Lots of buzz on the Internet about the new ad that allegedly is trying to rebuild the image of Common Core. The reaction is overwhelmingly negative, not just on this particular website but in a flurry of emails that I have received for the past few days.
Here is Peter Greene’s take on this truly bad piece of propaganda.
The ad shows a grandfather who brings his grandson to school and asks about Common Core. Grandpa is portrayed as a blustering buffoon. He makes some derogatory comments about Bill Gates. He boasts about his military service. The teacher and the boy look at him in a condescending way. Some people think the ad was really made by people who oppose Common Core. See what you think.
Because of the overwhelmingly ridicule heaped on the ad, it was taken down. However, in this age of technology, someone copied it and posted it on YouTube. There it is if you want to have a good laugh and see a stupid old grandfather making dumb remarks about Bill Gates and Common Core, while his grandson is embarrassed by him and the teacher looks at him pityingly.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The ad seems to have been taken down already (maybe Gates had a “lil’ chat” with the producer). Anyone have an alternate link?
You can find the Common Core ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4_HnWKlaVg&feature=youtu.be
OMG!
Look at this hare-brained attempt on the part
of Common Core proponents to convince
the public that Common Core is the bee’s knees.
They shell out millions, and this is what they get?
They need a refund!
Here’s Peter Greene’s “review” of this little opus:
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/09/granddad-learns-about-common-core.html
———————————————
PETER GREENE:
“As your grandad would not say, “OMG!”
“The media group 617 has produced a video in support of the Core that is apparently intended to embarrass its opponents into silence. It has decidedly not worked out that way– you will have a hard time finding the video, which seems to have suffered its own attack of embarrassment, but you can read about the reaction over at Missouri Education Watchdog. They were not pretty.
“The video features a Cartoon Old Guy, who’s insulting on so many levels. He’s dismissive of the kid. He is wrapped up in his own stupid stories. He can’t remember the teacher’s name (aging brain function– hilarious). He’s ethnic. He’s an ignorant war vet of some war– he looks like a stereotypical WWII vet, but that would make him ninety-ish. Could be Korea, which would make him seventy-ish. He thinks Gates runs Apple (har!) and he measures the value of his grandson’s ability to “figure” in how it can calculate money. Oh, and he plays the lottery.
“He’s worried about the Common Core stuff he’s heard about on TV, and I’m wondering where on TV he’s hearing bad things about the Core, because Core proponents have that media pretty well locked up.
“The message here? Common Core critics are uninformed fools. Note that the nice teacher lady does not actually offer a single piece of fact-based data about the Core to contradict Old Bat-brained Granddad. She doesn’t have to (though she might have mention that Hector will have to put a stop to figuring out math problems in his head). He’s so obviously a dope that we are meant to simply discount his complaints because, well, he’s a dope. He is truly the most wondrous animatronic straw grampaw ever.
“This is not much of a coup for whoever hired Six One Seven Studios, a production company located just outside Boston and dedicated to “providing our clients with the most innovative, engaging and authentic visual content. We combine our artistry with the latest technology and a deep understanding of your work to create powerful stories”
“The video broke over at Politico, and one has to assume that someone associated with the video sent it to politico hoping for some buzz. According to Politico, the firm made this epic video all on its own:
“Executive Producer Bryan Roberts said the firm self-funded the video after learning about the Common Core debate through work with clients including the New York and Rhode Island state education departments and EngageNY, a website that provides curriculum resources to New York teachers. “Too many of the pro-Common Core videos were PowerPoints and talking heads,” Roberts said. “So we put out this video to help folks see the power of telling a fun but simple story with real people.” He has more planned.
“More? The mind reels.”
Why on earth would you post exactly the same thing that Diane posted on the same thread? Didn’t you bother to look at her post? What do you think you’re contributing here?
