Parents, Teachers, And Students In Common Cause Against Common Core

When a 3rd grade student became confused and left a question on his Common Core-aligned homework blank, his teacher responded with a red question mark. His father then replied on his behalf:

In case you can't read it, I've transcribed the key part here:

Dear Jack, Don't feel bad. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering which included extensive study in differential equations and other higher math applications. Even I cannot explain the Common Core Mathematics approach, nor get the answer correct. In the real world, simplification is valued over complication . . .

This is not an aberration as students, parents, and teachers across the country are becoming increasingly outraged by the disaster that is the Obama Administration's "Common Core State Standards," a vanity project more or less bought and paid for by Bill Gates via the Gates Foundation. 

Here is part of a letter from a frustrated teacher published yesterday on Diane Ravitch's Blog:

Last year during the first year of the Common Core testing, I had students who were crying because they did not understand the questions, did not have time to finish under the allotted time, or were just simply overwhelmed by the complexity of the test. Is that why I became a teacher? No, it is not! I teach because I want to see my students learn, but as more and more pressure comes down on us as teachers so too does it on our students . . . There has to be a time when we stop thinking about the race to the top and start thinking about the children we are supposed to be encouraging to want to learn! The only thing we are doing with these common core state tests is setting them up for failure and in the same process making teachers look like they are not doing their jobs . . . I'm tired of people who have never stepped foot into a classroom telling me that I am not "effective" because my 8 year old student can't pass a test that even a college graduate as difficulty completing!

And then there is this, a brilliant, concise exposition on everything that is wrong with Common Core, from a student. The Chair of the school board refused to give him an extra minute, so he had to speak fast, but man does he speak well:

Mr. Ye's comparison to the Chinese school system is an apt one. For years, students and parents in China have complained about how the extreme pressures of their drill-and-kill system has left children burnt out, with no joy for learning, clinically depressed, and at a greatly elevated risk for suicide. This seems to be the model our government, both political parties, and their corporate partners are pursuing.

Parents, teachers, and students are pushing back against the monied and powerful who are treating children as guinea pigs in their cruel experiment in "shock doctrine" capitalism. Alone, they can treat us with the cool dismissiveness this school board did Mr. Ye, but together . . . Well, I don't have a crystal ball, but at least we have a chance.

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