A parent in New York contacted me to tell me of a new group that she and other parents created to fight the Common Core in New York.
She writes:
My name is Yvonne Gasperino. My husband and I have started a grassroots effort named Stop Common Core in New York State on April 3, 2013. Here is the link to the website: www.stopccssinnys.com or www.stopcommoncoreinnewyork.com, we also have a FB group page https://www.facebook.com/groups/607166125977337/
We recently hosted a statewide conference call for NY on July 25. Here is the link if you would like to listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b-NDZ98QgU&feature=youtu.be
We had experts from Pioneer Institute, Jamie Gass and Joy Pullman from the Heartland Institute. Dr. Sandra Stotsky was also on the call, whom I am sure you know has been playing a key role in this nationwide effort.
We are holding a free forum on “The REAL FACTS on Common Core State Standards” Saturday, September 21st with several leading national experts: Sheila Kaplan, Jamie Gass, Emmett McGroarty, Neal McCluskey, Dr. Christopher Tienken, Renee Braddy and Alisa Ellis. Here is the link for the info: http://stopccssinnys.com/RealFactsForum.html Our senator George Latimer will be attending. I would like to know if you would be willing to spread the word about this forum on your blog. I know that your base is far reaching and Sheila mentioned that you would definitely help with this effort. As I mentioned above my husband and I are underwriting this ourselves and can use any help possible to promote this to ensure all New York parents and educators will take advantage of this great opportunity.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If I’m not mistaken, Diane, this group believes that CCSS is part of the so-called “Agenda 21” – a conspiracy theory that the UN is going to take over the world, commonly embraced by Glenn Beck and Alex Jones.
That’s a narrow view of this group. Are you saying they are right-wing? I certainly have never heard anyone involved with these this group question the intent of more liberal leaning advocates against the CCSS because ‘others’ may be against school choice.
If you look at the presenters (excluding myself) their depth of knowledge of the CCSS is astounding. I hope you can get past a potential bias on your part & think about children, not politics.
Well, I just went to their Facebook page and the first story there, about an alleged poem read by 5th graders in praise of the Common Core, was taken from The Blaze. Read the story and read the comments and tell me if this is the sort of reasonable opposition to CCSSI you’re comfortable being affiliated with. I, for one, am not. There is more than enough sane basis to oppose the very idea of common national standards, curricula, and testing without resorting to some of the most vulgar, crazy, racist, wing-nuttery I’ve read thus far in the debate. If that’s what we can expect from this group and its members (not one of whom seemed even VAGUELY skeptical about the story), I’ll pass, thanks.
No politics? On this blog? Fuhgedaboudit. Yvonne and you and the other presenters seem to be against CCSC because of the potential damage to the education of children. The people on this blog seem to me to be against CCSC mainly in order to protect their jobs. No testing=no VAM. They are actually FOR big government, OF big government, and whatever education gets done in the country they want to be BY big government. On this issue, politics should put us all in the same bed, but the liberal public school establishment teachers won’t even use the same privy to sh** on the CCSS unless the a** wipe magazine is Pravda. The Sears catalogue won’t do because that’s a private business. They are against anything “private.” Except for the fact that Big Education is collecting Data on THEM, they don’t care about children’s privacy. It’s a peculiar position for them to be in attacking big government.
Our good friend and colleague Paul “Know It All” Goldenberg is a perfect example of the attitude which I have described.
MPG,
“. . . and tell me if this is the sort of reasonable opposition to CCSSI you’re comfortable being affiliated with.”
One does not have to be “affiliated with” to be in alliance with in opposition to a banal evil, in this case CCSS and the associated tests. The US allied itself with many countries, the USSR included, who was lead by probably one of the most heinous heads of state ever (and even Stalin thought he was doing right so that believing oneself to be right is not any justification for much) in fighting a greater evil in Nazi Germany and Imperialistic Japan. (And it was the Soviets who lost the most in that war, leading the defeat of Hitler.)
HU,
“Yvonne and you and the other presenters seem to be against CCSC because of the potential damage to the education of children. The people on this blog seem to me to be against CCSC mainly in order to protect their jobs. No testing=no VAM.”
Blanket statements do not serve your cause/argument well. Most on this blog are against the CCSS for many of the same principled reasons that Yvonne’s group are. You’re conclusion certainly doesn’t logically follow at all, at least from my reading of all the posts and comments on this blog. Were I to do a survey/count of all the posts for and/or against CCSS and divide them between “principled” being against, “principled” being for, “self serving” being against and “self serving” being for the percentages would probably come out something to the effect 92%, 3%, 2%, 1% respectively. And, yes, I just pulled those numbers out my wazzoo but it seems they might be fairly close.
I love your straight forwardness. I do hope you are right about the numbers from you wazoo survey. My estimates would be considerably different. Blanket characterizations are always wrong. Liberal teacher proves it. The appeal to logic is so seldom heard here. I might have to give up entertaining hyperbole. So many here advocate their hyperbole with a straight face.
Thank you Sheila,
Jeff, you are unfortunately very mistaken about the group’s views. Our group comprises of many folks from all different political persuasions and all have been willing to put that aside to fight for the same cause. My wife, Yvonne and I, actually make a point of making it only about the kids, not about politics. On our Facebook group we allow people to express themselves and do not censor their views unless they are offensive or non-Common Core related. Agenda 21 and its connection to Common Core does get mentioned by some folks but that does not mean the whole group is of that belief, a serious generalization on your part. I welcome you to visit our web site http://www.StopCCSSinNYS.com and you will see it’s an informational web site purposely set up to help parents who are fighting or starting to fight Common Core, not a political motivated one. We know how overwhelmed we were when we started this fight 4 months ago so we decided to make it easier for others by setting this up. You will also not find a Glenn Beck or Alex Jones video or article there, you will actually only find Common Core related information there.
We only last week endorsed “The Left-Right Alliance for Education” http://www.lrallianceforeducation.org/p/blog-page.html so implying that we are right-wing just does everybody a disservice. You undo a lot of hard work by many folks by making a reckless comment like this.
I truly hope you will take time to get to know us better, and maybe even join us although you are not in New York. I would however recommend that you look at the group as whole, not just judge the group on a few posts you might not like. Our members are being really great at engaging with the posts they can relate to and ignore the ones they don’t but are respectful enough to let other have their views.
I would like to thank Diane for helping us get the word out. We are just parents who care about education in this country. Our own kids are not even impacted by Common Core at this point but we believe this is bigger than just our own kids, this is a massive turning point for all kids so well worth the fight. So lets keep on focusing on the kids, and leave the politics for later.