Oh well… la-di-dah… I was trying to contribute a different youtube link with the video, but that’s now gone the way of the original…
This off MissouriEducationWatchdog.com blog,
“This video has been deleted, due to our diligent work finding out who paid for it. Members in CA Against Common Core on FB did some research and found that a company called “Six One Seven Studios” produced the video. They lied when the YouTube account said it was “just a couple of guys”. Six One Seven Studios also works with PCG Education, http://www.publicconsultinggroup.com/education/ . PCG is business partners with EngageNY, CCSSO, Microsoft, the list goes on. This was a dirty rotten trick. Surely, they will be more careful next time.”
Six One Seven has also done work for the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Maybe Mass teachers would like to rethink that relationship.
Along similar lines — but negative for us teachers, IMO — is a radio advertisement from teach.org which has as it’s major line: “Make more. Teach.” Says it repeatedly throughout commercial. Maybe I’m oversensitive, but it seems to give the impression that teachers should go into the field to make money. The organization seems legit, but what is up with that ad.
https://www.teach.org/
They have to create a huge pool of applicants because of the churn and disruption they are fomenting among the ranks of professional educators.
As the VAM firings start to decimate the ranks new blood will be needed to replace them. What better place to recruit than low wage workers who are already used to not questioning what they are told to do and who will not be mourned or missed when they quit or are fired?
All part of the long range plan.
Good point Chris. I agree
Coalition Board of teach.org-Microsoft, State Farm, Dept. of Education
Advisory Board-American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and Teach for America
Is this true, A? That would be more in line with what I would expect.
This video is no longer available because the uploader has closed their YouTube account.
Sorry about that.
Much to the dismay of the 617 company, someone saved the awful Common Core commercial and posted it on Youtube:
Thanks for the post. 617’s ad, may reflect the soul of Bill Gates. There’s a void, when the “college and career ready” tag is gone.
Resume accomplishments don’t require the capacity to feel.
The ad was taken down. It was posted on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4_HnWKlaVg&feature=youtu.be
“Ain’t no fool”
May be a dunce,
But one thing’s certain
Sees the ones
Behind the curtain
🙂
The AD has been removed from You Tube.
The original uploaders closed their account, but it’s been made available at the links posted above (momma bear and Diane’s posts).
AAARRGGG! The “teacher” assures Grandpa the best thing is for Hector is for “he and I to get together to find the things he really likes to read…”
Guess it’s too much to hope common core spokespeople could at least use correct grammar.
I love how they so expertly GLIDE over real concerns about the influence of monied interests on government and commercialization in public schools by making dopey “pop pop” not know whether Gates runs Apple or Microsoft.
Because the only people concerned about those things are working class conspiracy theorists, right?
Didn’t we just have an election where Teachout, a law professor, raised these same issues?
Chiara: you didn’t know that Bill Gates’ brilliant management strategy, stack ranking/forced ranking/burn-and-churn/rank-and-yank, was applied to Apple computer?
As Bill said in his interview with Lyndsey Layton, you gettin’ all political on us?
Next thing you know you’ll be insisting on using facts, logic and consistency. And right after that will be a misplaced insistence on decency and compassion and responsibility.
😱
Although to be honest, I’ll be right there with ya…
Thank you for your comments.
😎
Christine Langhoff… Loved that stupid line in the video, “he and I get together to find things he really likes to read..” … HUH… first, when will this teacher/student individual meeting take place (remember the ratio of students to teacher increases by each “ed reform day”? Between bubbling in tests? Between prepping for tests? What if the student has a love affair with literature? As he gets up in grades, the teacher will have to calculate the number of words in each novel he wants to read to ensure that he does not read beyond a specified common core percentage of fiction to non fiction cuz baby it is all about NON FICTION! This video is so telling about “moronic ed reform” so no wonder why they took it down… clearly there are “ed reform morons” who are too moronic to even know how deeply moronic their moronic ideas really are.
I noticed that right away, too!
Geez. Kids these days. Heck when I was in 3rd grade I could do a one month close read of my t-shirt label with my eyes closed. Just dont get this generation.
Is the Grandpa supposed to be Bill Gates in the future? A lottery gambler who can’t remember the teacher’s name? Nice commercial.
Just watched the video and too agree that it was produced by Common Core saboteurs.
Readers might like watching “The Common Core Blues” – a two minute blues riff on what else, The Common Core.
