Rotten to the {Common} Core

Rotten to the Core: How Common Core Rewrites Educational Standards

"If something is not done soon, the vast majority of American K-12 school children will be taught using dubious, federally backed national education 'standards' that have come under fire from across the political spectrum. America’s kids, as well as their parents, will also be monitored and tracked in unprecedented ways from early childhood into the workforce. Opposition is growing by leaps and bounds, but government officials are not yet backing down."

 

The previous paragraph comes from Alex Newman's cover story from the latest issue of The New American. When reading about it, Common Core sounds very surreal, until you realize that 45 states have already adopted the program without even seeing the standards. How was this done? By using a federal incentive that nearly all states get weak in the knees over: funding.

 

The states adopted these standards in the midst of being cash-strapped and stimulus money was freely flowing.

 

Of course, one way around this would seem to be to homeschool or send kids to private schools. However, when national tests used for college entrance are rewritten to reflect the Common Core curriculum, how well do you think non-Common Core taught students will do?

 

As hard as we fight against having nationalized healthcare, we need to oppose all initiatives by the federal government that are outside of its constitutional limitations.

 

We need to educate others, including our elected officials, voters and opinion leaders about the proper scope and make-up of the federal vs. state governments. The states created the federal government and granted it enumerated powers as listed in the Constitution. Then, as stated in the Bill of Rights, the states defined specific rights that the federal government could not infringe upon. In fact, the Tenth Amendment essentially states that anything outside of the enumerated powers is left to the states and the people.

 

We have seen the disastrous effects of an unconstitutional federal government merely in the results it has produced: declining value of the dollar, irresponsible spending, and an absolutely ridiculous debt, not to mention subverting the American way of being self reliant and self responsible. The states are not meant to be subservient to the federal government. The states are to stand up to the federal government when the fed acts outside of its limitations, thereby protecting the people of the state.