You won't believe what the head of the NC Chamber said about Common Core
Published June 6, 2014
by Frances De Luca, Civitas Review online, June 5, 2014.
Staying with the untested Common Core education standards, which 45 states are using, is somehow being “competitive”? Yes that is what Lew Ebert, president and CEO of the NC Chamber (35,000 members) said according to the Raleigh News and Observer when he said
"HB 1061 sends a signal to job creators in North Carolina and every state in the country that North Carolina is not ready to compete,"
The 45 states that have Common Core did not adopt them because of superior quality or because they would improve education they adopted them because of a bribe from Washington, DC. Rep. Michael Speciale (R – Craven) put it best during debate when he said
"Forty-five states signed on to Common Core for the same reason North Carolina did – for a big check"
In fact the check for NC was $400 million in the middle of the worst recession to hit the state since the depression. Not hard to come up with 400 reasons the State Board of Education jumped at the Common Core standards with no research and no input from the legislature. While the Chamber is usually right about what they advocate, how can we be “competitive” when 44 other states are doing exactly the same thing? We need to scrap Common Core and adopt NC education standards that are the best in the country – now that would be competitive!
June 6, 2014 at 9:37 am
Norm Kelly says:
Standards = good. Curriculum = bad.
To say that NC, like 44 other states, accepted Common Core without debate, citizen input, or review by the legislature because of a BRIBE is factually accurate. It's POSSIBLE that Common Core would have been accepted by more states than rejected it if Washington central planners hadn't gotten involved. Once the bureaucrats got involved, there's no telling if the standards are good or not. If Common Core consisted of standards to meet and only standards to meet, then the program MIGHT be good. Just keep Washington's central planners out of it! However, once Common Core changed from standards to curriculum, the process went to hell in a hand-basket. Kids in NC are different from kids in NYC. Kids in Raleigh are different from kids in Asheville. But when you implement curriculum in order to meet demands from the central planners, all the kids suddenly look the same.
And when no one on the outside gets to review anything, then trash enters the system. Reading material that is inappropriate for the grade level is introduced. Why? Because someone with an agenda got into the system and created it as part of or an option to the curriculum. Parents should absolutely have a say in what their kids are taught and how they are taught. I am responsible for introducing my kids to pornography when I deem it appropriate. I am responsible for introducing my kids to the warped gay lifestyle when I deem it appropriate. It is NOT the responsibility of the school system, or some advocate, to decide when it's time to introduce my kids to these questionable life/lifestyle choices. That's part of critical thinking skills that advocates try to subvert.
Math processes MUST make sense and must be as simple as possible for kids to not only grasp but to want to learn more. If you make a simple math problem difficult then kids are discouraged from pursuing more difficult math courses when given the choice. Teaching kids how to do math the old fashioned way is easier to do and understand than a 14 step process to add 2 numbers. And when kids who suffered through the Common Core curriculum actually have to compete with kids from a foreign country where they know how to do math easily, in a straight-forward process, then Common Core kids won't be competing. Common core kids would be left in the 14 step dust! Since NOT all kids learn the same way, especially math, why does it make sense to anyone that all kids must learn the same drawn out, illogical, 14 step process to simply add 2 numbers. If you could explain WHY you insist my kid who already understands HOW to do it and get the right answer MUST follow your convoluted, confusing 14 step process, then perhaps it might be something I agree to. But if you simply insist that my kid unlearn simple addition so they can be force-taught your convoluted 14 step process, then I will fight you until you give in. I am responsible for MY kids in EVERY WAY. My responsibility does NOT end when my kid stands at the bus stop. Your responsibility ends when I say it does! Remember, it's MY kid(s)! I know Common Core isn't necessarily a left/right issue, but parental responsibility is and has been for at least a decade, maybe more. So, libs, listen close! Kids are NOT yours to raise! It does NOT take a village. Especially a village of idiots. I don't trust you to care about my kids as much as I care about my kids. Even if your name is Billary, I don't trust you. Especially if your name is Billary I don't trust you. My village consists of MY family, including MY kids! If Common Core is a failure, don't try to force me to conform to it! Don't try to force my village to include you, cuz it DOESN'T! IF Common Core is good, it WILL stand on it's own. But if Common Core is implemented simply because of a BRIBE, then it's probably the trash opponents claim it is.
Talk about needing critical thinking skills!
June 6, 2014 at 1:33 pm
James Barrett says:
What are you talking about? When did Common Core become a curriculum? It hasn't, so none of your comment makes any sense. Local districts are still responsible for curriculum.
June 6, 2014 at 1:42 pm
James Barrett says:
I know conservatives much prefer monopolies to competition, but do you really not understand the word "competitive" anymore? NC had its own standards. They were awful. They made our high school graduates less competitive than the rest of the country. The NCGA is mistakenly taking us down a path of having our own standards again. History tells us they will be worse than we have now. Therefore, our students will once again be at a disadvantage as their diplomas will not represent the same high standard as other states. That disadvantage is why we are and will be less competitive. Businesses with good jobs to offer need employees with a good education. But of course, your funder Mr Pope isn't in that category, so you can't acknowledge that truth.
June 6, 2014 at 2:05 pm
Vicki Boyer says:
Mr. De Luca totally misconstrues the word 'competitive.' When states teach to higher standards than the ones used by NC, our potential workforce is less educated, and thus, less 'competitive' with workers from other states.
And despite his view of the CC standards as being driven by money, most agree that they are higher than anything seen in the past.
The CC curricula that are floating around were not written by Washington bureaucrats but by private companies wanting to make money. CC is a list of things to be taught at each grade level, and each school and each teacher can create their own teaching plan and materials to convey that concept to their students.