The “stupid old grandfather making dumb remarks about Bill Gates” says this: “You’re not going to make him read stuff just because Bill Gates said so?”
Why is that dumb? It doesn’t sound any different from the near-daily posts and comments on this blog.
You mean like this WT?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Actually I find a ton of intellectually-challenging posts, kinks, & comments at the site (along with a hefty dose of venting), but that’s just me.
It’s a bit differen when an organization supposedly talking-up public-ed policy does it by making the parenting part of the triangle look like an ass. Who do they think they’re pitching to anyway?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx er, that’s links (not kinks 😉
Ad hominem attacks WT? Seriously? That’s the best you can do? All this time away to develop a substantial argument that you could bring to the table and you come here with this whiny. crappy little comment. Very small of you.
The ad inspired me.
😉
From time to time, in threads on this blog I use the phrase “Potemkin Village Business Plan for $tudent $ucce$$” to describe the business plan that masquerades as an education model of the “new civil rights of our time” aka the charter/voucher/privatization movement.
I’m not always being facetious. It’s like the same group simply switched places/countries and labels/political philosophies and keep right on frenetically pouring out their nonsense.
The public justifications for the policies and practices of the now-vanished Soviet Union and the accompanying propaganda were easily skewered by anyone not under the equivalent (in those long ago days) of today’s Rheeality Distortion Fields in education.
And of course the anti-Soviet propaganda, in perhaps a case of jealousy and envy rather than opposition and disagreement, could be just as ludicrous.
But the winner in the Cold War NoInanityLeftBehind (NILB), in my experience, was an old black-and-white piece of anti-Soviet propaganda that included a clip from a Soviet disinformation film touting the glories of, well, the ‘Worker’s Paradise’—
In which people are shown smiling.
And the anti-Soviet piece? In a triumphal blaring of wisdom that is matched by the pr of the charterite/privatizer movement, the voice gravely intones that it is obvious beyond any reasonable doubt that this is a staged event because ‘everyone knows’ that under Soviet rule and domination and oppression nobody—and that’s nobody, mister!—in the Soviet Union smiles. Never! Not for one single moment! Smiles are in the dustbin of history!
I kid you not.
😳
I never thought that anyone could top that. Maybe in viciousness and maliciousness and mean-spiritness, but as far as sheer unbounded foolishness—
As the line in the James Bond movie goes, “never say never.”
I … am … almost … speechless.
To paraphrase (or mangle) Dorothy Parker:
“I require three things of a CCSS ad: it must be nice-looking, mendacious, and stupid.”
Would somebody please—anybody!—try to get a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to give this ad as wide a circulation as possible?
That would be money well spent…
😎
You know what they need to do – is take some Gates Grant money and start a new agency. This agency will screen the ads, videos, and op-ed peices in support of Common Core to ensure they are truly Common Core aligned and sending the right message. They will come up with a ranking system for accountability and evaluation purposes, and publish those results. if you are an independent PR agency or film company, and you decide to throw your hat into the ring and make a Pro-Common Core Video, this new agency will evaluate your work product and rate it. If you rate well your work will see the light of day. if you don’t rate well your company or agency will be closed, you will get an “ineffective” rating and of course data on you and your company and your failure as such will all be uploaded to the cloud.
Grandpa might not have the details behind what he’s heard on the Common Core being worse that most people know, and he might not have read “Reign of Error”, “50 Myths and lies That Threaten America’s Schools: The Real Crisis in Education” or even “A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education,” but he is no fool.
The teacher is probably a TFA recruit and the kid just wants to have fun as most kids do, but grandpa is the real star of this ad because he refuses to drink the Bill Gates Commons Core Kool-Aid.
And the conclusion that flashes on the screen at the end that Common Core isn’t as bad as you think is the giveaway that the goal was to make the critics of Commons Core into ignorant, red necks with the beginnings stages of dementia.
Constrained curriculum – Not as bad as you think.
Children hating school – Not as bad as you think.
Death penalty for failing schools – Not as bad as you think.
