Thursday, May 8, 2014

Yet Another Common Core Smack Down

I love this Common Core moment!  George Will echoes many of the points I made a few months ago about the creepy use of the word "align".  He sees the clear and present danger that Common Core represents and responds with a powerful smack-down.  Thank you, George.
 Juan Williams:  “And, I don’t think it’s out of place for our governors, for our school leaders, local school leaders, to say, ‘Here are the common standards that we want them to achieve'  The military’s on board, the Chamber of Commerce is on board, even Condoleeza Rice and the Council of Foreign Affairs are on board.”
George Will’s response is powerful, even connecting the lies told about Common Core to those  lies told about Obamacare by beginning with a play on words of Obama’s ‘Lie of the Year.’
        George Will: They’re all wrong, and here’s why.
“The advocates of the Common Core say, ‘If you like local control over your schools, you can keep it. Period. If you like your local curriculum, you can keep it. Period.’ And people don’t believe them, for very good reasons.”
“This is a thin end of an enormous wedge of federal power that will be wielded for the constant progressive purpose of concentrating power in Washington, so that it can impose continental solutions to problems nationwide.”
“You (common core supporters) say it’s voluntary. It has been driven by the (federal government’s) use of bribes and coercion in the form of waivers from No Child Left Behind or Race to the Top money – to buy the compliance of these 45 states, two of which – Indiana, and I believe, Oklahoma – have already backed out, and they will not be the last.”
“Watch the verb ‘align’ in this argument. They’re going to align the SAT and the ACT tests with the curriculum. They’re going to align the textbooks with the tests. And sooner or later, you inevitably have a national curriculum that disregards the creativity of federalism.”
“What are the chances (speaking to Juan Williams) that we’re going to have five or six creative governors experimenting with different curricula, or one creative, constant, permanent Washington bureaucracy overlooking our education?”
“We’ve had 50 years now of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – 50 years of federal involvement that has coincided with stagnation in test scores across the country.”

 http://theliberatedlearner.blogspot.com/2013/11/ccsi-common-core-standards-initiative.html




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