The battle against Common Core is moving from state to state and the opponents are becoming stronger. A tremendous video introduced recently by the Home School Legal Defense Association will arm the millions of parents, grandparents, and teachers who are working hard to spread the truth about Common Core. “Common Core is too low for college readiness and too high for career readiness . . . the truth is it makes no sense.” Building the Common Core Machine — The Common Core Documentary In 2009 the Common Core State Standards were not written and not tested, yet the current administration threatened to withhold millions of dollars of funding to each state who did not sign up for these standards. At the get go, Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia never allowed themselves to be shackled to these standards that provided a “one size fits all” standard that would nationalize education across the country. Since 2009, parents, grandparents, and educators across the United States have become aware of Common Core and that which comes along with these standards: a movement to keep any control of curriculum out of the hands of parents and local educators, an obvious left-leaning bias in the curriculum, a significant decrease in the standards for math and science, and an associated data mining of personal and familial information from the children. With this increased awareness of the reality of Common Core, many states are now reconsidering their participation. To-date, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have paused the implementation. Indiana joined their ranks when, on March 12th the Indiana legislature passed a bill to remove the state from the Common Core national standards. Last week, Governor Mike Pence signed the bill that not only rejected Common Core but also requires the state to develop its own academic standards. Pence said: “By signing this legislation, Indiana has taken an important step forward in developing academic standards that are written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and are uncommonly high.” Parents and teachers are working hard in other states to reject Common Core. In addition to Indiana, Massachusetts has paused the implementation. Pennsylvania paused then resumed implementation after a concerted effort on the part of the pro-Common Core contingents. Per the Heritage Foundation, these states have downgraded participation or withdrawn from national tests: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Utah. In New York, the board of state teachers voted unanimously to withdraw support for the Common Core standards as they have been implemented. All this sounds very positive, but here are some critical caveats: Several legislators, as in Florida, are not actually fighting to actually reject the Common Core standards; instead, because Common Core has become a political hot potato, they simply want to accept them under a different label. What do these four men have in common? So what do Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Bill Gates, and President Obama have in common? They are all promoting Common Core. In fact, Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee, ignoring the negatives of nationalized education, the left-leaning sentiments imbedded in the curriculum, and the associated data mining are promoting the relabeling of Common Core to make it more palatable. They are in lock step with President Obama and Bill Gates who has given millions to the National Governors Association, the organization that gave CCSS its “seal of approval” before they were even developed or tested. The HSLDA video, BUILDING THE MACHINE — The Common Core Documentary describes in detail the history and concerns about these standards. Sit down with a nice mug of java and prepare to learn about Common Core. It is about 40 minutes long but well worth the time. Toward the last 15 minutes, watch for an interview with CSG’s own Michael Farris. Oh, and don’t forget to comment below on what you think about it!