A week or so after I joined this facebook group back in April or May, the administrator posted a link to this story: http://www.inquisitr.com/502277/colorado-students-recite-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-video/ with a comment about how horrible this school was for allowing the pledge to be recited in Arabic and replace God with Allah. When I commented that I believed that anyone reciting the pledge is showing their allegiance to our country, regardless of the language the use, I was insulted, made fun of, and invited to leave the group. I am part of other groups who are fighting high stakes testing and the Common Core initiative, and those groups really are comprised of people with all different political viewpoints…when political beliefs are shared, people with different opinions either pass by the post without comment or disagree respectfully. My experience with the Stop Common Core group was different; when I stated my beliefs, I was ridiculed. And while the description of the page touted non-partisanship, a significant number of the posts by administrators and members were right-wing, conservative, and/or conspiracy theories.
Jeff,
I am a very liberal Democrat, a teacher, and an active member of this group. Your over generalization of this group is not only incorrect, but unfair. This is a fight has that has brought together a a wide range of parents and educators with varying political views. This is truly a bipartisan effort to get the message out to parents and community about what is happening in education today with the Common Core “State” Standards and Curriculum, the mandated high stakes tests that accompany these standards, and the data mining that is set to begin in September. These are parents who are willing to stand up to these unconstitutional mandates and tell the truth. It is an open group and Yvonne and Glen, who administer the site, are very conscientious about allowing members to post as long as it is relevant to the mission of stopping the common core. This means that there are times when people get information from sources that are on the right and other times from sources on the left. There are posts with links to Diane Ravitch’s blog and letters from NYC principal Carol Burris as she spoke out about the test results in a Washington Post editorial along with posts from The Blaze and the NYTimes. It is the nature of the fight. What we all have in common as we over look one another’s possible political biases is a desire to stop the common core for the sake of our children. It is an educational policy that has gone a muck and whether you want it stopped because you do not approve of the developmentally inappropriate standards and curriculum which were not written by educators; the excessive amount of high stakes tests; the inaccurate scoring and bench marking of the tests; teaching to the tests which decreases real teaching for those students that are most in need; or because you oppose data mining of students personal information and the undermining of FERPA and HIPPA regulations as corporate reformers attempt to undermine public education and make a profit off of our children the point is, we want it stopped. There are other organizations out there that are also attempting to stop this train wreck from ruining our educational system and the opportunities of future generations. We are all working together. Stop over generalizing. Join the fight and lets put education back into the hands of educators, parents, and the community.
Sincerely,
Teddi
Liberal Public School Teacher
Jeff –
Your irresponsible remark attempting to tie CCSS directly to Agenda 21 is a miss. Unless, of course, sending people screaming from the room was your intention all along? To begin with Agenda 21 is not “so-called.” It is a shorten name for United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 21 that President George H. W. Bush signed onto in 1992. President Clinton furthered its long arm into the United States with his executive order for the President’s Council on Sustainable Development in 1995. You may scratch the “so-called” from your comments next time you try to inject Agenda 21 into your conversation. You may want to look further than Glen Beck yourself the next time you want to diminish someone else’s efforts.
There is nothing more important than education to any nation. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” So I think it is wise that we ALL investigate Common Core State Standards and decide for ourselves if our government wants to use the weapon of education for the good of all American people or just the good of the government?
So? http://www.stopcommoncoreinnewyork.com is NOT RIGHT/LEFT, it’s about Liberty. You all should do your homework and see what ALL the ramifications are of this socialized indoctrination of our children.
Good Morning — A similar meeting is being planned in Buffalo, New York on October 2nd at Kleinhans Music Hall. I will be happy to share the details as they become available.
Marge Borchert
Marge, we would be more than happy to put the event up on our FB Group and web site when you have the details.
I am actively involved in the Stop Common Core Group and would welcome information about the Oct. 2nd forum in Buffalo as I live in upstate NY. I have checked the notify box under my post. When you have information you can post it and I will get it in my email.
Mr Larson: You are mistaken. You’re assuming. I’d suggest you do additional research before blurting out your opinions. Yvonne is a friend and a tireless advocate against CC. In fact, I’d say that of the several dozen states I’m working against CC on, she’s one of the top activists.
However, it could well be I’m mistaken about your assertions of Yvonne so I’ll gladly go through your evidence.
Maybe a 9 minute Youtube video about the corporate tie-ins with CC would be a good start your research. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvUMk1ro27E#at=162
I’m always suspicious of any group that claims to be telling the “real facts” about anything these days. Far more often than not, we’re looking at wing-nut conspiracy theorists with lots of factoids and worse, and linking their particular target to Obama, the Affordable Health Care Act, Satanism, Socialists, the Gnomes of Zurich, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, birtherism, the “truth” that “Jews and Communists in the pay of the Pope” brought down the World Trade Center, hid the attack on the Benghazi embassy and the government’s handing over of guns to drug lords in Mexico. I keep waiting to read that the phone company really did kill Kennedy (never you mind which Kennedy). And while of course some of the above is tongue-in-cheek, you’d be hard-pressed to determine which after looking at the first story on the Facebook page of this anti-Common Core group: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/09/really-spooky-poem-praising-common-core-allegedly-recited-by-dozens-of-5th-graders-at-school-ceremony-read-it-here/
If you read that tale (and wonder why no one knows exactly where this happened or who wrote the poem alleged to have been chanted) and then the comments (my favorite is the one that mentions RUSSIAN children chanting poems in praise of HITLER – you can’t make this stuff up), you have to wonder how no one commented on the group web page to ask whether this is baloney or not. Of course, if THE BLAZE is your idea of an unbiased and reliable source of news. . .
Waiter, check please!
Michael, your intolerance is overwhelming. You make a blanket judgement without knowing anything about the details. Cherry picking comments seems to be what you do best and then dramatize them. Your personally bias is so blinding that many children will suffer because of your need for political gratification. Take that anger and direct it towards Common Core, you actually might make a difference.
Don’t worry, I will get the check for you. I am sure there are other places you need to go and trash people because you don’t like what they say.
Glen, do you claim that my viewpoint about the comments on that webpage (the Glen Beck wacko one) is cherry-picking? Because I merely cited the one that I remembered, but could readily have gone back to quote a bunch of them. I found none that wasn’t typical tea-party nastiness. And readers had the link to go there themselves: I didn’t assume everyone would or should take my word for it. If those comments are your idea of reasonable analysis of anything, well, you have my sympathies.
I frankly don’t much care for your characterization of me, and it certainly isn’t going to stop me from commenting here or anywhere else. You are right that I have a hard time suffering fools gladly, as the saying goes. And I’m not about to apologize it.
But my anger towards the Common Core is pointed and very much in play. So either you don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about, or you don’t care that I’ve been actively fighting the Common Core long before the radical right wing woke up to it as another example of Obama-inspired “socialism.” I’ve been doing my best to publicize a fact that the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care about or notice: that there are many people left-of-center who don’t like the Common Core or the very idea of such things. Instead, we keep hearing about the wing nuts on the right who mistrust the CCSSI as a liberal mind-control plot. As if. . .
