Educational Throwdown: Uncommon to the Core vs. Common Core

by Karen Serna
Clash Daily Guest Contributor

Manipulating its way around three federal laws, the U.S. Department of Education deceptively enticed 45 states to commit to Common Core Standards (CCS) by offering grants and earmarked stimulus money. Unfortunately, these states adopted CCS before even seeing those standards or the curricula that will naturally follow. (States were asked to accept the standards in late 2009 before they were published in March 2010**). Common Core, you ask? CCS, simply put, is the federal government’s plan to shift our K-12 education system from local and state control to national control while taking full control of our children. Beyond being completely unconstitutional and BIG BROTHER to the core (which I will discuss in later articles), it is a disaster for our children’s education.

Common Core will inevitably mean more standardized tests, which are always geared towards the lowest common denominator since we need the majority to pass. It means less time educating children and more time teaching to the test, less parental control and more government control, less teacher control and lower education standards. Many educators have already said CCS will destroy math as we know it. Who knows what they will eventually do to science, history, etc. I have not even mentioned the tracking system your children will be forced into (more on that in a future article).

When did we decide “one size fits all” was the best way to educate our children? Public schools treat them the way Henry Ford treated a car. Stick all the components on an assembly line and you get the same product over and over and over. The only problem is that I don’t want the same product with our children, even if it was a top quality one, which we all know it is NOT these days. Why must our children all be held to the same standards, or even the same kind of education?

If my child is not able to keep up with the standard, does that make him less than? Does that make him any less equipped to be a contributing member of society? When did we decide brilliance was to be reined in so that others could keep up and not feel badly? Whose idea was that? And who determines what is slow versus what is brilliant?

I don’t want my children to be common. My children are not common, nor will they ever be. They were born with a particular gift to give to the world. As a parent, I must discover what that gift is and then equip them to fulfill that purpose in society. If we put everyone through the same cookie cutter educational system, then no child will ever truly be who they were created to be. They will never walk in greatness.

As for me, I expect greatness, brilliance and excellence from my children. Whether they become city construction workers, doctors, president, business owners, plumbers, or ditch diggers, it makes no difference to me. They will be uncommon. They will walk in excellence and greatness. The public school system is not the place to nurture that greatness – not when we put everyone through the same assembly line and then somehow expect each of them to come out differently so that they can fill all the roles our society needs them to fill.

If you want your children to be brilliant, if you want your children to be great, a, ,and if you want them to walk in excellence, then get them out of the public school system. Home school them, put them in a private school, or create another form of education for your young leaders if you cannot afford these options. They deserve better. They deserve to be all they were designed to be, and the public schools just cannot make that happen anymore. As for my family, our children will never enter this massive government entitlement program we call public school. They will always be uncommon to the core!

For more information on Common Core please visit the following websites:
www.truthinamericaneducation.com
www.stopcommoncore.com
www.asamom.org

**Minute Mom Magazine; Spring 2nd Quarter|2012 Volume 3

Image: Courtesy of: http://atomic-structure.wikispaces.com/Thomson+vs.+Rutherford