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COMMON CORE: Education by Gates, Not the States ("Education Without Representation!")
(information compiled by Iowa state Rep. Sandy Salmon)
"Common Core was never intended to make our children better or to encourage them to excel ... it was designed solely to make them COMMON in a system of total control." The following will explain how the Common Core standards (designed by private initiative, embraced by a "consortium" of state governors, and coerced on the states by federal funding will achieve that.
Let's start off with a statement that we hear all too often: "Our children are our most precious resource, our most prominent responsibility and the future of this society, if we fail them ... We fail America and humanity itself." That said, consider that we have allowed, via our lack of involvement or apathy, Corporatist entities of all persuasions, as well as corrupt and complicit government officials to hijack the most vital aspect of said responsibility ... their education.
Common Core is being instituted by corporations, not educators, and funded in the billions by elitists, eugenicist, and global mega-corporations. Their purpose is to educate our children into being obedient workers, who will then be good consumers of their products. Let there be no doubt that these globalists will employ any means necessary, no matter how deceitful or depraved to achieve their ends. Sounds a lot like the basic principals of Communism controlled by an elitist caste doesn't it?
Bill Gates, via the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, has spent over $2.5 BILLION so far on the institution and implementation of Common Core. The only thing be has spent more money on is abortion and population control (reduction) via a global vaccination program that is under serious legal fire in several countries, for sterilizing women in third world nations, without their knowledge or consent.
The the bottom line is this: Regardless of whether the standards are horrible or phenomenal, the fact is - Whenever unelected Oligarchs or Philanthropists are permitted to facilitate and institute public policy, the voting public gets cut out of the process and self determination and governance by the people dies.
No longer is free thinking rewarded as a mechanism of success, now being vanilla, blending in, or being a part of the herd is promoted. The intent is to facilitate through Common Core a generation of followers not leaders who would in turn NOT challenge the system, but mindlessly conform to and perpetuate the system (Yup that surely sounds like Communism to me). [Reference: Roger Landry, in The Liberty Beacon]
For an excellent overview of Common Core, watch this video presentation by Dr. Sidney Pesta, one of the most outspoken critics of Common Core:
So what is the TRUTH about Common Core??
I have recently put together a summary of Common Core and where we currently stand, particularly in our own state of North Carolina:
What is the Common Core?
Common Core State Standards Initiative includes two (2) sets of K-12 academic standards that outline what students are expected to learn in English Language Arts and in Mathematics. Its stated goal is to make students "college and career-ready"
Who wrote the Common Core?
Common Core is an initiative conceived and written by private organizations in Washington, D.C.: Achieve, Inc (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), then pushed on the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSSO), and supported by the federal government. It was NOT a state initiative. It was not written by state experts, was not a collaborative effort by state public school teachers and administrators, it had no initial involvement by elected state officials, and certainly was not an effort that parents had any advanced knowledge about. States, schools, and parents did not know a thing about Common Core, let alone have any opportunity to look at the creation of the standards, until they were finished and copyright protected. a) Not the states, not the schools, not elected officials, not the parents
Common Core was funded by the Gates Foundation and then by tax dollars used by the Obama administration in the form of "Race to the Top" grants and other funds to entice and coerce the standards on the states.
How did North Carolina adopt Common Core?
North Carolina adopted Common Core in 2010. The state Board of Education adopted it unanimously because it didn't want to lose the federal "Race to the Top" funding. The state legislature didn't vote on it, nor have they taken any serious steps to put the brakes on its implementation. North Carolina schools began implementing the math and English language arts standards in the fall of 2012, although Common Core will fully go into effect in 2014 when the tests (funded by the federal government) are provided. At this time, most NC legislators think we are already too far down the road with Common Core and too dependent on federal education funding to break free and opt out. Opting out would require one of two actions: (i) a decision by the state Board of Education (which would actually be feasible since many of the members who supported Common Core have been removed from the Board by newly-elected Republican Governor Pat McCrory and replaced with those who are skeptical of it); or (ii) action by the NC General Assembly to opt out (and refuse funding) or halt implementation. In April 2013, NC house members passé House Bill 733 (H.B. 733) which creates a 20-member committee to study the Common Core standards and to make a report to the legislature in 2014 and 2015 and to make a final report in 2016, at which time the committee will be dismantled. If the bill called for a 1-year study, critics might be able to conclude that NC legislators are serious about figuring out if Common Core is good for its students and stopping a potentially bad program, but since the study is much longer and since Common Core will continue to be implemented and more firmly entrenched during that entire time, the bill may simply be illusory.