Think that those sorts of far out posts help dissuade moderates from the official story about the Common Core? Rather doubtful.
It is a reasonable expectation of reporters to verify BEFORE publishing whether this alleged event (they call it that to cover themselves) actually happened. Paul is right on that point.
But on the larger question: So What? How is the little poem detrimental? It’s just a secular version of “I love Jesus, meek and mild.” Make no mistake, though, public schools around the country are going gung ho for the CC, whether it turns out to be Kool Aid or not.
It looks to me like they are being paid in rope to hang themselves (if this little story is true).
I’d rather see them singing Christmas Carols around a classroom Hannuka Bush, but as we know, and Paul “KIA” G., will tell you, THAT is even worse than praise of the thoughts of Chairman Mao.
“Make no mistake, though, public schools around the country are going gung ho for the CC”
No, HU, they’re not “gung ho” about instituting the educational malpractice that are CCSS and the accompanying testing regimes. Perhaps a few administrators and teachers are but not many from what I’ve experienced (you know here in “dWayne’s World”). Most are reluctantly doing this because they will lose their jobs if they don’t. [Such a brilliant strajedy!(purposefully misspelled)] Such are the ways of banal evil in the world.
Harlan, my name is Michael. And you don’t seem any better at representing my thinking than you are at getting my name right. It’s there in plain sight in every comment I make. Do consider an eye exam.
Obviously, I’ve gotten under your skin. My e-mail address is mikegold@umich.edu and if you want a fight, I’m your huckleberry. I do apologize for knowing more than you about some things. Maybe a lot (that seems to have really bothered you in your nasty comment earlier today).
But I’m well-aware that I’m not knowledgable about far more things. And I know someone spoiling for a fight when I smell one. So out of respect for Diane, please take your personal remarks about me to the private sphere, so we can slug it out like Neanderthals, or whatever will float your boat. You’re embarrassing yourself here.
Michael,
I have seen your posts on the BATs I believe. This group is not what you are portraying it to be. You have made a sweeping generalization for the sake of ??? The BATs are also against the Common Core State Standards…are the left wing liberal nut jobs?? Name calling and division is not going to help us win this fight or are you simply a troll lurking and stirring up trouble, not really a member of this fight?
Jeff,
I am a very liberal Democrat, a teacher, and an active member of this group. Your over generalization of this group is not only incorrect, but unfair. This is a fight has that has brought together a a wide range of parents and educators with varying political views. This is truly a bipartisan effort to get the message out to parents and community about what is happening in education today with the Common Core “State” Standards and Curriculum, the mandated high stakes tests that accompany these standards, and the data mining that is set to begin in September. These are parents who are willing to stand up to these unconstitutional mandates and tell the truth. It is an open group and Yvonne and Glen, who administer the site, are very conscientious about allowing members to post as long as it is relevant to the mission of stopping the common core. This means that there are times when people get information from sources that are on the right and other times from sources on the left. There are posts with links to Diane Ravitch’s blog and letters from NYC principal Carol Burris as she spoke out about the test results in a Washington Post editorial along with posts from The Blaze and the NYTimes. It is the nature of the fight. What we all have in common as we over look one another’s possible political biases is a desire to stop the common core for the sake of our children. It is an educational policy that has gone a muck and whether you want it stopped because you do not approve of the developmentally inappropriate standards and curriculum which were not written by educators; the excessive amount of high stakes tests; the inaccurate scoring and bench marking of the tests; teaching to the tests which decreases real teaching for those students that are most in need; or because you oppose data mining of students personal information and the undermining of FERPA and HIPPA regulations as corporate reformers attempt to undermine public education and make a profit off of our children the point is, we want it stopped. There are other organizations out there that are also attempting to stop this train wreck from ruining our educational system and the opportunities of future generations. We are all working together. Stop over generalizing. Join the fight and lets put education back into the hands of educators, parents, and the community.
Sincerely,
Teddi
Liberal Public School Teacher
Political HACKS will cling to their ideology and watch their jobs disappear.
THe best bet is to align and fight. If the political hacks cannot see that a UNITED front is better than this dysfunctional bunch of political whiners, then let them enjoy their career as the glorified facilitator/babysitters.
JUST REMEMBER, taxpayers will not want to PAY glorified babysitters a high wage!!
Gee, Teddi, I didn’t know you cared about me so much. But I have a very public record in opposition to CCSSI and my reasons have been made clear, repeatedly. I don’t sit quietly by letting extremely crazy theories (mostly, I’m afraid, from right wingers, though I have cautioned people on the left making unfounded accusations that they aren’t helping either when they do that sort of thing) undermine reasoned and fact-based analysis of serious problem with then whole Common Core enterprise and the related tests, texts, professional development, etc.
Even a cursory reading of what I have posted would make clear that I’m consistent in my criticism. Since you say you’re liberal, I’m wondering: do you conclude that I’ve anywhere – here or elsewhere – launched an attack on liberals/progressives? If so, you need to do some very careful re-reading, sir. Since there seem to be typos at a crucial juncture in your post above in what’s addressed to me, I’m confused as to just what your complaint against me is, but on third reading, it DOES seem to add up to the suggestion that I’m a right-wing troll, in which case, you’ve got the wrong guy. If not, then perhaps you can clarify just what it is you’re accusing me of being/doing that you find so objectionable.
But since I’ve written nothing but suggestions that the Common Core is a horror show of the worst sort, and you do appear to feel the same, and since my politics are quite left of center (much to the dismay of at least one commenter here), I’m quite hard-pressed to understand what’s got your goat.
You can not possibly be a parent and write this. I would like to hear from parents who wholeheartedly support a federally imposed set of standards that ignore child development who can tell me that, in fact these standards, are good and healthy for our children.
As a former teacher, AND a parent, I abhor standards and testing that impose skills, affective distpositions and traits ON MY CHILDREN.
This is not a child-centered program, but rather skill-centered programming of children. If you believed in children, you would understand that!
Michael, you don’t even realize that you are playing into Arne Duncan and his ilk by attacking anything that has a hint of conservative thought. You dismiss all others that are part of a group that has put their political views aside to focus on a thing we have in common, the love for our kids and education. You want to fight CC but only with like minded people, you call all others names and stereotype them. That is not a fight, that is an ego-trip. I am sure you are a formidable force when you are on your game, its a shame that you narrow-mindedness and complete intolerance for other people’s views will not harness that force for good. Thinking only one side of the political spectrum will win this fight is naive.