70% failure rate – Not as bad as you think.
Evaluated on subjects you dont teach – Not as bad as you think.
Professionally insulting policies – Not as bad as you think.
Standards that cant be improved – Not as bad as you think.
Waiting 10 years for proof – Not as bad as you think.
Doubling down on failed reform – Not as bad as you think.
Bill Gates controlling public education – Not as bad as you think.
Common Core – Way worse than most people think
Can’t help but agree with your final conclusion, and Bill Gates probably does think he is more important than he really is. The God Complex does that to wealthy and powerful people who flex their monetary muscles as often as he does.
I think when Gales looks in the mirror each day, his most ardent fan is looking back at him from the glass.
Is he bad? Only time will tell. He is a good PR person. He knows where to put his money when he needs a shot for his public image.
For instance, the $200 million the Gates Foundation recently donated to come up with a cure for Ebola. I wonder how much he spent to fund more research for the 5 diseases that are scarier than Ebola (according to Mother Jones.com).
Or the 5 Viruses Far Deadlier Than Ebola (according to Weather,com (Weather.com?)
http://www.weather.com/health/viruses-far-deadlier-ebola-20140822
For Gates, donating to Ebola research may have been because it’s in the news and most people have heard of it. Linking your name to something that most people know and fear makes sense. For instance, the second-deadliest infection in the world, tuberculosis infects more than 8.6 million people per year and kills 1.3 million worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
But feeding into the fear of Ebola gives Gates more bang for his bucks.
Regarding Lloyd Lofthouse’s observation that:
“I think when Gales looks in the mirror each day, his most ardent fan is looking back at him from the glass.”
Mirror, Mirror on the wall . . .
In literature, isn’t there a mirror that swallows and then traps people?
Have to agree LLoyd…..and in my state…they tweet to the critics of Common Core……..#TeaParty….Never answering questions directly….just shoddy innuendos based on distorted perceptions.
Lots of dog whistles for elite coastal Democrats: the guy is old and out of shape (bad); he looks like he could be a Fox News viewer; he calls the teacher Mrs. Jenkins when her real name is Mrs. Johnson (hint of racial stereotyping).
Bill Gates is being fleeced by his consultants (including David Coleman). The story of our times. What a fiasco!
This is a really common approach to selling the Common Core, but the problem with it is, this isn’t true:
“This doesn’t sound revolutionary because it’s not. Common Core is a list of topics everyone knows we should teach. It doesn’t tell teachers how to teach them (though it does ask that they teach them coherently, with understanding). It is also not a test, not a curriculum, not a set of homework problems, not a federal mandate and not a teacher evaluation tool.”
They can stick with this legalistic, precise definition of “The Common Core” as apart from the practical reality and how people will experience “The Common Core”, but it’s silly to do that.
IN REALITY, the Common Core will be and already IS all of these things.
It’s a test, it’s a curriculum in each state (unless they all use NY’s, which they may), it’s homework problems, and it will be used to evaluate teachers.
I don’t really understand why there’s this stubborn insistence on the abstract idea rather than the lived reality. What is the point of saying this over and over again? If the public gives him the debate point that it isn’t a curriculum, can we then move on to the reality of what they will experience at the local level, which is tests, teacher evaluations, and homework problems?
The video has been taken down already. However, any silly, anti military goof in media that produces a commercial that depicts putting down or making fun of someone in the arm forces, let alone some one that looks like a veteran from the greatest generation we ever produced… probably isn’t going to go over very well with most working class Americans. The regular working class Americans usually have had family members serve in the military. They know stupid doesn’t make it I the military. Spoiled persons who would come up with an add like this that does make fun of someone that has served in the military just shows how out of tough the elite really are. Kind of like basic math in common core… it just does make common since.
Bad ad. Everyone is stereotyped, the grumpy grandpa, the “gifted” child, and the “condescending teacher.” I also get the impression that the child will be able to read whatever he wants, and that there will be no assigned “common” reading. I doubt this was really from the common core people. Good catch, Christine Langhoff on the grammatical errors.
