Cheap advice
Published November 27, 2014
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, November 26, 2014.
If the review of Common Core standards ordered by the state legislature is a waste of time, at least it’s not costing any money.
The Academic Standards Review Commission was authorized to hire consultants “to the extent that funds are available,” but no funds were appropriated.
This situation has frustrated members of the commission, who held their second meeting last week. “If we’re not going to get any funding, then why are we all here?” commission member Tammy Covil asked.
That’s a good question. North Carolina adopted the Common Core standards in 2010, joining a movement launched by the National Governors Association and embraced by the administration of President Barack Obama. Although states still filled in the details, the idea was to ensure a uniform learning structure all across the country so that high school graduates from North Carolina would be on the same page as their counterparts elsewhere.
This required raising standards here, and too many students failed to meet them in the first two years of implementation. While that drew complaints from parents, even more political pressure against Common Core came from people who saw the new standards, erroneously, as a “federal takeover” of education engineered by Obama. That spelled doom in the Republican legislature, even though GOP Gov. Pat McCrory initially supported Common Core.
So the legislature passed a bill creating a commission to recommend new standards. There was a safety valve in the bill, however. The commission can utilize national and international standards — which could mean keeping Common Core principles but calling them something different to mollify the critics.
The lack of a budget indicates that legislators didn’t take this exercise very seriously and don’t expect much from the commission. So far, ironically, the panel has just heard briefings from Department of Public Instruction officials about the Common Core standards — the people who set them up in the first place.
Commission members may have some ideas for improvements, which are always possible. There may be elements of the standards that don’t work well or aren’t grade-appropriate.
What has made less sense is the notion that educational standards should be North Carolina-specific. Math and English don’t change when they cross the boundary from another state into North Carolina. Many North Carolina children will go to college in other states. They will compete for jobs against young people from other states and countries. The world is bigger than North Carolina, and setting North Carolina-only educational standards won’t help our young people when they venture into that larger sphere.
Common Core represents a good effort to increase academic rigor throughout the country and make sure that all American young people get a good start. North Carolina made a wise decision four years ago to adopt these standards. It would be a mistake to abandon them.
Since the Academic Standards Review Commission was given an unfunded mandate, the state may get what it pays for.
November 27, 2014 at 10:27 am
Norm Kelly says:
Facts are darn funny things. Too often they are ignored by politicians. Almost never are they recognized by libs. When a fact does not support lib schemes, they are treated as if they do not exist. They are lied about. The story with missing facts is told often enough in the hopes that others will also forget the facts exist. Yet, somehow, perhaps thanks to the Internet, it's still possible for ordinary people to find those facts.
Take, for instance, the idea that Communist Core is a take-over of state-level education by the central planners. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just ask your favorite lib. They'll also tell you that socialized medicine, somewhat commonly known as obamacare, isnt' a take-over of the health insurance industry as step 1 in a take-over of the entire medical care/delivery system in the nation. Both are false/misleading, what would typically be called a lie if it weren't being told by a lib. Socialized medicine is in fact a take-over of health care in the nation, and too many socialist party members, including our own K, have admitted that this is true or have indicated that they believe obamacancer didn't go far enough. Which means a full take-over is what they desire. Heck even Chuck U. Shumer has said that demons do a lousy job of telling their story; he said that if they told their story properly then most voters would also accept big-government and let the central planners DO MORE. So, we know, the facts show, that socialized medicine step 1 is only step 1 and the goal is a full take-over of medicine. We are also told, by libs, that Communist Core IS NOT a take-over of state-level education. Yet, attempt to NOT participate in central planner take-over of education, and look how libs/socialists respond. We MUST, in their 'minds', participate or else fall behind. It's either their way or NO WAY AT ALL! Without Communist Core, NC children will NOT be educated. Kinda like the lib claim that more money in education equals better education. Also not a true statement.
When did 40'ish states adopt Communist Core? When the central planners attached money to it! Most states were still debating whether the 'standards' were worth adopting. Along come the central planners with a huge pile of money telling states that they get NONE of the pile unless they adopt Communist Core. Suddenly, the demon party offers money, the demons run NC, our state adopts Communist Core with out any review of the standards, no background on the success or failure of the standards, and no idea where the curriculum is coming from, what teachers are going to use for source material, and little to no text books geared to communist core available. Lots and lots and lots of money MUST be thrown at the program in order to get it implemented. New Text Books that cost lots of money must be purchased to make sure everyone is teaching the same METHODS. So, it was a financial decision to participate in the central planner scheme, NOT the benefit of the children that was considered. It was going along with the party that was considered not the benefit of the children. We also had the socialist party of NC, who ran Raleigh, accept high-speed rail money from the central planners, not because it was good for the state, not because the state could afford high-speed rail, but because the party in power in Raleigh wanted to go along with the party in control of the central planners. Our state leaders were more interested in party unity than what was/is good for the citizens of NC.
Is it a good thing to have high standards for out students? Yes. Who exactly is arguing against this? No one, which is probably what drives libs the most crazy. What is it that communist core opponents dislike about the program? That it rapidly became a curriculum instead of a standard. New math teaching techniques are being used that make NO SENSE. New math teaching techniques are being used that simply confuse kids. Techniques are being used in the school that are so confusing that even parents can't help their kids catch on. The 'standard' has turned into a MUST-DO technique for students; there is NO variation allowed. If you don't solve the math problem exactly the way the standard says it MUST be done, you will be penalized even if you show your work and get the correct (and right!) answer. Standards have translated into conformity. There are some things that must be followed in order to arrive at the right answer. What you do to one side of an equation must be done to the other side of the equation. Y=MX+B is a standard for slope. No variation is allowed. But taking 10-14 steps to arrive at 18-4=x and following the required communist core standard way of getting to the proper answer is absurd and doesn't TEACH kids math! Forcing kids to follow YOUR technique, when that technique has NOT been shown to be useful or easier or anything else is why communist core is being rejected.
As for reading/books/English 'standards' the truth is that too many of the books are NOT grade-level/age appropriate. It's also true that too many of the books 'accepted' by communist core, which actually means 'dictated' by communist core, denigrate freedom, denigrate a free-enterprise system, promote a socialist system, and promote conformity to central planner control. The history books used by Communist Core seem to speak highly of foreign governments and poorly of American government.
So, you see, the standards are opposed because they have morphed into curriculum instead of standards. The math techniques are being forced on kids even when they don't make sense. And it seems obvious that the math techniques are being changed so parents CAN'T help their kids, so the kids become dependent on the schools, and so that kids start to think that their parents aren't smart enough. The social studies and reading materials are geared to kids accepting central planner interference in individual lives, oppose freedom and free enterprise, and accept that whites always hold down blacks, that racism is rampant in the US. Just about everything involved with communist core is bad for kids, bad for families, good for central planners. This is WHY we oppose communist core. I have grandchildren entering school. I WILL help them with their homework. I WILL use techniques that make sense and actually help them learn how to solve problems. I WILL fight the system when they penalize my grandkids for NOT following the PRESCRIBED/REQUIRED technique for getting to the answer, if the technique is pointless/stup1d! I am determined to make sure my grandkids are as independently minded as I raised my kids to be. Thinking skills are more important than ability to conform. This is why communist core is called communist core.