You always have to be right I have noticed, and it always has to be your views or its right-wing nut job time. If not then we must hate Obama, we must love Glenn Beck, we must be against healthcare. You really do not care what damage you do, you just have to have the last word. Last night I saw in Badass Parents you even attacked Dr. Sandra Stotsky, a well respected CC Warrior who is tirelessly fighting to stop this insanity in Education. But you just couldn’t help yourself and you had to make it a political issue, damn all the good work she has done. You showed us how smart you are. The problem is, we don’t care.
The fact that you have or are part of the Left-Right Alliance is very worrying because what I have read and seen from you there is no alliance at all. I am sure that you have added value in some of your posts but your public disdain for anything that is slightly right leaning should raise red flags with these folks as grassroots efforts like ours will not want to be associated with a L/R group that welcomes you.
If I feel that going on the Glenn Beck show will help defeat CC I will, if I feel that going on MSNBC will help defeat CC I will. I will work with ANYBODY whose goal is to defeat CC, even if I may not agree with their political views. Its a shame we cannot learn from you and take advantage of your vast experience. Instead you have turned Diane’s kindness in helping out a group of parents and teachers who are fighting CC hard in one of the toughest states into a political football. Well done, Arne Duncan and John King are very grateful for your contribution.
I thank all the people who have shown support for us, and especially our members. I am proud to work side-by-side with you whether you like Glenn Beck/Obama , love/hate healthcare or any other label people like to pin to folks. If you are passionate about defeating Common Core and are willing to roll up your sleeves and help us out, you are very welcome.
To Dr. Sandra Stotsky I say thank you for all your hard work and your tireless fight against Common Core.
To Diane Ravitch I apologize if what should have been a purely informational blog posting turned into a complete distraction. We still very much appreciate your support.
The only problem is that the pioneer and heartland folks are crazy nutwings. Their agendas agendas are suspect, but they are clearly not for betterEducation for your children. Be very way of them.
I admit that I am not very knowledgeable about groups such as Pioneer, Heartland and American Heritage, but I do know that Pioneer and Heritage helped the two Catholic school mom’s in Indiana succeed in their grassroots effort to get CC paused in their state while the state legislature examines CC more closely. They were upset because they did not like the fuzzy math and overemphasis on non-fiction reading. You can read about this on the Hoosiers Against Common Core website; just Google that.
What, what, what? Some possibly tea-party parents could actually be right about something? Harumph. We can’t have THAT. Must be astroturf.
Yes, that was the point I was trying to make, though that seems to have eluded some people here. Not sure how, though.
Keep up the infighting and watch your jobs go to COMPUTERS. Yes that’s a great strategy!!!
And on the other hand, we can continue to fight the Common Core AND remain critical of bad arguments and unfounded lunacy raised in objection to it. Why let the well-paid hacks working for the testing companies, publishers, think-tanks, etc., and their catspaw “reporters” have such an easy time picking off EVERY critic by painting us all as right-wing, Tea Party wing nuts? I don’t understand the wisdom in that strategy at all. It’s not like anyone who opposes CCSSI is going to start supporting it to spite Glenn Beck. Well, at least I’m not.
Thank you, Diane, for sharing this information with your readers. I’m an upstate NY parent who found this group a few months ago. While trying to sort through the oddball assignments that were coming home from school with my 3rd grader, I began to investigate the Common Core Standards. It made no sense to me that a teacher would be pushing stacks of complex math word problems on kids who had not yet mastered their math facts. I learned that teacher evals were linked to student performance on the state’s standardized tests, so even though seasoned teachers know what & how to teach math to 3rd graders, their professional judgement was forcibly trumped by the need to keep their jobs. I pulled my child from the state tests, but the classroom reality remains.
I joined Stop Common Core in New York State to learn more and talk with other parents who are just as concerned as I am about our children’s education. A wide range of articles are shared and discussed, and we also dissect pieces directly from NY state’s education department and the US Department of Education.
This issue affects people across a broad spectrum. We do our best to keep the focus on our children’s education. We are their primary advocates, and it is up to us as parents to educate ourselves on what is going on. The web site, http://www.stopccssinnys.com is a great place for parents to begin their education on this massive topic. It can be overwhelming as you come up the learning curve, and that is where the Facebook group is so helpful. Some parents have been learning for a few months, and some for years. Some, now with the “test results” out, are just starting their investigation. Wherever you are in the process, I hope you’ll join us.
Thank you Diane for your willingness to bring awareness to your readers about Glen and Yvonne. They are wonderful people and are working tirelessly to help fight the good fight for our kids…which is also a fight for our wonderful teachers and their jobs. I could only hope for people like them here in CA to help us do the same. Those of us in CA are looking to them for the example of how and what needs to be done so we can follow suit. CA is so far behind in knowing what is really going on. I was so hoping to fly to NY for this conference myself, but alas, I will be on a forum panel myself here in CA. CA needs me to fight here that day. I truly hope that we can make this issue not one of divisiveness, but one in which can bring us together no matter or political and ideolgical views. This is not about Right vs. Left or Conservative vs. Liberal, it is a matter of good vs. evil. And Common Core is evil. I hope that those educators who cannot look past the person giving the message and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are willing to help fight this fight, won’t be wondering “How come no one will come to help us fight to keep our jobs?” So many teachers complain that parents are the enemy. Well, Yvonne and Glen and many, many more of us are here NOW willing to fight. Please look past your biases and do it because it is the right thing to do. But no matter whether you are willing to stand with us, I can tell you right now, we are not backing down. We are in it for the long haul. We will win this War Against the Core or die trying…with or without the help of some teachers! So like us or not, we are NOT going away! We are Mama Bears and Papa Bears and Warriors, standing shoulder to shoulder to do what is right for our children and their futures!
I am against Common Core and although I have to be extremely careful about how go about it, I AM doing everything I can to educate parents and others (including other teachers) why we need to think twice about this.
Alabama teacher you need to check into this site/page on FB. We have members of the group from other states who are hungry for information on how to go about stopping CC and how to get the information out.
Glen and Yvonne, I read your posts. I believe there are many, many well informed parents on your site who are working tirelessly. I do not always agree with all that is written, but feel you are doing a great service to educate the public about CC, standardized testing, data mining and bringing education back to local control. Keep doing what you are doing.
Wow. The level of ignorance displayed by some people really knows no bounds. Hate to rain on your parade folks but anyone who still looks to lay blame at the feet of the “right wing” or “left wing” hasn’t yet figured out that they don’t exist. The left/right paradigm is a farce and has been for decades. The only purpose it serves is to keep the ignorant masses divided. Some of you appear to be playing your part in the charade quite well.
