Imagine me showing up at a liberal hippie types door and not leaving until we have a debate on Common Core. True Story and a liberals nightmare! I mentioned this within a different post yesterday, but felt it worthy of its own post. Yesterday, I was walking east Moss Bluff with Suzanne Menou, campaigning for her husband, Jules Menou (who is running for District 2 School Board). I actually live in District 15, but feel strongly that Mr. Menou is the best candidate for District 15. Anyway, Sue and I unknowingly found ourselves at the home of a retired McNeese professor who immediately alerted us that he was Pro-CCSS and that politics should not be involved in this issue. At that point, I grabbed my heart and said, Why? (It was a pleading why.) His response was: If the Tea Party is against it, then I am for it! I quickly agreed that we should leave politics out of it, as he stated right before that comment. I went on to tell him that my voter ID card says Democrat and I dont even have a problem with Edwin Edwards (because he was at least good to teachers). However, this is about the kids and let me tell you about the kids caught in this mess. He was a kind and soft spoken man, who seemed really interested in what we had to say. (imagine Peppermint Patti from the Peanuts cartoon) He stated that whatever we were doing before CCSS was not cutting it. I reminded him that we have been under NCLB for the last 14 years, which was federally mandated. (not really the teachers fault) He expressed the need for critical thinking skills. I mentioned that I was not taught with CCSS and I somehow managed to develop enough critical thinking skills to debate a McNeese Professor at his doorstep. (I also developed a love for learning and a passion for writing.) As we spoke to him, you could almost see the wheels turning in his head. (A teacher can recognize those things.) He admitted that he was not aware of the problems in the curriculum before our visit, but agreed that what was going on was unacceptable. He was the poster child for uninformed and misinformed. I challenged him to research the topic in greater depth and invited him to join us at the September 29th Town Hall Meeting. I truly hope that he shows up, because it is important to always hear all sides of an issue. As an educator at the college level, he could possibly offer an insight that we may have overlooked. This exchange helped me to understand that our children are being used as political pawns. When we are in the classroom, its all about the students and their learning. Yet, the decisions being made about our childrens education are being driven by politics. As this conservative (with a voters ID that says Democrat) spoke to this ultra liberal, I found that our educational views were very similar. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all love their children and we all want a quality education for them. We somehow, need to all come together to find an educational solution for our children which leaves politics at the door.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 17:09:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015