The Republican Party is divided about the Common Core standards.
The Republican National Committee has come out in opposition to the Common Core, calling it “an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control” education. Senator Charles Grassley wants to defund the Common Core.
But Jeb Bush is one the loudest cheerleaders for the Common Core. When his sidekick Tony Bennett lost the state superintendent job in Indiana, In part because of Tea Party opposition to Common Core, Jeb Bush made sure he landed on his feet as state commissioner in Florida.
Now Jeb has declared in TIME that David Coleman, the architect of the Common Core, is one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Jeb adores the Common Core. So do the high-tech corporations that back Jeb’s Foundation for Educational Excellence.
The Republicans will have to duke this out over the next few years. Do they support federal control or local control? State standards or federal standards?
And we will all wait to see how the Common Core drama plays out? Will all children be college and career ready because of the Common Core? Will it close gaps or make them wider?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Jeb Bush, of the infamous Bush clan that brought us the poisonous tenet of the “New World Order” by Bush I, and the litany of destruction and lies of “W”…what’s that saying about where apples land??? He is a: globalist, corporate crony, and, less we forget, the Governor whose state illegally brought us “W.” What, pray tell, are his virtues? NAME ONE! His family have been knee deep in the destruction and parasitical, money making ventures that have brought so much devastation to public education that I hardly hold hope that national treasure will survive. The Gates, Bushes, Chris Christy and all the other jackals may fight over the carcass of Core curriculum, etc. but, just like their
furry relatives; they leave only bones of what was formerly a healthy creature. So, these, very possibly staged “fights” are truly “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Don’t be fooled by the endless kabuki dancers…they are only meant to divert attention from their insidious goals, much like the magicians who flutter a hankie while pulling off an illusionist’s trick!
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Now don’t go insulting us jackals. We have nothing to do with those avaricious humans to whom you compare us. Please retract your statement. We serve a very important function in the world and ask only to be left alone by you humans. However, we will defend ourselves if attacked.
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Are you kidding? WHO, pray tell are you? Is your comment, a satirical play on words?
If not, enlighten us on who or what group you are a part of, and what you mean by threatening anyone who “attacks” or exposes you. With our world today, your response is hardly a joke.
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Mary,
Yes! My name is there for all to see! Yes. Lighten up, don’t be so paranoid. Ay Ay Ay!!
My comment is meant in fun, mainly because we use certain animals to describe various human traits/actions, see EducRATs for example. I attempted to give voice to the voiceless here, i.e. the animals that are jackals. Personally, I thought you should have used the other “J” word-JACKASS-to describe the folks you mentioned. But then again we aren’t supposed to call a spade a spade using “school inappropriate” language are we?
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You’re right, but then, we do live in an age where the Security State functions on anything but democratic, free speech principles! Attempts to silence people who
speak out against the loss of Bill of Rights freedoms, are critical of an invasive
government are silenced or intimidated everyrsince the fraudulent JFK commission wove their web of lies about what took place in Dallas. If you think I’m a bit paranoid, just google “executive orders” and see what has been made law with NO public/congressional discussion OR knowledge. Better yet, check out the 2012,
National Defense Authorization Act and you’ll be shocked, and aware of just how far the invasive steps have gone to silence dissent.
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Who could have ever guessed that George W. Bush and Jebbie would promote an educational agenda that would earn full endorsement from Obama, Cuomo, and Christie!
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That about says it all, not only @ Jebbie, but also @ Obama!
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OY! This is horrid. But hey, the Bushies have MOOLAH…and it’s this simple. They are privileged and arrogant.
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There could be nothing better than and internal war in both the republican and democratic parties on what they are now doing. Both are controlled by the same cabal. I have no problem with what I call “Eisenhower Republicans” who believed in “Real Fiscal Responsibility” and personal privacy and rights. The democratic party is now also the party of corporate Amerika, proper spelling for this, and has sold out its principals of defending the average person and their rights and that people are more important than corporations. In the beginning of this country if a corporation gave one penny to a campaign politically it was dissolved the next day. What happened is that they bought and sold at a big discount the government and now we have what we have.
