Of course we all want our children to have teachers who are compassionate, flexible, perceptive, good communicators, and experts in the subjects which they teach. In other words, we want our teachers to be almost superhuman. Under the Race to the Top initiative of which the Common Core State Standards are a part, the desired […]
Curriculum Trends
The following two opposing quotes exemplifies the debate in curriculum today. Is school about the teaching of information or is it about creating the model “child of the future?”
“What the revolution has been in curriculum is that we no longer are teaching facts to children…” — Shirley McCune, then Senior Director, Mid-continent Educational Laboratory, speaking at the Governors’s conference in 1989. This quote was transcribed from the conference video. McCune was the Federal Liason, learning and teaching for Washington State until 2008, and played a key role in WASL and curriculum development.
“When will ‘progressive’ educators admit that you can’t learn history, geography, science, etc. in an atmosphere where children are expected to ