milgram points out these flaws of the new Core Curriculum math standards:

•By the end of fifth grade the material being covered in arithmetic and algebra in Core Standards is more than a year behind the early grade expectations in most high achieving countries.  By the end of seventh grade Core Standards are roughly two years behind.
•Core Mathematics Standards are written to reflect very low expectations and do not reflect the mathematics education that underlie the results in the high achieving countries.  The explicitly stated objective is to prepare students not to have to take remedial mathematics courses at a typical community college.

Common Core applies a never before seen methodology in the way common math problems are solved.  Parents can no longer help their children with simple addition and subtraction not understanding the system. Staking of numbers is no longer permitted, instead children must draw dots, circles, squares, etc., to come up with the answer.

Dr. Pesta used as a demonstration a Champion News video of a Grayslake D46 Curriculum Coordinator relating how under the new Common Core math system if a child determines that 3 + 4 is 11, that's perfectly fine if the child is able to explain how he arrived at the answer. Even if a child can do math beyond his grade level, he must stay put and not try to move to a higher level.

Dr. Sandra Stotsky has come to refer to Common Core standards as propaganda.  Hear Dr. Sandra Stotsky describe "What are the major problems with Common Core English Standards?"

Dr. Stotsky's concerns about Common Core can be read here.

•Common Core is a step backwards for English Standards.  The architects of Common Core's English Language Arts standards never claimed that their standards would do so; rather, they claimed the standards would make all students "college-ready,"
•Common Core English standards require English teachers to emphasize skills, not literary or cultural knowledge, such as how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text at all grade levels, which may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking.
•Common Core standards require English teachers to teach "informational" texts over 50% of their reading instructional time rather than literary texts.  There are, however, 30 books sexually unfit for high school kids to read on the Common Core approved reading list, one such book for the 11th grade: The Bluest Eye.
•Writing is emphasized more than reading, but kids only learn to write well after they can read well.  When writing they will most likely write what they read in their textbooks such as the global warming, threat, ways to save the planet, or a denial of American exceptionalism.

Here is Dr. Pesta's anti-Common Core Speech similar to the one he presented at Austin's on Tuesday, May 13.

Article 2:  "Shocking Far Reaching Tentacles of Common Core" as referenced in 3rd part of Dr. Peta's presentation on Common Core sponsored by Northern Illinois Patriots Tuesday, May 13
Authored by Nancy Thorner at Illinois Review

http://eagnews.org/thorner-chilling-truth-behind-common-core-state-standards/

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Common Core Standards' Devastating Impact on Literary Study and Analytical Thinking

By Sandra Stotsky

Since coming to office, the Obama Administration has been intent on standardizing what is taught at each grade level in all of the nation's schools. It has used its flagship "Race to the Top" competitive grant program to entice states to adopt the K–12 standards developed by a joint project of the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). It has also suggested, in its 2009 Blueprint for Education Reform, that adoption of these common standards could one day be a qualification for states wanting future Title 1 dollars for low-income schools.

Parents, teachers, and education leaders along the political spectrum are increasingly raising questions about the constitutionality and transparency of this joint project, called the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). They are also expressing concern about the high cost of implementing the standards and the national tests that will be based on them, as well as the potential loss of local control of curriculum and instruction.

Common Core: A Step Backwards for English Standards

Little attention has been paid to the academic quality of the mathematics, literature, and writing standards that NGA and CCSSO developed, despite the fact that they were not internationally benchmarked or research-based. The fatal flaws in the Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) standards went unnoticed because over 45 state boards of education and/or their governors hastily adopted the standards in 2010, in some cases long before they were written or finalized.

Most states agreeing to adopt the Common Core English Language Arts standards may well have thought they were strengthening high school English coursework. However, the architects of Common Core's ELA standards never claimed that their standards would do so. Rather, they claimed that these standards would make all students "college-ready."

This extravagant promise was and remains undergirded by a belief that a heavy dose of informational or nonfiction reading (50 percent of reading instructional time in the English class at every grade level) will result in greater college readiness than a concentrated study of complex literature in the secondary English class will.

Loss of Classic Literature

Why do Common Core's architects believe that reading more nonfiction and "informational" texts in English classes (and in other high school classes) will improve students' college readiness?