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Gosh, two, enlightened people who know the straight skinny on the grand design which America is a part of. It’s bigger than our borders, more despotic than the public would even contemplate, and advancing at a rapacious rate! Our rights, our ability to have a decent income, to live without a police state government that listens to our conversations, reads our emails and has cameras at every stop light. Is that “Security” or the realization of an Orwellian world. The answer is right in front of everyone’s nose and denying or ignoring it won’t make it go away, it’ll just be watching and listening for what they decree is terrorism…like protesting the corporate run government, lack of freedoms in the tattered Bill of Rights, etc.
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Only second to the Common Core is the disastrous No Child Left Behind (thanxs Dubya). NCLB put the final nail into the coffin of our formerly mediocre public education opening the floodgates for the abysmal Common Core.
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Go look at the Bush family, who they are, what they have supported, what they are invested in. Prescott Bush was a Nazi supporter. The Bush family is a large investor in the military industrial complex and online education. They have the software education contract for Saudi Arabia. What do you thing they are really doing? You have to know much more than education to understand what is going on. This includes national and international politics, military, war strategy, finances, political maneuvering, the legislative process and that is just the beginning. They understand this. Their heads of security and such are former military intelligence, CIA, Secret Service, NSA, Special Services and such and all are highly trained in psychological warfare, intimidation, smoke and mirrors and every other form of twisting the human mind known. The head of gathering signatures for the “Parent Revolution” is or was a former Green Beret. What do you think he was trained in and for? You have to understand the big picture to fight something which understands the big picture or you are at a serious disadvantage. This is all carefully planned. I have gone around with the head of security for the Rand Corporation here in Santa Monica. I told him I don’t care what you are trying to intimidate me with just tell your people who do work on schools to do proper work and I will not slam them. They are not ready for that. This is how you have to operate against full on predatory animals like they are.
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Wow! Rarely have I EVER heard of someone who REALLY knows whats up! I find it’s hard for the average person to even envision a problem that is bigger than just their little world. Even harder is to present facts, such as you have, and not get a look of
“You’ve got to be a wing nut” dismay. I wish more people had your knowledge, its out
there IF they are interested. Everybody is in this fight; either you are a corporate
pawn, a corporate crony or, most likely, the willfully ignorant. I applaud your courage
to open eyes to the quickly encroaching, rights robbing paradigm.
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The R’s are between a rock and a hard place: they love the tests because the business community and techies love the tests… but they hate the fact that in order to do the tests you need to centralize curriculum development. The D’s love the tests and especially the social justice eyewash the business community and techies use to sell them… the testing/social justice link gives them two winning arguments: they can look tough on teachers and defend it because no child will be left behind in “reform”… The demise of public education is collateral damage in the testing war…
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“The Republicans will have to duke this out over the next few years. Do they support federal control or local control? State standards or federal standards?”
False dichotomy. The option isn’t federal control or local control because most local control is a joke. Most curriculum is determined by the largest textbook publishers and ends up morphing to look like TX, CA and NY and, given that it is easier (read cheaper) to produce traditionalist texts than reform texts, also tends to be incredibly traditional in spite of the mountains of evidence that reform mathematics have similar success with skill problems and significantly increased success with problem solving.
Are their leeches who want to make tons of money testing the snot out of everyone? Sure. Just as there are money sucking leeches who currently make tons of money offering inferior texts (now with CCSS-M stickers!). I am unclear why the CCSSO creating them is supposed to make me crankier than the marketing execs from Pearson, Holt McDougall, and Mcgraw Hill, and Saxon creating them. In fact, given the strong support they receive from NCTM, I tend to think we might finally be cutting through a textbook oligopoly to accomplish some actual reform.
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Re: “The Republicans will have to duke this out over the next few years. Do they support federal control or local control? State standards or federal standards?”
Corporations support corporate control over democratic control. Every other distinction, Democrat vs. Republican, Global vs. Local, makes no difference to them. It may be only an accident of history that they currently have more reins on the Elephant than the Donkey, but only the soul of the people can stop them from turning America into one big company store.
Time will tell …
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Well put! If anyone would think your thoughts are paranoia, they ought to read Banker Occupation, Waging Financial War on Humanity and see the verifiable facts that support your premise. If that’s too much of a time investment, they ought to google two
things: Presidential Executive Orders, and the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.