Changemaker: apparently the states of NY and RI participated in creating or subsidizing the ad. I agree. the ad may actually turn people against the Common Core, which is why whoever put it up on Youtube took it down because of the negative reactions. I noted in earlier comments that someone copied the ad and has reposted it. I also inserted the URL into the post so people can see it.
Its quite insulting to grandparents. Agree that its stereotypical. Without knowing much about its creation or target audience its hard to understand the purpose. As a grandparent and retired teacher I find it insulting. But I am curious about its intent and origin. And why it was disconnected.
Grandpap couldn’t get the kid to school on first day on time, can’t navigate traffic. What are the parents doing, camping? What parent puts their kid in the care of a demented old codger who thinks math skills are important for gambling benefits? The old guy keeps interrupting, acts like there are no opinions other than his own….holy moly what a mess he is. Probably the actor is in his early 60’s but he seems to be portraying attitudes of someone much older. Lucky child he is being rescued by Ms. J and her ability to be so patient with his misinformed gramps. Its really a suspect piece.
This leaves me wondering who sees grandparents in this light? Homer Simpson’s dad was more kindly portrayed. Boomer grandparents are highly involved with their grandkids and perhaps we are viewed as a threat to someone pushing common core. Parents are pretty busy but most of them have at least one device going 24/7 that will connect them to a you tube. Boomers actually have more time for reading books and checking sources other than internet for information so are we a threat to common core progression? If our higher power thinking skills and deeper understanding of historical events are interrupting the flow of propaganda to the current generation of parents maybe we need to be diminished? The choice of the Archiebunkerish grandad is suspect to me. Also, that it was taken down so quickly.
I can’t wait to see what this agency comes up with in regards to the stereotypical soccer mom. Who created this? Who paid for this? At whom is this aimed? What is the point? If the point was to annoy grandparents it is well done. I feel that it attempts to send the message that grandparents with strong opinions about Common Core and/or Bill Gates should not be involved in their children’s education. Maybe it is supposed to send the message “Why are Hector’s parents not meeting his teacher?”. Or “Why is camping so much more important than a child’s first day of school?”
This is an example of a common corporate practice. If the public finds a problem with their business practices, rather than questioning whether they should examine and change these practices, they try to advertise their way out of the problem.
Great Point Dianarog11 !!!
“Not as bad as you think”?! No, it’s apparently worse, given the writing in this ad.
Just downloaded a .mp4 copy.
Love how the person posting it lists its category as “comedy.”
I found this “commercial” offensive. I don’t care whether it is for or against common core, whoever came up with the idea should find another line of work.
Ultimately, I resent the moments of my life I wasted watching this garbage.
If proponents of CC want to promote this concept, let them do it with class, not by being crass. For shame!
Exactly right, Chris, let the “old” and experienced teachers retire because they can’t take it any more, and hire the young ones right out of college who are gnawing at the bit to please their principals and supervisors, and the schools can replace the older ones at half the price. Pretty good deal for the schools. Hmmmm, they forgot one thing. The experienced ones are the best because they have all that experience! But, they cost a lot more!
Ann, haven’t you heard that there’s a tipping point where once exemplary teachers become old and decrepit. I think it starts with the delivery of an AARP card and is completed after the dreaded colonoscopy.
These SLOs and value add are all the colonoscopy I need.
ROFLOL at MathVale
You are spot on and you know what us experienced teachers do with all of the resources we have???.. In the garbage…all…Of course..it is still in our heads and we can make lesson plans that go beyond the level of content understandings…..A group of experienced teachers decided that the new puppet teachers on the strings need to figure it out for themselves….However, these days all it takes is test prep material to go with the chaotic curriculum…so go for it…
It’s all about the money!
YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
As a middle schools language arts teacher, I find that what the teacher istelling grandpa about how reading will be taught is inaccurate. Common Core takes away choice in favor of texts in an absurdly high “band” of text, half of which is non fiction.
Disgusting.
Besides the obvious propoganda; to cast a vet as some embarrassing, ignorant, bumbling fool like that…
“The old guard is stupid and on it’s way out. Long live the new regime”.