Like most parents, you may be wondering what this Common Core Standards (CCS) thing is all about. And, of course, that is part of the problem: very few people across the country are aware of the significant change that’s been foisted upon the nation’s public school districts. In fact, even most classroom teachers had no idea what the CCS was until they were directed not long ago to begin aligning their instruction to it. But I believe that was by design – because people cannot stand up against that which they do not realize is happening.
Of course, it’s bad enough that this is happening to the public schools – and we can and should pray and advocate that each state adopting the CCS for its public schools does whatever it takes to extricate itself from implementation. But you might be thinking, as I did not long ago, that the problem is rather irrelevant to those in private schools and to homeschoolers – something to watch from afar as a concerned taxpayer, but something “out there” and “other.”
However, it’s not that simple, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, there is evidence to suggest that the power brokers behind the CCS would like to find ways to force private schools and homeschools to comply as well. They believe all of education – not just that paid for by the government – should be “standardized” and are determined to get their way. Additionally, a number of homeschool curriculum providers have chosen to align their materials with the CCS – even though, as private businesses catering to private education, they are under no federal mandate to do so.
In fact, that development was the impetus behind the formation of The Educational Freedom Coalition, a database I created to list what every provider of homeschool-related material is doing in regards to the CCS. We want homeschool parents to know exactly what philosophical position about standardization they are getting when they spend their hard-earned money on homeschool resources.
But along with that knowledge must come an understanding of what the CCS really is and why it is dangerous – for the sake of every young person in this nation and for our future as a country. And so I share here a small collection of resources explaining the CCS. Of course, even this sampling might seem overwhelming. But simply click on a few links to get started and then bookmark the page to come back for more when you have time.
Above all else, please don’t allow yourself to simply dismiss this issue. It’s too important to ignore. After all, as Edmund Burke famously said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” As you’ll see with just a bit of reading that the CCS is an evil initiative on many levels. Thus, we simply cannot sit by and let it take hold without a fight.
• The Ambitions of Bill and Melinda Gates: Controlling Population and Public Education
• Joy Pullman: Data Mining Kids Crosses Line
• Opposition to Obama-Backed National Education Scheme Grows
• Rotten to the Core: The Feds’ Invasive Student Tracking Database
• Stop Common Core: Reclaiming Local Control in Education – VIDEO SERIES
• Truth in American Education: Common Core Standards
• Truth in American Education: Open Letter to Parents of Public School Children
• Why I Oppose the Common Core Standards
• Why National Standards Won’t Fix American Education: Misalignment of Power and Incentives
Photo Credit: Upstream Politics
Tina Hollenbeck and her husband are raising and homeschooling two daughters. Additionally, she writes regularly for her blog, Being Made New, as well as several other venues, and also serves as staff writer for Celebrate Kids. And she’s the coordinator of The Educational Freedom Coalition, a new informational website for homeschoolers. In her spare time, Tina enjoys singing on her church’s worship team, exercising, and scrapbooking.