Today I posted this comment in TWO spots in reaction to an American politician, Mike Huckabee, who still supports Common Core but suggests the name be changed — rebranded, refocused.
– http://www.educationviews.org/mike-huckabee-common-core-creators-rebrand-retreat
Tunya Audain
It’s International !
These “common core” goals are being imposed, under different guises, in different parts of the world. Australia developed a New National Curriculum — six years in the making under Labor — which is now under Review by a new conservative government.
In Canada we have different provinces moving to 21st Century Skills but they’re on par with CC due to their radical shift from the 3Rs to competencies — collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, global citizenship, etc.
The one statement of Huckabee’s I do agree with is this: “I am steadfast in my belief that parents – parents – should ultimately decide the best venue for their children’s education, whether it’s public schools, private schools, religious schools, or home schools.”
It’s this viewpoint that needs much stronger advocacy from politicians and public. Anyone watching CC and its implementation will clearly see a lot of agents and private businesses far-removed from the local ground level in education. They will clearly see how these international efforts at standardizing — effectively dumbing down — are being coercively imposed. These methods and the “who’s who” alone should condemn CC and its spinoffs.
Parents are the very last to comprehend this radical usurpation of their primary role in education.
A professor at Hillsdale has done us all a great service because he not only studied the curriculum path but also the Teacher Guides. Terrence Moore, in his videos and book, describes part of the material on “Frankenstein”. A “hands-on” experience is to view a skit from “Saturday Night Live”. In the skit the word “fascist” is used. This is the instruction to the teacher:
“Point out the use of the term ‘fascist’. Explain its traditional political meaning and how it has been extended to refer to any right-wing extremist group.”
Naturally, some CC critics refute this “fascist” label and are taking this rather personally. However, some might simply see this as classical projection — the kettle calling the pot black. So, in a way, this is very revealing! It’s certainly adding to the mounting anxieties about 21st Century Learning campaigns
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