What is good about Common Core? (notice there aren't a lot of good things that can be said)
1. Having all school districts study the same thing at the same time enables children who move from one school to another to not have any "gaps" in their education because they can pick up at the new school where they left off at the old school.
2. The intended focus is on critical thinking and higher order thinking skills.
(a) In math, there is a push for a deeper cognitive understanding.
(b) In science, there is a focus on experiential learning.
3. Common Core Math and Science standards are design to fit together.
What is bad about Common Core? LOTS!!
1. Issue #1: Federalism and Parental and States Rights. This is a federal government takeover of our children's education!
(A) Many in the federal government's Dept. of Education wanted to have a set of national standards like the Common Core and they used two main means to get the states to adopt the Common Core:
(i) The federal DOE used Race to the Top funding during the recession to lure states who needed money to adopt the Common Core in exchange for a chance to get the funding.
(a) Even if states didn't get chosen for the funding they still had to adhere to the Common Core because that was agreed upon in the application process.
(b) States that agreed to adopt the Common Core must accept it word for word and may not change it. The Common Core standards are owned and copyrighted by nongovernmental entities unaccountable to parents and students.
(c) States may supplement the Common Core standards but only up to 15% of the State's total standards. And this "15%" will not be included in the standardized tests.
(d) This was before the Common Core standards were published so the states did not have the chance to study them, pilot them, assess their cost, or even discuss them with their legislators and citizens.
(ii) The Obama administration indicated a promise of a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Law if the states would adopt the Common Core standards and its tests (assessments).
(iii) President Obama and the DOE also stated their intentions that states be required to adopt Common Core standards to receive federal Title 1 education funding.
(B) According to our Constitution and its 10th Amendment, the control over children's education is not one of the powers of the federal government but rather belongs to the "states....or to the people." As if this isn't clear enough, the explicit power over education is delegated by the people of North Carolina in the NC state constitution to the NC legislature. It is NOT delegated to the federal government.
Article I of the NC state constitution, which is titled "Declaration of Rights," mentions education explicitly. Article I, Section 15 ("Eduation") reads: "The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right." Article IX of the state constitution addresses Education in detail. This section has been maintained essentially since North Carolina was established as a state. Section I ("Education Encouragesd") reads: "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, libraries, and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
(i) Having a set of national standards like the Common Core takes the control away from the local school district, its parents, its teachers and its administrators and the states as well.
(ii) We have relinquished our control over public education to the federal government and have given up the parental right to direct the education of their children and state's rights under the 10th Amendment! We have abandoned our constitutional authority over our children's education!
(iii) We have abandoned control of significant policy decisions for our children's education to unknown staff people of private special interest organizations and to unelected bureaucrats in the federal Dept. of Education all of whom are unaccountable to parents and their elected state officials and who live thousands of miles away in Washington D.C.
(iv) This is nothing short of nationalized education just like any socialist/communist country!
(C) Besides this, our federal laws explicitly state that the federal government may not establish a set of national educational standards or national curriculum or a national test. And our Obama administration has done and is doing exactly these things in violation of the law using back-door means.
(i) National educational standards will drive the standardized testing (assessments). The federal government is funding the development of tests (assessments) which will align to the Common Core. This is nothing less than a national test aligned to national standards.
(ii) National educational standards and national testing will drive the curriculum and therefore the instructional textbooks and materials and programs of instruction.
(a) The federal funds discussed above being used to develop national tests will also be used to help develop national curriculum.
(b) It is illegal for the federal government to be directing or controlling the curriculum
(c) Further, if teacher evaluations become tied to student test results that will cement the Common Core standards/national test/national curriculum model and bury local control of education. Consider this: If their evaluations are tied to their students' test results, will use their time to teach the 85% of the curriculum that is Common Core and will be tested instead of the 15% of the curriculum which is state or locally added and will not be tested.
2. Issue #2: Transformation of College Admission Testing (the SAT). Despite the political backlash against these new standards and the early challenges involving their implementation, the Common Core standards are making their way into the American education system. Curricula are shifting, assessments are changing, and college admissions tests are transforming to reflect the new standards. Though many high schools and states have refused to adopt the Common Core standards, if the pathway to college lies through a Common Core assessment, high school administrators and teachers will be forced to take note, irrespective of whether these standards inform their official curricula. While the ACT was historically better aligned than the SAT with Common Core standards due to its origins in student achievement, the College Board's redesigned SAT now takes the Common Core cake. Reviewing the new SAT questions, item by item, you can track each SAT learning objective to a Common Core standard. Because of its increased alignment with the rigorous Common Core standards, the new SAT is consequently more challenging than either the old SAT or the ACT.