Their belief seems to be based on what they see as the logical implication of the fact that college students read more informational than literary texts. However, there is absolutely no empirical research to suggest that college readiness is promoted by informational or nonfiction reading in high school English classes (or in mathematics and science classes).

In fact, the history of the secondary English curriculum in 20th-century America suggests that the decline in readiness for college reading stems in large part from an increasingly incoherent, less challenging literature curriculum from the 1960s onward. This decline has been propelled by the fragmentation of the year-long English course into semester electives, the conversion of junior high schools into middle schools, and the assignment of easier, shorter, and contemporary texts—often in the name of multiculturalism.

From about the 1900s—the beginning of uniform college entrance requirements via the college boards—until the 1960s, a challenging, literature-heavy English curriculum was understood to be precisely what pre-college students needed. Nonetheless, undeterred by the lack of evidence to support their sales pitch, Common Core's architects divided all of the ELA reading standards into two groups: 10 standards for informational reading and nine for literary reading at every grade level.

This misplaced stress on informational texts (no matter how much is literary nonfiction) reflects the limited expertise of Common Core's architects and sponsoring organizations in curriculum and in teachers' training. This division of reading standards was clearly not developed or approved by English teachers and humanities scholars, because it makes English teachers responsible for something they have not been trained to teach and will not be trained to teach unless the entire undergraduate English major and preparatory programs in English education are changed.

Common Core's damage to the English curriculum is already taking shape. Anecdotal reports from high school English teachers indicate that the amount of informational or nonfiction reading they are being told to do in their classroom is 50 percent or more of their reading instructional time—and that they will have time only for excerpts from novels, plays, or epic poems if they want students to read more than very short stories and poems.

Long-Term Consequences

A diminished emphasis on literature in the secondary grades makes it unlikely that American students will study a meaningful range of culturally and historically significant literary works before graduation. It also prevents students from acquiring a rich understanding and use of the English language. Perhaps of greatest concern, it may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking.

Indeed, it is more than likely that college readiness will decrease when secondary English teachers begin to reduce the study of complex literary texts and literary traditions in order to prioritize informational or nonfiction texts. This is because, as ACT (a college entrance exam) found, complexity is laden with literary features: It involves characters, literary devices, tone, ambiguity, elaboration, structure, intricate language, and unclear intentions. By reducing literary study, Common Core decreases students' opportunity to develop the analytical thinking once developed in just an elite group by the vocabulary, structure, style, ambiguity, point of view, figurative language, and irony in classic literary texts.

It will be hard to find informational texts with similar textual challenges (whether or not literary nonfiction). A volume published in 2011 by the National Council of Teachers of English on how English teachers might implement Common Core's standards helps us to understand why. Among other things, it offers as examples of informational or nonfiction texts selections on computer geeks, fast food, teenage marketing, and the working poor. This is hardly the kind of material to exhibit ambiguity, subtlety, and irony.

Common Core Is Not the Answer

An English curriculum overloaded with advocacy journalism or with "informational" articles chosen for their topical and/or political nature should raise serious concerns among parents, school leaders, and policymakers.

Common Core's standards not only present a serious threat to state and local education authority, but also put academic quality at risk. Pushing fatally flawed education standards into America's schools is not the way to improve education for America's students.

—Sandra Stotsky, Professor of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, was formerly Senior Associate Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Education and in charge of the development of the state's widely praised English Language Arts standards. Their heavy emphasis on literary study is considered a major reason for the Bay State's first-place scores on NAEP's reading tests. For further details, see the recent report by  Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky, "How Common Core's ELA Standards Place College Readiness at Risk,"  http://pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/120917_CommonCoreELAStandards.pdf .

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/questionable-quality-of-the-common-core-english-language-arts-standards

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Bluest Eye Banned: Why Parents Want
Toni Morrison's Book Out Of Schools

By Alexandra Cardinale  August 22, 2013

The Department of Education's controversial set of education standards being mandated by the state, also known as Common Core, is taking harsh criticism for its 11th grade suggested reading list. The book that has parents particularly fired up is Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, a popular selection of Oprah's Book Club. The curriculum describes the novel as: An Eleven-Year-Old African-American Girl In Ohio, In The Early 1940s, Prays For Her Eyes To Turn Blue So That She Will Be Beautiful, and in response, one town in Colorado has had parents petition to have the book removed from public schools suggested reading lists.

