Common Core has recently been referred to by a friend of mine who is deeply in-the-know as “the most successful astroturf campaign in the history of this country.” This friend is not prone to exaggeration.
The left has had a history of tip-toeing into, and taking over, those institutions most vital to defending freedom — from our schools to our religious institutions, nothing is off-limits. Count the Illinois Catholic Church as having been bamboozled by Common Core. After reading the laudatory press release the superintendents of the Catholic Dioceses in Illinois released August 19, it is right to conclude they’ve been compromised, as well. They write:
It is within the environment of the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative that we maintain the integrity of our mission and to the expectations of those whom we serve. In themselves, Common Core State Standards are not a curriculum. They do not dictate our curriculum, instructional methodologies, sequence of topics or materials used. What the Common Core does establish are clear, measurable goals and outcomes for what our students should know, understand, or be able to do at the end of a grade or course of study.
Witness in this statement the dissolution of any perception that Catholic schools are protected from the educational war in which our children are the prize. Their statement is part of a larger movement of local dioceses signing onto a national “Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative,” which you can read more about here.
If you’re like me — or like I used to be — your eyes are glossing over at the term, “Common Core.” Snap out of it.
Common Core, now adopted by 45 states and DC, is a set of national standards and goals related on the surface to English and math that have far-reaching implications into who controls curriculum (teachers teaching to the national test), along with implementing data-mining for a jaw-dropping universe of facts provided to the federal government about your children and you. Can I implore you to watch this video of a Common Core creator celebrating the collaboration with Obama’s data team and how to use data to achieve political ends?
Common Core has dismal quality, puts us behind other countries, views teaching as job training and not the development of our children’s minds, and has backers that would make your head swim were you to conduct even a perfunctory search.
I am well over 30 years old at this point, but I’m not too old to give my mother a shameless plug. Back when I was just a wee one, she fought almost singlehandedly to stave off an earlier iteration of Common Core, called at that time “Goals 2000.” She allied with Phyllis Schlafly in their successful fight, and in doing so had a front-row seat to who is behind Common Core (beta).
My mother’s blog has a rundown of the basics of Common Core, and what you need to know. She did a better job of itemizing the dizzying infrastructure than I could do, linked here.
Alternatively, I suggest this lecture. It seems dry at first, but it’s anything but. Like War and Peace, give it a few minutes (chapters) and you won’t be able to turn away:
Common Core is not about education and it’s not about raising standards, although it is about our children. Just not in the way you’d like or that would leave you sleeping well at night. And it is time for Americans* to engage. (*Legislators — conservative governors with presidential aspirations — I’m talking to you, too.)
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Yet another nationalization of a state level agency or organization. (Aside from all the non-goverenment related economic nationalizations, e.g. GM, health care, student loans, etc. The statists are also after the university system, as Obama is making clear on his latest “college tour.”)
Common Core is ILLEGAL, as is ALL federal dictating of state education curriculum, since the individual states are the ones who are legally in charge of their individual education systems. Read the applicable statues.
So, why aren’t states suing the feds to STAY OUT of education?
Follow the money………..which comes with fat strings attached.
Abolish the Department of Education, and put the STATES back where they belong, in control of their governments and schools!
Homeschool (or GOOD private school) for as long as you can. And, in any situation, ALWAYS stay on top of the “indoctrination” (i.e. worldviews “taught”) so you can teach YOUR CHILDREN (NOT theirs!) how to DISCERN, THINK and REASON, not follow like lambs to the slaughter.
Anne, thank-you for posting this. (yes, I watched the entire presentation).
Here in Michigan, the debate over Communist Core continues. Virtually nobody on either side knows what Common Core really is, aside from shallow slogans and talking points.
For me, I already know the agenda behind Communist Core–the name gives it away. I just wish there was a condensed version of this presentation that we can pass along, and folks will actually watch.
The Michigan legislature, “republican” by the way, seems to be on the fence, and the forces of evil behind this anti-American globalization movement are most powerful, as the presentation has shown.
Very, very nice work. Thanks again.
“Communist Core” Perfect!
Common Core-infected school systems routinely refuse to release details about what it is.
It’s Bakunin’s invisible dictatorship;).
The Roman Church in IL is a disgrace! Think “Father” Pfleger.
That’s Father Flakey.
The Catholic Diocese out here in Eastern Kansas is doing it too. It’s all about accreditation. If your state falls under the Common Core and you don’t adhere to the testing and standards you lose the state accreditation. Lose it and your enrollment goes down the tubes. Our’s is trying to do this high-wire balancing act to adhere to enough of it that they keep accreditation but still keep a separate identity. This is just symtomatic of the larger war that has to be won at the national and state level to place the power back in the local schools. The tentacles of this takeover has been penetrating the schools since the early seventies.
“symptomatic”
[…] Catholic educators need to watch their backs, along with secular private school educators. Common Core nationalized testing will soon be […]
Anyone who believes Common Core is about our children is ill intentioned, naïve or just a fool.
Neither is Common Core about access to data, although THAT is definitely a bonus for the feds.
Another bonus is the opportunity to influence WHAT our children learn, but that also can be dismissed as insignificant.
Let’s face it.
Education is a fat, fat, fat cow.
72 billion at the federal level, and then the state allocations. Florida, for example, is spending 20.3 billion.
That’s a lot of dough!!!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the tune the common core fans are dancing to. This is all about WHO CONTROLS THAT MOUNTAIN of dough.
And forget about partisanship here. Everybody’s jumping on that train.
If they can, of course.
On the North Shore (Winnetka, et al), all Catholic and 99.9 percent of private schools teach the exact same curricula as the public schools. There has been no actual choice for 20 years, beginning with math and that scourge from the Univ. of Chicago called Everyday Math. For the Catholic and private schools that follow the Common Core lead, it’s about marketing in a heavily competitive environment. They think their enrollment will tank if they can’t compare apples to apples; they want to be able to tell parents that their child won’t miss out on anything the public school does (and they also want to say they do it better). I am aware of one independent (i.e., not part of a parish) Catholic elementary school in Lake county that does not follow Common Core.
There is also a problem with the Archdiocese of Chicago schools deliberately choosing to not be Catholic in the traditional sense. By deciding to “align” with the Common Core, they’re in for a rude awakening. What will they do when there suddenly isn’t any room in the curriculum to teach even a lukewarm faith?
[…] Beware Common Core […]
I know that many conservatives around the country think that Bobby Jindal is a contender in 2016 but he’s going all-in on Common Core. His education superintendent is a clone of Arne Duncan.
Just don’t be fooled by Little Bobby Jindal his is not a conservative.