3. Issue #3: Education Content. The Common Core standards are of mediocre quality according to some educational experts.
(A) They prepare students for nonselective community colleges rather than 4-year universities, according to these experts.
(i) English Language Arts
(a) Dr. Sandra Stotsky, CC Validation Committee, did not sign off on the CC standards.
(b) No English professors or high school English teachers were on the work group that developed the standards.
(c) ELA standards were "empty skill sets that weaken the basis of literary and cultural knowledge needed for authentic college coursework."
(d) Might not require reading skills any higher than middle-school level.
(e) De-emphasis of the study of classic literature in favor of "informational texts" such as government documents, court opinions, and technical manuals.
-- Examples of included items: Manual on Recommended Levels of Insulation by the EPA, Presidential Executive Order #13423, and an article from New Yorker magazine promoting Obamacare.
-- Students are deprived of the intangible benefits of studying classic literature: understanding great principles that have endured throughout human history, imagining themselves in other times and in other worlds, understanding different perspectives and points of view, appreciating the history of their nation and others, inspiring a love for reading and enjoying the well-written sentence.
-- Focus is not on truly educating students who are creative human beings who can fulfill their own potential and take their place in society as thoughtful, understanding and caring citizen leaders who are empowered in their exercise of the precious gift of liberty secured for them at great cost, but rather on training them to conform and obey in static jobs that will produce a good or a service for the collective.
(f) Critical thinking exercises not always age appropriate.
(g) Cursive writing not required.
(ii) Mathematics
(a) Dr. James Milgram, the only mathematician on the CC Validation Committee, did not sign off on the standards.
(b) These standards will place students 2 years behind where those of many high-achieving countries, he said.
(c) Algebra I will be taught in Grade 9 instead of in Grade 8.
(d) Geometry is taught according to an experimental method never successfully used anywhere else. It was used in the Soviet Union but then abandoned because it did not work.
(e) There are a number of gaps and deficiencies in the CC Math program.
(f) Delays development of some key concepts and skills.
(g) De-emphasizes performing many similar problems (repetition needed to solidify knowledge)
(iii) Science - called "Next Generation Science Standards"
(a) Created by the same groups that created the Math CC and are designed to fit with it
Go Back
What is the Real Purpose of Common Core?
"Common Core was never intended to make our children better or to encourage them to excel ... it was designed solely to make them COMMON in a system of total control." The following will explain how the Common Core standards (designed by private initiative, embraced by a "consortium" of state governors, and coerced on the states by federal funding will achieve that.
Let's start off with a statement that we hear all too often: "Our children are our most precious resource, our most prominent responsibility and the future of this society, if we fail them ... We fail America and humanity itself." That said, consider that we have allowed, via our lack of involvement or apathy, Corporatist entities of all persuasions, as well as corrupt and complicit government officials to hijack the most vital aspect of said responsibility ... their education.
Common Core is being instituted by corporations, not educators, and funded in the billions by elitists, eugenicist, and global mega-corporations. Their purpose is to educate our children into being obedient workers, who will then be good consumers of their products. Let there be no doubt that these globalists will employ any means necessary, no matter how deceitful or depraved to achieve their ends. Sounds a lot like the basic principals of Communism controlled by an elitist caste doesn't it?
Bill Gates, via the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, has spent over $2.5 BILLION so far on the institution and implementation of Common Core. The only thing be has spent more money on is abortion and population control (reduction) via a global vaccination program that is under serious legal fire in several countries, for sterilizing women in third world nations, without their knowledge or consent.
The the bottom line is this: Regardless of whether the standards are horrible or phenomenal, the fact is - Whenever unelected Oligarchs or Philanthropists are permitted to facilitate and institute public policy, the voting public gets cut out of the process and self determination and governance by the people dies.
No longer is free thinking rewarded as a mechanism of success, now being vanilla, blending in, or being a part of the herd is promoted. The intent is to facilitate through Common Core a generation of followers not leaders who would in turn NOT challenge the system, but mindlessly conform to and perpetuate the system (Yup that surely sounds like Communism to me). [Reference: Roger Landry, in The Liberty Beacon]
For an excellent overview of Common Core, watch this video presentation by Dr. Sidney Pesta, one of the most outspoken critics of Common Core:
So what is the TRUTH about Common Core??
I have recently put together a summary of Common Core and where we currently stand, particularly in our own state of North Carolina:
What is the Common Core?