Just because we’re Americans, doesn’t mean that anti-democratic forces with endless money can’t reek havoc on more than just education! Sinclair Lewis wrote a prescient tome in the 30’s that is haunting our world today. It’s called, “It Can’t Happen Here” and
if one reads that, they will stop denying the dark side of reality. PUBLIC IGNORANCE IF CORPORATE BLISS!
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So much information here my head is spinning. I knew this was bigger than me but I am fascinated by the info given here and I’m sorry I don’t know where to look to find out more. Any help with that? I am fighting here in FLorida to stop Common Core but as you have stated earlier, Florida Senators are in bed with the Bush’s and we have no hope. I feel the hope of human spirit dwindling as I would hope that Senators and Representatives would want to save their own children from this destruction. How do I do this. Homeschooling seems to be the answer but they are going to come after them too.
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Well, you must defend homeschooling then. The public school bureaucracies and teachers don’t like homeschooling, but it is the bottom line right probably of parents.
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Home schooling? Pray tell WHERE does one get such curriculum, from Bob Jones University, that FAR religious right miserable place, or a tea bagger source? PLEASE,
that’s like throwing the baby out with the bath water! I was a teacher for over 25 years and home schooling parents have a lot more issues than BAD TEACHERS in the public schools. Children NEED to interact with other kids. They will need to learn to deal with people, ideologies they don’t agree with, etc. Many home school parents live in a semi-survivalist mentality…Parents can be invaluable in a child’s education, but they are NOT teachers and don’t know the depth of what is required to have their children achieve academic excellence on their own…maybe such parents ought to think about being their child’s dentist? Silly, of course, but not far afield from the mindset of home school public. I know because I’ve meet these frightened parents who think teachers are agents of the state or worse…
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MARY YOU LOSE CRED WHEN YOU ARE NASTY TO PEOPLE ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE COMMON CORE ISSUE AS YOU. YOUR IGNORANT VIEW OF BOTH HOMESCHOOLING AND THE TEA PARTY AS WELL AS BOB JONES UNIV AND PARENTS IS UNPRODUCTIVE AND MAKES YOU LOOK AS IGNORANT AS COLEMAN AND GATES, AND MAYBE MORE BITTER AND HATEFUL. IF ANYTHING EXPOSING THE ARROGANCE IN SOME TEACHERS THAT MAKES PARENTS AFRAID TO SEND THEEIR KIDS INTO YOUR LAIR.
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Hmmm, sounds a bit vitriolic. No problem for me, I attended Bob Jones and know better than you of what I speak…I was there BEFORE they lost their federal tax pass because of their blatant racism. I, personally heard Bob Jones Jr. make “private” sermon (not for public hearing) that was TOTALLY about how the black race was and is INFERIOR. So,
please, know your facts or YOU look silly. As to home schooling, many times these
politically inspired, false facts systems present a laughable version of history (especially American, i.e. George Washington WAS a deist, not a Baptist, etc.) and parents are out on a limb as to the many layered knowledge of educational theory and age appropriate skill sets. Doubt it, just ask the publisher those questions and you’ll see THEY have far right, political axe to grind. ‘nough said.
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To Mary about Homeschooling, Most parents are the best teachers for their children. No, I don’t have the Certificate that you probably paid thousands of dollars to get to march into a classroom and teach children how to stand in a strait line to walk to recess, to lunch, and to move their star if they talked without raising their hand. No, I’m not a college graduate but I am intelligent enough to know that my children’s educational freedom is being taken away by the Common Core state Standards and how they were written and put into law without a vote. Yes, I homeschool my oldest son because I didn’t want him “Socializing” with other children who I found to be a threat to what my husband and I instill in our children in our home. I AM the best teacher for my children, I know how they learn, and I have the God given RIGHT and obligation to seek the best educational opportunities that we see fit for them. My children are one of the most socialized kids I know and they are the best behaved children you will ever see. Families homeschool for multiple reasons but the two main ones I find most often is religious purposes and public schools are not good enough and do more harm to a child then good. Please stop looking down at home school families and think they don’t know what they are doing. They do. Oh, and yes, I have had to be the dentist sometimes too. With as many children we have, the tooth fairy makes a lot of visits and sometimes the tooth doesn’t come out just right. I can’t tell you how many hats I have to wear in the course of one day. Right now my hat is being an activist and a thorn in my state senators side and representatives side too to get them to listen to the pleas of so many parents.