The CCSS were foisted on our children by a conglomerate of politicians, bureaucrats and “elite” corporations from both sides of the supposed “aisle”, yet We the People remain divided because far too many of us are not willing to accept our own level of responsibility for allowing this debacle to occur. The CCSS is not even the disease, but merely the latest symptom. The educational system in our country has been on the downfall for decades but too many parents were afraid to rock the boat, and too many teachers feared losing their jobs. The rest of the people were just completely oblivious to what had been happening. Regardless of what category you fall in, we are ALL responsible for what we are now facing. Quit playing the blame game, “man up”, and accept the reality that we all ACTUALLY live in. Willful ignorance and foolish pride are a dangerous combination. They will continue to be the downfall of our once, great nation unless more people stop living in the fantasy world created by the establishment.
I, for one, am proud to be a member of Stop Common Core in New York State. It is the epitome of a true, grassroots movement that was started by two people that were and are willing to put forth their own time, money and effort to fix what is wrong with the educational system. Many of the members, myself included, have put themselves on the “front lines” to work towards this goal. We are all sacrificing our time and energy to attack the REAL problem, not each other. Anyone who chooses to knock these efforts due to what they perceive as certain political affiliations is simply childish, ignorant and frankly, pathetic.
People who automatically dismiss anything that doesn’t come from “their brand” of news outlet are narrow minded fools. You just keep whistling and having a good ‘ol time listening to your news of choice as they tell you it’s all rainbows and butterflies as your country goes down the crapper.
The Stop Common Core in NYS has a very diverse group of people including teachers, professionals, parents, concerned citizens and many others who are all working very hard to educate themselves about CC.
Not one of them look at a post or poster and dismiss them out of hand.
Open your eyes and shut your mouth, you may learn something.
Not only that, these people on the Stop Common Core in NYS page will work with anyone. Even people who call them wing nuts. Seems like they are more open minded then the so called “tolerant” fools I see in other groups.
Very well said. Thank you!
The only point I’d like to make is that there is PLENTY of fact based information available with which to oppose the CCSS on both a policy and implementation basis. I would urge in the moderators of all anti CCSS and anti reform groups in the strongest possible terms to admonish participants to stick to the facts and not go off the deep end with silly ideological interpretations. While there are most certainly some ideological roots to the CCSS as well as ones driven by the profit motive, all inaccurate discussion of those must be excluded from being a core part of the opposition. The corrupt practices of reformers in general and the toxic stupidites of the CCSS are sufficient by themselves.
My own personal thoughts on the role of government in the CCSS, education “reform” and many other things that afflict ordinary people is this: “GOVERNMENT” is not the enemy. The true enemies are those who have inserted themselves between us and what was once a government of by and for the people. It is those who, operating as a 5th column, have infiltrated and co-opted our government. What passes for government nowadays is nothing more than a sock puppet being manipulated by special interests of every stripe. It is in these special interests best interests that ordinary citizens falsely believe that government itself is the enemy. In this way they can generally remain hidden from view and continue business as usual, exploiting the citizens whom they trick into courses of action not in their own or their communities best interests. In very many ways, ripping that curtain aside is what the fight against education reform is about, reclaiming control of government such that it answers to it’s citizens first and foremost. Illegitimate access to and influence upon government officials is the reformers primary and only effective weapon. Without that they have nothing as all can easily see them for what they are: carpetbaggers and shills. Never forget this.
Thanks, CA, I couldn’t have said it any better myself. I’ve tried to make that same basic point here and elsewhere.
I’m sorry, but just because someone agrees with me that X is bad, if their reasoning for objecting makes clear that the alternative they propose is as bad or worse, I’m not eager to join forces with them, and I’m particularly not eager to be considered to be “just like them” merely because we share some more general view about X.
So I’m not going to be silenced in objecting to some of the VERY flawed, “big Commie conspiracy” theories that are becoming more and more prevalent regarding the Common Core. Those are very irresponsible accusations, and they reek of many of the same tactics that these folks accuse the shadowy International conspirators of using.
Seems to me that if the Common Core can’t be defeated by the truth, rather than invoking the United Nations or men from Mars (yes, that one is sarcasm), maybe we deserve the Common Core. Since we don’t, and our children and grandchildren don’t, then we’d best start sticking to what we can actually demonstrate, and leave Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, et al. to sell gold futures to their base.
New York legislators are listening.
Senator Flanagan To Host Hearings On State Education Policies
[The hearings will primarily focus on several major issues including state assessments, the implementation of common core state standards, and the protection of student privacy.]
http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senator-flanagan-host-hearings-state-education-policies
Sheila thank you for bringing the topic back to something that is actually relevant.
I thought Diane’s post was simply informational. Just an “If you’re interested, this forum is coming up” thing. If you’re not interested, why would you not just move on to something else? Do you really have so little else to do in your life that you will take the time to attack complete strangers with whom you disagree? The implementation of CCSS is NOT a left-right, conservative-liberal issue at all. We aren’t children here. We are the adults who are supposed to support, defend, and protect the children. If you’re a liberal/conservative, can you really not be friends with a conservative/liberal, knowing you have different political opinions? What a small-minded, small world you must live in! People of all stripes oppose CCSS – from teachers’ unions to “right-wing nuts.” If this isn’t the group for you, go elsewhere to oppose CCSS — just do your homework, and stop bad-mouthing others whose political philosophies you may disagree with. That being said, the NYS group is NOT right or left. If you have the intestinal fortitude and the open mind to do so, read through more of the postings, and you’ll see the variety.
I’m glad that things are being done to educate New Yorkers to the fullest extent possible about CC and its testing. Students, teachers and parents deserve to know the truth; not just the Koolaid that they’ve been being handed.
Jeff and Mike, I have been trying to come up with a word to describe my reaction to your comments. And I have come to: curious.
I have been on several anti CC pages where the dialogue is quickly polarized by political ideology. I find Stop Common Core in New York State to be as focus driven toward its stated objective as any comment arena I have ever seen.
When I do come across a page that I find to be unfocused or politically distracted, I just stop going there. I don’t waste a moments time trying to convince anyone else not to go there. I just go where I feel I can make the most impact in achieving my goal which is very simply: STOP COMMON CORE IN NEW YORK STATE.
So when I read each of your comments, I wonder; why are you so emphatic in your efforts to discredit a page whose stated objective you claim to embrace; whose efforts you have not shown in any way to be ineffective or misdirected; but whose political ideology you first presume and then protest (all based on the first post you saw on the page).
My curiosity leads me to ponder: “Methinks thou dost protest too much.” I wonder what your true objectives and motivations may be in your emphatic but baseless criticisms of Stop Common Core in New York State. Political? Financial? Personal? No matter what your actual objectives are, I sincerely doubt that they are as you claim, to oppose Common Core. For if they were, you would surely be doing that instead of wasting your time so vehemently opposing a website which claims and genuinely and effectively embraces that very mission.