Common Core State Standards Initiative includes two (2) sets of K-12 academic standards that outline what students are expected to learn in English Language Arts and in Mathematics. Its stated goal is to make students "college and career-ready"
Who wrote the Common Core?
Common Core is an initiative conceived and written by private organizations in Washington, D.C.: Achieve, Inc (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), then pushed on the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSSO), and supported by the federal government. It was NOT a state initiative. It was not written by state experts, was not a collaborative effort by state public school teachers and administrators, it had no initial involvement by elected state officials, and certainly was not an effort that parents had any advanced knowledge about. States, schools, and parents did not know a thing about Common Core, let alone have any opportunity to look at the creation of the standards, until they were finished and copyright protected. a) Not the states, not the schools, not elected officials, not the parents
Common Core was funded by the Gates Foundation and then by tax dollars used by the Obama administration in the form of "Race to the Top" grants and other funds to entice and coerce the standards on the states.
How did North Carolina adopt Common Core?
North Carolina adopted Common Core in 2010. The state Board of Education adopted it unanimously because it didn't want to lose the federal "Race to the Top" funding. The state legislature didn't vote on it, nor have they taken any serious steps to put the brakes on its implementation. North Carolina schools began implementing the math and English language arts standards in the fall of 2012, although Common Core will fully go into effect in 2014 when the tests (funded by the federal government) are provided. At this time, most NC legislators think we are already too far down the road with Common Core and too dependent on federal education funding to break free and opt out. Opting out would require one of two actions: (i) a decision by the state Board of Education (which would actually be feasible since many of the members who supported Common Core have been removed from the Board by newly-elected Republican Governor Pat McCrory and replaced with those who are skeptical of it); or (ii) action by the NC General Assembly to opt out (and refuse funding) or halt implementation. In April 2013, NC house members passé House Bill 733 (H.B. 733) which creates a 20-member committee to study the Common Core standards and to make a report to the legislature in 2014 and 2015 and to make a final report in 2016, at which time the committee will be dismantled. If the bill called for a 1-year study, critics might be able to conclude that NC legislators are serious about figuring out if Common Core is good for its students and stopping a potentially bad program, but since the study is much longer and since Common Core will continue to be implemented and more firmly entrenched during that entire time, the bill may simply be illusory.
What is good about Common Core? (notice there aren't a lot of good things that can be said)
1. Having all school districts study the same thing at the same time enables children who move from one school to another to not have any "gaps" in their education because they can pick up at the new school where they left off at the old school.
2. The intended focus is on critical thinking and higher order thinking skills.
(a) In math, there is a push for a deeper cognitive understanding.
(b) In science, there is a focus on experiential learning.
3. Common Core Math and Science standards are design to fit together.
What is bad about Common Core? LOTS!!
1. Issue #1: Federalism and Parental and States Rights. This is a federal government takeover of our children's education!
(A) Many in the federal government's Dept. of Education wanted to have a set of national standards like the Common Core and they used two main means to get the states to adopt the Common Core:
(i) The federal DOE used Race to the Top funding during the recession to lure states who needed money to adopt the Common Core in exchange for a chance to get the funding.
(a) Even if states didn't get chosen for the funding they still had to adhere to the Common Core because that was agreed upon in the application process.
(b) States that agreed to adopt the Common Core must accept it word for word and may not change it. The Common Core standards are owned and copyrighted by nongovernmental entities unaccountable to parents and students.
(c) States may supplement the Common Core standards but only up to 15% of the State's total standards. And this "15%" will not be included in the standardized tests.
(d) This was before the Common Core standards were published so the states did not have the chance to study them, pilot them, assess their cost, or even discuss them with their legislators and citizens.
(ii) The Obama administration indicated a promise of a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Law if the states would adopt the Common Core standards and its tests (assessments).
(iii) President Obama and the DOE also stated their intentions that states be required to adopt Common Core standards to receive federal Title 1 education funding.
(B) According to our Constitution and its 10th Amendment, the control over children's education is not one of the powers of the federal government but rather belongs to the "states....or to the people." As if this isn't clear enough, the explicit power over education is delegated by the people of North Carolina in the NC state constitution to the NC legislature. It is NOT delegated to the federal government.
Article I of the NC state constitution, which is titled "Declaration of Rights," mentions education explicitly. Article I, Section 15 ("Eduation") reads: "The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right." Article IX of the state constitution addresses Education in detail. This section has been maintained essentially since North Carolina was established as a state. Section I ("Education Encouragesd") reads: "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, libraries, and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
(i) Having a set of national standards like the Common Core takes the control away from the local school district, its parents, its teachers and its administrators and the states as well.
