Fight The Common Core

The Heartland Institute has been at the forefront of pushing back on Common Core education standards—a Washington-led scheme to take away the long-held control of curriculum from states, school boards, teachers, and parents. Our effort is led by Joy Pullmann, research fellow for education policy and managing editor of School Reform News.

Common Core State Standards for K-12 schools were adopted with little public debate by every state but Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia in 2010, part of the price of getting federal dollars under the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” program. Now educators, parents, and policymakers are taking a closer look at what they agreed to, and many don’t like what they see.

In this Heartland Institute Policy Brief (PDF), Pullmann reveals some major weaknesses of Common Core. The program represents a major centralization of control over curriculum, contrary to the American tradition of decentralized control and funding. Instead of being “world class,” the standards represent a significant step back from what experts say are the standards America really needs.

No wonder many states are now holding hearings on whether to back out of the Common Core project. Click here for Pullmann's latest report on Common Core in a standard 8-1/2 x 11 Policy Brief format, or click here for an alternative format for printing as a booklet (print on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, double-sided, folded) to share with friends. (Note: If you are printing double-sided, please be sure to instruct your printer to have it open on the SHORT side, not the long side.)


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The Attack on Americanism!

It seems lately there is no end to the stories highlighting what appears to be an all-out attack on Americanism.

A school district in Sioux Falls, SD has decided that the Pledge of Allegiance is more of a bother than its worth. The school board voted 5-0 to stop the Pledge of Allegiance from being recited in high school because they can’t find the 15 seconds to do it. One of the board members told the news source that in high school there is very little time in the mornings or afternoon to pull it off. Can you say LIAR?!

These people need to be recalled. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, it takes 2 minutes start to finish, from the kids getting on their feet, to saying it, and then sitting back down. Two minutes. Do 2 minutes less of morning news. Cut the lunch period by 2 minutes. Cut sex education by 2 minutes. How about we just shut down the school all together, then we have all day to do it?

Do these administrators and educators understand that what the pledge stands for and what the flag stands for is what gives them the right to be idiots? The freedoms these things represent include people dying for them in other countries!

Then these yo-hos go on to say that the pledge will have more meaning if we only do it once in a while. Really? How does that work? You mean I’ll understand something and learn it better if I’m not as exposed to it and don’t do it as often?

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