Replacing Common Core

Published July 16, 2014

Editorial by Greenville Daily Reflector, July 15, 2014.

The North Carolina General Assembly could agree this week on a measure that would more gradually eliminate Common Core in the public schools and replace it with a homegrown set of academic standards. If that would return the focus to education and away from political scorecards, it might go into the win column for everyone.

When the bipartisan National Governor’s Association in 2009 helped develop the national education standards known as Common Core, more than 40 states adopted the standards the next year. Under pressure from tea party conservatives in an election year, Republican governors are backpedaling. Common Core was not on the agenda for the annual National Governors Association convention that ended Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.

Gov. Pat McCrory, who has been a supporter of Common Core, was not among those at the convention preaching against Common Core. But if the bill that lands on his desk looks like the compromise measure adopted last week by the Senate, he might do well to sign it.

Unlike an earlier measure approved by the House, the Senate version would allow the State Board of Education to keep Common Core components deemed worthy to include in North Carolina’s own set of standards. The Common Core standards would remain in place until the new standards are approved, possibly by the 2015-16 school year.

With the abandonment of Common Core inevitable, the Senate plan seems to be the most sensible direction on the table. Schools have operated under Common Core the last two years. Even educators and school boards falling somewhere between lukewarm and downright opposed to Common Core have argued that abandoning the standards would cause instability for teachers and students.

Conservative opponents have branded Common Core as a states’ rights issue, and that is exactly what it has become, unfortunately. It is high time that North Carolina and other states return the issue of academic standards to the bipartisan status it had when the National Governors Association, professional educators and teachers addressed it in 2009.

North Carolina’s education applecart already has been rolling on three wheels over the politically charged issue of Common Core. With prospects for keeping the national standards all but gone, the Senate route for replacing them appears to offer the fewest bumps for schools to navigate.

 

http://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-senate-plan-best-2536333

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July 17, 2014 at 9:23 am
Norm Kelly says:

'more than 40 states adopted the standards the next year'. There is a major question that is left out of the facts of this post. How many states initially adopted Communist Core? How many jumped on the bandwagon as soon as Communist Core was announced? Then compare how many states jumped on board when the feds stepped in and bribed states into accepting the new standards. Standards, mind you, that had NEVER been tried in the classroom. Standards that had NEVER been reviewed before states started adopting them. Why would states, including NC, adopt standards without review and without some level of comfort that they were actually GOOD for both the kids and the teachers? One reason and one reason only. Bribe money.

I've been told by someone that appears to work in the state education overhead that the size of big education's budget in our state dwarfs the $400million used to bribe us into accepting Communist Core. My response to that is: someone thought it was a sufficient bribe; it's $400million more than they had; was someone trying to support their president rather than consider the kids?

Regardless of how miniscule the bribe was, it was sufficient for a majority of states to suddenly and unexplainably adopt Common Core. But proponents of Common Core refuse to acknowledge this fact and want to hide this fact from the general public. There is NO HISTORY behind Common Core. Teachers have had to adapt to meet the new standards. This means that curriculum needed to be created in a hurry. Which means too many took the easy way out, it seems, and started taking information available from the Internet to use in their classrooms. And it seems that this was not a tiny minority of teachers who are using the same papers, quizzes, tests, study guides, and various other tools in the classroom. Many times, it appears, the information being used in Communist Core classrooms is inappropriate for the age/grade level. Many of the assignments have a VERY HEAVY LEFT LEANING agenda behind them. Many of the assignments appear to work contrary to what kids are being taught by their parents; mostly in a socialist, state-centered fashion. Many of the assignments appear to lean in the support of gay marriage, homosexual lifestyle endorsement, and various other things that are now considered politically correct, but contrary to what the majority of American parents want their kids introduced to IN THE CLASSROOM. Too often it appears that big education is just another part of big government, determined to indoctrinate kids into the philosophy of the socialist party more than to actually teach kids critical and logical thinking skills. Recently watched a movie with my wife with Morgan Freeman in it; don't recall the name of the movie. One of the questions Morgan's character asked the little girl, while looking down a long straight street was 'what DON'T you see?'. This was an attempt to get her to understand using her imagination. Something missing too many times today, and not encouraged with Communist Core standards/curriculum. Too many times it appears the curriculum that has been adopted by CC schools demands that kids follow the standard way of doing things, like math problems, in the exact way prescribed by the standard or points are deducted. The kid can show the work, arrive at the proper answer, yet points are deducted if the STANDARD is not followed. In the same vain, it appears too many times that if a kid shows the work, follows the standards, yet arrives at the wrong answer, points may not be deducted. This does NOT teach the kid ANYTHING useful, but does teach the indoctrination that libs/socialists/CC supporters tell us is NOT part of the standard.

'states return the issue of academic standards to the bipartisan status'. Yes, big education MUST be returned to an academic standards discussion and win bipartisan support. Which means the central planners, headed by the current occupier, need to keep their fat faces OUT of the discussion; keep their bribes to themselves. States MUST be allowed to make their own decisions; states MUST be allowed to determine if a standard curriculum is meeting the goals necessary, kids are being taught, kids are allowed creativity, kids are promoted when they master the appropriate skills, and states are in CONTROL of state level education. This IS a states rights issue, but it's so much more than that. Kids futures, the nations future is at stake here and we MUST protect OUR kids. Unless there can be state-level flexibility in the Communist Core curriculum, then it MUST be dumped! When CC was a standard, it MIGHT have been acceptable. Now that CC is a curriculum, dictated OUTSIDE our state, with zero consideration of OUR kids, the curriculum MUST be thrown out. IF there is ANYTHING in the STANDARD that is worth keeping it should be. But the current CC curriculum MUST be discarded in favor of actually educating OUR kids. I have grandchildren who will be joining the big education establishment soon. I dread helping them with homework where I have to conform to the CC curriculum because it allows ZERO flexibility. I want my grandkids to be creative, understand there are some rules, but thinking outside the box created some of the most innovative ideas, products, writings, art, music, in the history of the world. Conformity does NOT produce creativity. Conformity DOES create good, loyal, easily guided subjects. Which is preferred? I prefer creative, imaginative, thinking, logical, intelligent citizens with the ability to recognize a scam/scheme when they see one. And I prefer they do what they can to work against all of the schemes and scams with all their strength to help keep everyone free to explore and grow.

Creative not conformist. Logical not predictable. State standards not central planner standards. States rights not central control, big government.