(ii) We have relinquished our control over public education to the federal government and have given up the parental right to direct the education of their children and state's rights under the 10th Amendment! We have abandoned our constitutional authority over our children's education!
(iii) We have abandoned control of significant policy decisions for our children's education to unknown staff people of private special interest organizations and to unelected bureaucrats in the federal Dept. of Education all of whom are unaccountable to parents and their elected state officials and who live thousands of miles away in Washington D.C.
(iv) This is nothing short of nationalized education just like any socialist/communist country!
(C) Besides this, our federal laws explicitly state that the federal government may not establish a set of national educational standards or national curriculum or a national test. And our Obama administration has done and is doing exactly these things in violation of the law using back-door means.
(i) National educational standards will drive the standardized testing (assessments). The federal government is funding the development of tests (assessments) which will align to the Common Core. This is nothing less than a national test aligned to national standards.
(ii) National educational standards and national testing will drive the curriculum and therefore the instructional textbooks and materials and programs of instruction.
(a) The federal funds discussed above being used to develop national tests will also be used to help develop national curriculum.
(b) It is illegal for the federal government to be directing or controlling the curriculum
(c) Further, if teacher evaluations become tied to student test results that will cement the Common Core standards/national test/national curriculum model and bury local control of education. Consider this: If their evaluations are tied to their students' test results, will use their time to teach the 85% of the curriculum that is Common Core and will be tested instead of the 15% of the curriculum which is state or locally added and will not be tested.
2. Issue #2: Transformation of College Admission Testing (the SAT). Despite the political backlash against these new standards and the early challenges involving their implementation, the Common Core standards are making their way into the American education system. Curricula are shifting, assessments are changing, and college admissions tests are transforming to reflect the new standards. Though many high schools and states have refused to adopt the Common Core standards, if the pathway to college lies through a Common Core assessment, high school administrators and teachers will be forced to take note, irrespective of whether these standards inform their official curricula. While the ACT was historically better aligned than the SAT with Common Core standards due to its origins in student achievement, the College Board's redesigned SAT now takes the Common Core cake. Reviewing the new SAT questions, item by item, you can track each SAT learning objective to a Common Core standard. Because of its increased alignment with the rigorous Common Core standards, the new SAT is consequently more challenging than either the old SAT or the ACT.
3. Issue #3: Education Content. The Common Core standards are of mediocre quality according to some educational experts.
(A) They prepare students for nonselective community colleges rather than 4-year universities, according to these experts.
(i) English Language Arts
(a) Dr. Sandra Stotsky, CC Validation Committee, did not sign off on the CC standards.
(b) No English professors or high school English teachers were on the work group that developed the standards.
(c) ELA standards were "empty skill sets that weaken the basis of literary and cultural knowledge needed for authentic college coursework."
(d) Might not require reading skills any higher than middle-school level.
(e) De-emphasis of the study of classic literature in favor of "informational texts" such as government documents, court opinions, and technical manuals.
-- Examples of included items: Manual on Recommended Levels of Insulation by the EPA, Presidential Executive Order #13423, and an article from New Yorker magazine promoting Obamacare.
-- Students are deprived of the intangible benefits of studying classic literature: understanding great principles that have endured throughout human history, imagining themselves in other times and in other worlds, understanding different perspectives and points of view, appreciating the history of their nation and others, inspiring a love for reading and enjoying the well-written sentence.
-- Focus is not on truly educating students who are creative human beings who can fulfill their own potential and take their place in society as thoughtful, understanding and caring citizen leaders who are empowered in their exercise of the precious gift of liberty secured for them at great cost, but rather on training them to conform and obey in static jobs that will produce a good or a service for the collective.
(f) Critical thinking exercises not always age appropriate.
(g) Cursive writing not required.
(ii) Mathematics
(a) Dr. James Milgram, the only mathematician on the CC Validation Committee, did not sign off on the standards.
(b) These standards will place students 2 years behind where those of many high-achieving countries, he said.
(c) Algebra I will be taught in Grade 9 instead of in Grade 8.
(d) Geometry is taught according to an experimental method never successfully used anywhere else. It was used in the Soviet Union but then abandoned because it did not work.
(e) There are a number of gaps and deficiencies in the CC Math program.
(f) Delays development of some key concepts and skills.
(g) De-emphasizes performing many similar problems (repetition needed to solidify knowledge)
(iii) Science - called "Next Generation Science Standards"
(a) Created by the same groups that created the Math CC and are designed to fit with it
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