Although the book has extremely explicit sex scenes describing incest, rape, and pedophilia, it is a key thought-provoking literary work that students should have the opportunity to properly analyze and digest. Rather than say that the novel is inappropriate, it's more accurate to say that it's not appropriate for the younger generation. That being said, the actual demographic of students reading this book, right around age 16 and 17, are no strangers to the public world of sex. In reality, many of them are beginning to have their own sexual experience right around ages 16-18.

Undoubtedly, these students should have the opportunity to understand the countless poetic books discussing sex in a real-life and visceral way, especially in a historic context for their understanding of bygone perspectives. To deny them intellectual and challenging literature because the traditional community is too uncomfortable with taboo subjects like pedophilia and incest only deprives that student of understanding the deeper emotional and psychological complexities behind the taboo.

It is however, understandable that parents take issue with the author herself. In her research on the The Bluest Eye, Macey France exposes some shocking discussion by the author.

"Morrison, says that she wanted the reader to feel as though they are a 'co-conspirator' with the rapist. She took pains to make sure she never portrayed the actions as wrong in order to show how everyone has their own problems. She even goes as far as to describe the pedophilia, rape, and incest 'friendly,' 'innocent,' and 'tender.' It's no wonder that this book is in the top 10 list of most contested books in the country."

Nonetheless, this is one of the greatest benefits of these contended works. It is consciously designed to provoke a response, and that only emphasizes that a student is best served by discussing such responses and issues in a safe, academic setting like a classroom, where they can debate and fully appreciate the information Morrison was trying to impart.

Ultimately, this is the goal of education itself. So rather than hide their youth from frightening topics and reacting by sho'shoving them under the rug,' all parties- — students, parents, and the educational system- — be better served by recognizing and appreciating the value of such truthfully harsh works like Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye."

http://www.policymic.com/articles/60609/bluest-eye-banned-why-parents-want-toni-morrison-s-book-out-of-schools

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Check out these video's:

More than 200 people were in attendance at the sold out conference. Among the states represented were California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia; most of which have strong grassroot movements fighting against the Common Core.

Leading experts addressed the conference on the changing landscape of the American education system and the implications of the Common Core Standards. Concerned citizens, many of whom are parents, joined in the discussion by sharing their experiences and concerns.



Published on Nov 20, 2013 


Video of Amanda August, Grayslake D46 Curriculum Director explaining the focus of Common Core Math:

Video Segment Transcript:

Amanda August: "But even under the new common core if even if they said 3 * 4 was 11, if they were able to explain their reasoning and explain how they came up with their answer. Really in words and oral explanation and they showed it in a picture but they just got the final answer wrong. We're more focused on the how and the why."

Parent: "Will we be correcting them?"

Amanda August: "Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. We want our students to compute correctly. But the emphasis is moving more to the explanation, and the how, and the why, and can I really talk through the procedures that I went through to get at this answer -- and not just knowing its 12, but why its 12. But the emphasis is really moving on toward the explanation and the how and the why and can I really talk through the procedures that I went through to get the answer."



Published on Apr 24, 2014

https://www.fpeusa.org/ - Have you heard about Common Core? The chilling truth behind these new national educational "standards" will terrify you. Common Core represents the latest and most comprehensive step in the drive toward complete government control of our children's education. Join us for a special presentation exposing the truth about Common Core and the ongoing struggle to roll back its implementation. Our speaker will provide examples of how Common Core threatens to further undermine, weaken, and centralize public and private education in our country.

Speaker Bio -- Dr. Duke Pesta

Dr. Duke Pesta received his M.A. in Renaissance literature from John Carroll University and his Ph.D. in Shakespeare and Renaissance literature from Purdue University.

He has taught at major research institutions and small liberal arts colleges, and his been active in education reform, developing and implementing an elective Bible course that is currently available for public high school students in Texas. He is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and the Academic Director of FreedomProject Education. - https://www.fpeusa.org/