Well, Anne, I can’t speak for anyone else, particularly not anyone I don’t know the first thing about. For my part, I’m hardly a newbie on this blog, on Building Bridges, the blog that brought me to this one when it began, or to various anti-common core groups on Facebook and off. And my writing has been consistent: I do think that the Common Core is part of a concerted neoliberal and neoconservative effort FOR PROFIT to undo public education in order to privatize it and make a killing therefrom. My analysis is anti-capitalist, particularly in the same tradition as the book DISASTER CAPITALISM, which I think makes a very good basis for seeing what the Common Core/Education Deform movement is about.
I have been actively involved in the Left-Right Alliance on Facebook and have made many posts there, most of them in response to specific and repeated requests for my views on mathematics education and the Common Core. You are free to check those out if you like. You can just Google my name and “Common Core” and I think you’ll see that I’m quite clear about what I think is happening and why.
Now, of course, you’ve already suggested that I have some secret agenda. That’s your prerogative, and I encourage you to read other examples of my writing on-line and then tell me both what you think I’m up to and what evidence you have to support it. But if you’re positive already that I’m part of either some greater conspiracy or just my own, then of course no matter what I write here or have written elsewhere since the first whispering of a national curriculum and standards was being discussed during the 2nd GWB term (when the Presidential Math Panel was meeting), you’re going to believe I’m up to “no good.” That’s a fascinating conclusion, but it’s one that people who’ve hated my views on mathematics education since the early ’90s would probably have a hard time believing.
There’s no financial gain to be made in opposing the Common Core. Quite the opposite: I likely cost myself potential work every time I write something in open opposition to it. And I’ve been doing that for quite some time. So maybe I’m just insane, looking to destroy what little career chances I have left in my early 60s. That I’ve been writing what I think for 21 years online should reveal SOME sort of coherent (if evolving) point of view, but far be it from me to try to dissuade you that I’m not playing some amazing “long game” in which I knew that Obama would be elected in 2008 and rather than be the true progressive people wanted and expected, would actually be, when it comes to education, a neo-liberal with ideas about education just as bad as those of his four predecessors in the White House, and apparently in bed with neoconservative corporate interests. So I laid the groundwork for having a progressive political viewpoint in 1992, just waiting for my chance to cash in when that became educational GOLD, and now the moment is here!!!
Sorry, I have to stop now: all those job offers I’m getting to sell out to the Common Core – from Pearson, from the ETS, from the US Dept. of Education (Arne Duncan loves me, of course, particularly since I’ve blogged about him as an empty-headed corporate clone and soulless zombie). Yep, I’m going to be raking in those big bucks any day now. I’m SO glad you reminded me.
“Well, Anne, I can’t speak for anyone else, particularly not anyone I don’t know the first thing about.” – Yet no reservations about verbally trashing Yvonne and Glen and their website and fb page?
The word I used to describe my reaction to your post was “curious”. I’m still having tremendous difficulty reconciling your self proclaimed loathing for Common Core with your attack on the Stop Common Core in New York State facebook page. In spite of your snarky, wordy response, you have given no rationale for your disdain of the page nor response to my question. I’m still quite curious.
Anne,
I would agree with you. I now go to them first for information and news on CC. The actions that we take are real actions with the potential for change. It is too bad that there are those who can’t see it.
Anyone in NY is welcome to come to our community’s rally this Saturday, “Students, Not Scores!”
Details here… http://thepjsta.org/2013/08/10/lets-have-a-rally/
http://www.stopccssinnys.com/ and the Leadership thereof, is one of the finest examples of a true multipartisan effort to take on the Common Core. Any aspersions cast upon them about their efforts and honesty in presenting a clear and true picture of the Common Core adds up to no more than political bigotry. A mere opinion based on bias and lacking in facts that only maintain the status quo of the so-called “Education Reformers” who put the CCSS forward.
“There is no harm in repeating a good thing.”
-Plato
Anne, you claim, without evidence: “Yet no reservations about verbally trashing Yvonne and Glen and their website and fb page?”
Really? You have some words of mine in which I mention either of these folks by name or even infer that I have either of them in mind? I don’t think I’ve seen their website (the site I was referring to was The Blaze, as should be clear from what I wrote). I raised questions about their page based on the lack of a single question, doubt, or indication of skepticism there on that poem story. That seems like a fair thing for me to have done. And given the kinds of comments that were left there, as well as some of the other posts, my sense was that the members of the FB page were fine with unfounded, incredible accusations about what’s going on with Common Core.
I’m going to keep this simple, and you can (and almost assuredly will) dismiss this as “snark”: there are valid reasons to attack/criticize/question the specific content of CCSS, the process by which it was foisted upon us, and, most importantly, the VERY IDEA OF such a set of standards, tests, and so forth. [I hope that makes my anti-Common Core viewpoint crystal-clear for you]. BUT, that doesn’t mean that it’s fine to offer up a lot of nonsense, vague speculation, and, in general, wing-nuttery that I can’t help but dismiss as coming from the same mentality that has given us birtherism and a host of other really dumb and/or vicious attacks on Obama and his administration.
You disagree? You feel that the reasoning offered up from the Right that the Common Core is about MIND CONTROL, socialism, Communism, some international conspiracy coming out of the United Nations [apparently not only are Obama and the UN going to take away our guns, they’re going to take away our BRAINS!!!!], ad nauseam, solid, fair, and sensible?
And please: I’m no blind follower of the Democratic Party or Barack Obama. I’ve been openly critical of both on issues of public education policy since I first smelled out just how horrid Arne Duncan was [and I have to laugh at the idea that *I* am the one playing into Duncan’s hands, since the folks he and his people have been mocking and dismissing are the very wing nuts I’m complaining about. They and other Core supporters ignore the fact that folks like me even exist because acknowledging strong progressive opposition to the Common Core ruins their story about how it’s just the Tea Party and extreme Republicans who question it].
Finally, to the person who insists that Sandy Stotsky is doing yeoman service in her writing on the literacy and math standards. First, can you honestly defend her narrow complaints about a “political agenda” in the literacy standards? Do you honestly think that David Coleman is an advocate for SOCIAL JUSTICE and equity? If so, you’re operating in a reality so different from the one I’ve read about and lived in for the past 63 years that I can’t imagine we’d agree on what makes for progressive thinking in any area at all. Coleman is a self-aggrandizing, greedy tool of the moneyed interest behind the Common Core. He parlayed his work in developing it into one of the cushiest jobs in education: president of the ETS. That sounds like a guy with a left-wing political/social agenda to you? Well, it must to Sandy Stotsky. And she is also the person who knows so much about mathematics that when serving on that math panel for Massachusetts, she objected to the inclusion of classical constructions in the geometry curriculum because she conflated them with constructivist learning theory.
