The Real Problem with US Common Core: It Further Outsources Education

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/02/11-10

If you said anything besides New York, consider remedial education for yourself. New York is a dark navy blue beside the brilliant reds of the other states. It has not just a Democratic governor, but one otherwise closely aligned with the Obama administration. Until recently, opposition to the Common Core has come almost solely from conservative corners, with Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin leading the charge. Beck's primary allegation is familiar: "Kids are being indoctrinated with extreme leftist ideology." Of course, conservatives have been saying that schools "indoctrinate kids into extreme leftist ideology" for years – if this were as prevalent or effective as the GOP seems to think it is, they should all be out of office by now.

No, if that were the sole criticism, the battle would not be as pitched or as grimly entertaining as it is. Rather, Beck has spun the Common Core standards into a wistful steampunk dystopia, complete with stormtroopers and biomechanical monitoring. The Common Core will be used to nudge children into government-approved professions; it will rinse from American culture such subversive texts as Huckleberry Finn; student evaluations will eventually include "using cameras to judge facial expressions, an electronic seat that judges posture, a pressure-sensitive computer mouse and a biometric wrap on kids' wrists". Beck's final ironic fillip on the conspiracy is worthy of Philip K Dick: students will no longer learn cursive, and thus be unable to read the constitution in its original form: They won't even know what rights have been stolen from them. (I would so see that movie.)

The opposition to the Common Core is so larded with distinctively Tea Party paranoia, one might assume that it was an Obama administration program. It's not. It's not federal program, either. It's not even a government program, per se. The Common Core was formulated and promoted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and brought to national implementation by the National Governors Association. The Department of Education (DOE) has promoted heavily. More importantly, the Obama administration has essentially drafted it as a de facto set of official national standards. Barred by federal law from "directing, supervising or controlling elementary and secondary school curricula, programs of instruction and instructional materials", the DOE has used the promise of "Race to the Top" grants in exchange for adopting the Common Core standards and process.