Here’s a sampling of some things people have posted on my FB page lately: “I hear you support Common Core education standards; I’ll never watch your show again;” another: “If you support Common Core, you’ve lost my trust.” Or this, “You need to learn the truth about Common Core.” I guess the person who said he’d never watch my show again won’t hear this and that’s too bad. Let me cut right to the chase: I don’t support what Common Core has become in many states or school districts. I’m dead set against the federal government creating a uniform curriculum for any subject; I oppose the collection of personal data on students that would identify them and track them and any effort to give that personal information to the federal government. I am steadfast in my belief that parents should ultimately decide the best venue for their children’s education, whether public schools, private schools, religious schools or home-schools. I believe education is a local or state function—not a federal one. Sadly, the very label Common Core has come to be associated with things I detest, like agenda driven curriculum that indoctrinates instead of educates. I’m convinced that the term Common Core needs to disappear from the lexicon of education policy. It’s a toxic term because it’s come to mean things that most of us can’t stomach, like top-down federal intrusion into the local schools where you live.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Dec 2013 21:30:00 +0000