Her area of expertise, other than flapping her yap against progressive education, is in French, according to her vita. Her most recent position was at U of Arkansas, where her job was directly funded by the VERY liberal Walton Family foundation. So if Sandy is the best, most reasonable person opposing the Common Core, we’re in DEEP trouble. Luckily, she’s not. And I frankly can give very little credence, if any, to her views, as she repeatedly insists on fighting a 21st century educational battle with, at best, a 20th century political and pedagogical set of tools. And I think I’m being generous to grant her that much modernity.
Michael, thank you for making my point. I knew you couldn’t resist. You have a talent to turn everything into a political issue, when many of us are trying to make it as non-political as possible. You are very much a half empty glass person where we like to think the glass is half full. We encourage people’s strengths instead of attacking their flaws. You could teach instead of mock. So we have done the mock piece, what could you teach us as an experienced educator that will help us be better at fighting Common Core? I am willing to listen, are you willing to teach?
Glen, as I said before, my writing has been all over the Internet and Facebook, particular lately, trying to present my viewpoint in particular on the major shortcomings of the math half of the Common Core. I trust folks like Susan Ohanian’s take on the literacy standards, but I need to add that I graduated college with a BA and secondary certification from Vermont in English in ’73, earned an MA in English from U the University of Florida in ’76, and completed the coursework and preliminary exams for a doctorate in English from UF shortly thereafter, so I’m not exactly a total novice when it comes to issues of literature. Prof. Stotsky has a BA in French Literature from U of Michigan and an Ed.D from Harvard in Reading Research and Reading Education. I’m hard-pressed to figure out how that qualifies her to weigh in on issues of mathematics education, but that’s how I came to know and disrespect her in the 1990s: another conservative with a very loud opinion as to how progressive mathematics education was destroying the intellectual and moral fiber of our nation.
Suggesting that *I* am politicizing something that is or should be apolitical is to apparently believe that I started the Math and/or Reading Wars and chose to make them about attempts to make our children stupid and ignorant, while convincing them of a wide menu of left-wing ideas. I wish I were that influential and that I was able to do all that while transitioning from an adjunct in mathematics at a community college in Manhattan to a graduate student in math education at U of Michigan who had never heard of NCTM or the Math Wars when I arrived here in 1992, and finally to the power behind the politicization of a polite academic debate that heretofore had been nothing but the most civil of conversations. But history didn’t work quite like that. The folks who already had web pages up when I was a graduate student, filled with really nasty epithets and outlandish accusations about progressive math education and educators, didn’t ask me first if it was okay to start politicizing the conversation. Intriguingly, however, some of them were happy to accuse me of so doing when I began fighting back against their propaganda. As you may have deduced, I have some small skill at fighting what I perceive as fire with something other than gentle prose.
All of that said, no one is obligated to read a word of my writing or to heed my viewpoint about what’s gone on in math education for the past couple of decades and how that informs the current issues surrounding the Common Core. I’ve been more than a bit fascinated by the fact that a few old enemies from the Math and Reading Wars agree that CCSSI is bad mojo, but always very aware that their reasoning and mine are almost always quite different. Pointing that out seems to have been helpful to a lot of folks in the Left-Right Alliance on Facebook. If it bothered anyone there, I’ve yet to hear about it, but I got a lot of thanks from people there.
Apparently, though, things are different with the group Diane brought to our attention yesterday. Pointing out really dumb stuff is not allowed. Suggesting that at first blush something seems amiss with the analysis of CCSS there (even if we can agree that it’s not something we want to see implemented) is also verbotten.
Did I come down too hard? Maybe. Did I overgeneralize based on less than complete information? Perhaps. But then, I didn’t claim otherwise.
However, the reaction has been SO negative, so dismissive of what I mentioned, that I remain more than a little bit skeptical that this is a balanced group that allows criticism of bad arguments, or even the pointing out that a particular claim about CCSSI is coming from a conspiracy-theory world view that shouldn’t have any place in an APOLITICAL group. So tell me: who is politicizing things on the site? It’s not like I walked over and made up something, is it?
You or anyone there (or here) might have retorted that yes, there’s some reason to question that Common Core poem story, to get more facts and refrain from jumping to the usual Birther-type accusations (what you no doubt realize get called “tin-hat” ideas by Core defenders and apologists). I found another site a few days ago where someone no sooner finished explaining how she wasn’t a tin-hat wearing wing-nut than she tied the Common Core to Obamacare, thus convincing me that her tin hat firmly atop her head. I don’t make these things up. I only wish I were.
If someone from the NY group has disavowed that sort of thing, I’ve missed it. What I’ve picked up is that anything goes there, and no one dares question anyone else’s posts (except mine, of course ;^) I guess because to do so would be “politicizing” matters.
But in the end, all analysis of the Common Core has political elements. Not Republican/Democrat politics. Not Conservative/Liberal politics. As I’ve stated repeatedly (and others have, too) that’s not what’s going on here. NCLB was bipartisan. Probably the ONLY thing in the entire 5 years of Obama that’s drawn little conflict up until recently has been his education policies. Now, quite recently, certain folks seem to have come awake to the fact that either there really are some serious problems with Common Core and the tests and the entire enterprise, or that this is yet another place where perhaps a successful attack on Obama qua Obama can be launched.
I have ZERO tolerance for the latter. ZERO. You don’t like that? Sue me. Ignore me. But don’t tell me that this doesn’t REEK of politics when it so clearly does. Don’t insult my intelligence or that of others who can, when the wind is southerly, know a hawk from a handsaw by telling me that the “politicizing” is my doing. That Sandra Stotsky, Bill Evers, Ze’ev Wurman, and others with whom they’ve been working since at least the early 1990s are just good scholars with no political agenda.
And the inescapable politics regardless of those folks is the politics of the capitalist, profiteering takeover of one of our most important democratic institutions. It’s that fact that aggravates me the most about the above-mentioned people. They can’t openly admit that this is about money, profit, exploitation, the rich getting richer on the backs of the poor and people of color, because all that runs counter to the story they’ve been telling for decades: that it’s progressive educators who are looking to dumb-down, hold back, and profit from the have-nots. This is the so-called “liberal racism” theory. It’s still operating in everything these people write. And it is baloney for the most part. What bugs them is any sort of social justice or equity-oriented agenda. They don’t want ecology, global warming, or anything vaguely connected with progressive thinking getting a toe-hold in K-12 education. Look at the Mitch Daniels attack on A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES and his gloating comments after Howard Zinn died. That’s very much of a piece with Stotsky, et al. Again, I only wish I were imagining this or making it up (for fun? profit? Lots of luck with that theory).
