On tonight's Glenn Beck Program, guest-host David Barton, founder and president of Wall Builders, revisited Common Core - its history, its teaching, and what it means for your child. You have heard about Common Core on this program and around the media for quite some time now, but, with its implementation kicking into high gear, you are about to hear a whole lot more.
We have already seen reports that student test scores have plummeted in Kentucky and New York - two states in which Common Core testing has been implemented - and it looks like such results will become the new norm. But are these new standards as rigorous as education officials would like us to believe? Or are we actually churning out a new generation of children ill-equipped for life in the real world?
David first explained that Constitutional conservatives know and believe that children are the future of America. Children have different personalities, different strengths, different interests, different skill sets, but our government education system today assumes all children are exactly the same.
"The government is trying to cram every one of them into a government shaped and defined mold," David said. "That's one of the underlying problems with Common Core: They want to make everybody look and think the same."
No one denies that there is a minimum amount of academic knowledge every student needs in order to be a good citizen, but kids aren't receiving that knowledge in school today. For example, children will no longer learn how to write cursive as part of the Common Core standards. Forget the fact children will no longer be able to read letters from their parents and grandparents, a generation of children will now be unable to read historical documents or even the Constitution.
So what can we, as informed and concerned citizens, do to thwart these standards?
"It happens at the local level," David said. "Don't worry about fighting this at the national level."
An Ohio State legislator explained he currently has a bill on the floor of the Ohio State Senate looking to stop the implementation of Common Core in the state because he heard the concerns of the educators, parents, and students. He said he was surprised to find out how little his colleagues new about the standards.
Legislators in other states agreed that in the last six months or so, they have heard a lot more from their constituents about Common Core and the problems they have with the curriculum. One state senator explained that textbooks in her state refer to the United States as a "democracy" not a "constitutional republic" and it is that subtle manipulation of language that will prove to be most frightening going forward.
TheBlaze will keep you up-to-date on the latest on Common Core in the coming in weeks and months, but ultimately it will be up to the parents and grandparents to be diligent in keeping track of what children are learning in school.