Mary, lets stop the back and forth about little issues and look at what is being taken away from us and our children.
Francesca , Thank you for your comments in response to Mary. I encourage everyone to conduct your own research, gather evidence, and then make your own decisions from there. Mr. Gates and the Bush Dynasty have too much pull in deciding what they think is best for our children. Americans need to be very cautious and pay attention to what is going on.
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Here’s some suggestions of what to read to get started. Others will chime in, I hope.
The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education an excellent book by Diane Ravitch
Article in The Nation, How Online Companies Bought America’s Schools, by Lee Fang
Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post
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This is a good one, just for the sheer arrogance of the director of the front group funded by Bill Gates, Stand for Children, as they explain how they got the Illinois legislature to pass laws harming union teachers.
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http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/07/jonah-edelman-spills-oligarchs.html
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Carrie, Thank you for the great information. I will take note of everything and dig into it. So much to read and very little time.
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That’s the problem: too many people care who Jeb salutes.
People need to find their own heroes to salute.
from mcGraw-Hill children’s music books: “Everybody wants to have a hero. Someone in their life who is a plus. Everybody wants to have a hero. . .like us.”
Is Jeb really the best our leaders can come up with? I’m sure he is a dapper gentleman and is no doubt very accomplished, but I want the leaders in my state to get their own heroes, preferably from our state. Heroes who have worked here and sweated here and know and care what we are about.
Or even better, if they are from our state they can look inside like Mariah Carey suggests:
“there’s a hero if you look inside yourself”–
or as my 8th graders in Kansas City, MO sang from Destiny’s Child (via David Foster): “I’m inspired and hopeful each and every day. . .that’s how I know things are gonna change. And I believe that in my life I will see an end to hopelessness. . .then no one will get left behind
stand up for love.”
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“People need to find their own heroes to salute”
Heroes, we don’t need no stinkin heroes. Unless of course you are talking about the sandwiches.
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Opposition to CC transcends left, right, dem, rep, 1%, 99%. It is supported by the 0.001%. That’s not you and me.
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My thoughts on David Colema, The Cheshire Cat of Education:
“Coleman’s ascent to the top of American education policy has been steady. He made contributions to the CCSS which will result in nationwide metrics for grades K-12. Add this testing to his new control of the SAT, and his influence on American education and the tests that measure learning will continue through the college level, all without his having the informative experience of teaching in a classroom. That any one individual without any teaching experience could have had this impact on the daily workings of the classroom is a commentary on the current state of madness that public education now finds itself.”
Full Post at:
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As far as I’m concerned and my many
teacher peers, public education is truly
DOA; soon to be followed by farcical
charters “schools”….teacher unions and
any vestige of concern for this country’s
academic/intellectual future. That is just
one victim of our corporate run government.
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CHECK OUT COLEMAN’S ARROGANT SELF IMPORTANT MUM’S TED TALK. LIZ COLEMAN, PRESIDENT OF BENNINGTON COLLEGE. COMMIE WINGNUT, LOVES HERSELF, HIS NARCISSISM MIRRORS HERS, SMALL WONDER THE WORLD IS DOOMED, EVERYONE IN CHARGE TODAY HAS A SOCIALIST COMMUNIST HIPPIE INTELLECTUAL PSYCHOLOGY LOVING SENIOR HIDING IN THEIR AU PAIR SUITE.
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It is all so rotten to the core…the names of the jackals who are heading this attack on education and teachers shows exactly what bad players they are; from Obama down to the locale level of “Students First” termites!
Speaking of wolves in sheep’s attire, I just read where Obama is opining about the sad state of the MIDDLE CLASS and how he is tearful about our plight! If you buy that rot, you’ll probably think that Arnie Duncan loves public schools! He also made mention of the INCREDIBLE wealth of the Romney ravenous rich…of course, he was not at all that honest in his assessment of the plutocracy and their wanton rape of the middle class.
Does he REALLY think such empty words mean a tinker’s damn to us? Even makes me angrier that he would insult our collective intelligence by singing that false lament!
He helped create it all; hidden wars, giving into the rich class with zeal, destroying the middle class as well as public schools. It’s disgusting in the extreme~
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