So I suppose this has gone on long enough. I’m a VERY bad guy. I’m really the fellow you should fear and loathe. Please continue to trust Sandy Stotsky and those who finance her (oddly, those are some of the same people who are promoting the takeover of public education by private enterprise). You, Anne, and those who believe as you do are more than welcome to blame the messenger here. Just don’t complain when, at some point down the road, the liberals and progressives among you (you claim that there are lots in that group) wake up to discover that what happens when you make your bed with folks from Heritage and similar organizations isn’t very much to your liking.
Of course, those who already agree with Stotsky’s politically-motivated ideas won’t have any problem. But I’ll have proven YOUR point. ;^)
Now THIS post, I really like Michael, for it’s articulate candor. You turn out to be someone with whom one might actually converse, since you state your assumptions up front. I would be interested in learning more about the evil in the CCSS Math standards. If you are still in Ann Arbor, as I am, I would enjoy Starbucking with you some day, if you don’t object to being seen with someone with a tea party tin hat on. It’s invisible, by the way, but still brings in a signal pretty well. Having any contact with a wing nut, however harmless, white bearded, and genial, might get you in trouble with the social justice high priests around here, and I wouldn’t want the campus inquisition to get its hooks into you, however unjustified. Of the English standards, which I am qualified to judge, I just sort say “Meh”; nothing new, just rammed down to lower and lower levels. What I don’t like is the data collection, but I am nevertheless very interested in the math standards qua standards. Or to condense the question: can we REALLY get all 8th graders through algebra? I doubt it.
Michael,
I read several of your comments and then I asked you a simple question, twice. Why are you presuming such negative content and intent of the Stop Common Core in New York website and fb page?
The content of both your responses to my question and your original comments which led to my question presume so much about everything that it becomes difficult to actually extract what you are petitioning for or against. But after reading your last post, I think I have a fairly clear picture:
Your entire visceral criticism of the fb page is based on the lack of what negative response you would personally have deemed appropriate by members or admin of the page, to a single post by one of its members. Your comments hold an awful lot of negative presumption and criticism toward an excellent group of intelligent, well informed individuals based on the single post you reference.
But ultimately, in reading your comments, it becomes evident that your reaction to the fb page would be predictable in light of what appears to be your overall perspective: Everyone knows nothing and has an agenda and is blind to everyone else’s ignorance and agendas…..except you.
With regard to your comments about David Coleman, he may or may not have a social justice agenda. And he may be as you suggest, no more than a greedy corporate player. But his funding and access to the monopoly he’s been handed come from the social agenda ridden Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, facilitated by Arne Duncan (and his boss who put him in place with absolute knowledge and intent of facilitating the implementation of the Gates’ agenda). Obama facilitated this. He didn’t start it. But he shackled it to RttT knowing full well what would be written into the standards and that it was being implemented without public or legislative knowledge or discourse. There is an agenda. It’s not a “wing nut” theory. Coleman may just be a corporate titan whom you can despise if you like. But he couldn’t and wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this except for the pursuit of the agenda of his benefactors. Coleman didn’t write his own ticket. And Obama isn’t in this for the money.
As far as Sandra Stotsky goes, you may not find her to be the ” Queen Bee” of education standards. But the developers and proponents of CC do. And they were pretty sure that the majority of the education community did too. That’s why they hand picked her to rubber stamp their “standards”. It would have given them the slam-dunk. They just never saw her rejection coming. They never saw her catching on to their agenda. (Or they would have picked someone else).
There are more than a few people who know quite a bit about Common Core who aren’t you, Michael. MANY of them are on the Stop Common Core in NY pages. If you really have the ability to see this agenda for what it is, you’ll look past the first post you saw, and join some people who WILL make a difference in this fight.
I think this evening’s festivities on another of Diane’s posts clarified a few things. I am happy to ally with those who have similar views. They need not be identical. I don’t feel the main players over there and I are compatible. I will have to soldier on without them and vice versa.
I am sure Sandy Stotsky is far too sly for the bad guys. They must be quaking in their boots about now. But fool that I am, I have no use for her when it comes to education policy. Again, I will soldier on.
All I notice about dissenters like Stotsky and Milgram recently is that the people running the CCSSI bandwagon aren’t having much difficulty dismissing them as cranky conservative.
That tack might be harder with lifelong progressives and those with an established record of opposing this initiative. Sandy and Jim? Not so much.
All these discussion about the Stop Common Core in NY page…I am very glad that many teachers and others are waking up to how bad CC really is and though I don’t agree with all their reasons to oppose it, I’m glad for the help in stopping it. However, I would like to know how any good parent would be happy to have one of their kid’s teachers involved with Bad A** teachers. This disgusts me. As if the name isn’t bad enough (& we don’t talk that way around children in my family) their logo of the communist fist, is really beyond what I would want in my child or grand child’s classroom. I am all for having liberals & conservatives work together on issues, but there are some things I would draw the line on & this kind of example from teachers is more than Ic an stomach.
I’m so naive that I didn’t even realize that the raised fist was a communist emblem. Thank you. And I’m a member too! With whom have I gotten myself involved out of idealism?
Yes, indeed, Patmom and Harlan: we America-hating, anarchy-socialist-Commies are everywhere. Watch out!
As I said to the friends I made last night after my two hour presentation on Common Core, high stakes testing and data sharing at the Greater New Orleans Tea Party meetup –
– wouldn’t it be ironic if the salvation of our public school system, the foundation for our democracy/republic, and a long needed beginning of collaboration between the far right and the far left on other issues essential to reclaiming that democracy/republic were brought about by just one (albeit a very important one) principal that we all as freedom loving members of the human race agree on? Standardization of our children is wrong and the methodology being used to bring about the commonality it seeks (high stakes testing) is nothing but a weapon to accomplish it.
As I said in my introduction, “I may see the world through blue colored lenses and you may see it through red colored lenses, but we can’t deny there is principal in both our politics.”. We do see eye to eye on the desire to limit government control – my concern is that those limits are placed intelligently and effectively and that control is legitimately placed in the hands of The People not corporate entities who would have us believe that with them in control, in education or the marketplace, we get to make REAL choices for ourselves and for our children. I believe, and it has been played out in all walks of life, that when big money talks, freedom walks!
Both liberals and conservatives share a common fear that our children are being robbed of the opportunity to have an education that teaches them respect for individuality and that we all must have a seat at the table if we hope to retain freedom. Because by golly if one of our groups insists they are the chosen to the exclusion of the other and they win that skirmish, the war will be lost and our freedom to disagree with it.
My thinking is decidedly liberal but I can only retain that distinction as long as there is a conservative way of thinking. Without a student, I’m not a teacher. So carry on and proselytize both sides – but don’t refuse to sit down at the same table to share a meal or you will both starve to death.