We have shared with you the video of Shirley McCune, the Senior Director of McRel, at the 1989 National Governors’ Conference on Education. She shares these three new objectives of education
- Total transformation of our society (sound familiar?)
- Facts and information(knowledge) no longer primary purpose of education
- The close connection between economic(sustainable) development and human capital(labor)
She also shares that this movement has been going on for about 10 years. That means the efforts to fundamentally transform education, by not teaching facts and information, and changing the goal of education to creating a workforce for a global economy, have been happening for many years.
Today, I want to share with you a story about a 29 year veteran teacher from Los Angeles. He has seen many “education” initiatives come and go in his career as a teacher. Here is a clip of what he has to say about those schemes and the current scheme, Common Core.
The system, “rather than encourage and support you, . . . actively works to discourage you,” he writes. “Every few years a new ‘game changer’ is announced as the newest set of standards are introduced, but the system never really changes. Veteran teachers know that these standards are no different from the old ones. Taking a page from the politburo, leaders stand in the front of the room at professional development meetings making demands and predictions for their ‘New World Order.’ Good teachers don’t know whether to laugh, cry or quit.
The system, “rather than encourage and support you, . . . actively works to discourage you,” he writes. “Every few years a new ‘game changer’ is announced as the newest set of standards are introduced, but the system never really changes. Veteran teachers know that these standards are no different from the old ones. Taking a page from the politburo, leaders stand in the front of the room at professional development meetings making demands and predictions for their ‘New World Order.’ Good teachers don’t know whether to laugh, cry or quit.
“The most recent sermon on the mount has come to us in the form of Common Core Standards. I am not making this up: the presenter at our first training explained that our job as teachers was ‘to prepare the children to be a part of the international workforce.’ We were also told that the emphasis on imaginative literature was going to be scaled back because children need more nonfiction.”
You can read the full story at the Washington Post.
I don’t want my children or grandchildren prepared for a global workforce. I want them to have an education, where they are free to decide what it is they want to do and not be led into a career cluster that meets with the needs of a global economy. It is time to stand up and take back our schools. Go to your local school board meetings. Talk to your child’s teachers and principal. Talk to your local superintendent. Contact your local Legislators. Contact your Governor. Question them. Question everything. We have trusted for too long.
South Dakotans Against Common Core 