GAMALIEL ISAAC: THE TRAVESTY CALLED THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS- PART ONE
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/obamacore-the-travesty-called-the-common-core-standards-part-i
This article is about the travesty called the Common Core Standards. Its design began before Obama was elected but I and others refer to it as Obamacore because Obama played a major role in imposing it on the country, and like Obamacare it was passed without being read, and it involves centralized data collection of private information. States across the U.S. signed on to Obamacore because they were bribed with stimulus funds. As parents became aware of the changes that were made to their children’s education many joined organizations to oppose it. Many insightful and alarming critiques have been written regarding the danger of Common Core. There are fears that Common Core is paving the way for indoctrination of American students by centralizing control of education, collecting massive amount of data on students, and telling teachers what they must and must not teach. There are reports that scores have dropped when the Common Core was adopted and that a curriculum designed to meet the Common Core standards would only prepare students for entry level courses in nonselective community colleges.
James Milgram, the only mathematician in the Common Core validation committee , refused to sign off on the math standards. He said that Common Core math standards would put students two years behind those of high-achieving countries. He told the Texas state legislature that Common Core standards are, “in large measure a political document that . . . is written at a very low level and does not adequately reflect our current understanding of why the math programs in the high-achieving countries give dramatically better results.”
He said:
“I had considerable influence on the mathematics standards in the document. However, as is often the case, there was input from many other sources — including State Departments of Education — that had to be incorporated into the standards… A number of these sources were mainly focused on things like making the standards as non-challenging as possible. Others were focused on making sure their favorite topics were present, and handled in the way they liked.”
Dr. Milgram added that it led to a number of “extremely serious failings” in the Common Core that made it premature for any state hoping to improve math scores to implement them and that the Core Math standards were designed to reflect very low expectations.
The Common Core standards are low compared to those of high achieving countries but a study by the Thomas Fordham Institute found that the Common Core English standards are higher than those of 37 states and the math standards are higher than those of 39 states. The reason for this is that states dumbed down their minimum standards so they could show they were meeting their standards and get No Child Left Behind money. Previously it was easy for a school to exceed the minimum state standards. Common Core imposes a low level curriculum on schools which dictate what to teach and what not to teach.
Why are the standards of Common Core low when the ostensible purpose of Common Core is to raise the performance of American students? One can find the answer in a document by the American Federation of Teachers which states that one of the goals of Common Core is to “close the intolerable achievement gap between minority and non-minority students.” It’s much easier to close the gap by lowering standards than to raise the performance of poorly performing students and no teacher or school administrator wants to be in the position where their jobs depend on getting students to perform.
There are ideological reasons to lower standards as well. Common Core instructions tell teachers to “avoid giving any background context” to texts on the grounds that Common Core’s close reading strategy “forces students to rely exclusively on the text instead of privileging background knowledge, and levels the playing field for all.”
The ideology reason given above is to level the playing field although the argument that leaving out background information will somehow do that is ridiculous. Those making that argument should be going to school instead of designing a curriculum for schools.
Common Core tests do not emphasize getting the right answer. Instead they focus on essay questions, which makes possible grading in such a way that underperforming minority groups score as well as high performing groups.
The other goal of Common Core stated by the American Federation of Teachers is to help American students compete in the global economy. That raises the question “Is the reason for America’s poor economic performance low standards?”
Is Curriculum the Cause of America’s Poor Worldwide Education Rank?
You can have the best curriculum in the world but if there is no discipline you can’t teach it. A school staffer at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia told CBS that:
“It’s mayhem. Students are in the halls, they’re smoking in the bathroom; cigarettes, marijuana,” said a worker at the school, who asked not to be identified. “We can’t contain them and it’s really hazardous for us working and these kids are not being educated at all.”
“It’s a zoo in here. Parents really need to come up here and see what’s going on in this school because it’s ridiculous,”
Asian students who want to study are assaulted by blacks. In 2010, a federal judge found that black students at South Philadelphia High School had assaulted and harassed Asian students daily — for years but the principal said she did not call police because she did not want to “criminalize” the black students.
Laws prevent public schools from taking effective action to stop the violence. John Hood in an article for the Foundation of Economic Education wrote:
“A host of administrative decisions, court rulings, and legislative actions have created such a maze of regulations that school principals and teachers are often unable to exercise meaningful control over their schools. Furthermore, the prevailing “ethos” in the education establishment-made up of researchers, administrators, and bureaucrats-is suspicious of many forms of punishment, and exhibits a fixation with “sensitivity training” and building self-esteem among students.”
One would think that if the Obama administration was serious about improving education they would remove the regulations that interfere with classroom discipline. Instead in response to higher number of blacks being suspended than whites, President Obama issued an “executive order” which effectively placed “quotas” on school discipline based on race. If there are more disruptive blacks than Chinese in a school and you suspend the blacks you could face possible civil rights violation charges.
Please return tomorrow for Part II
Gamaliel Isaac has appeared in online magazines which include The Intellectual Conservative, The American Thinker and FrontPage Magazine. He earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania doing research in Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. He is currently employed at the University of Pennsylvania. Gamaleil has young children which is why he is especially concerned about “Common Core.”
Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/obamacore-the-travesty-called-the-common-core-standards-part-i#ixzz2nAGohydY
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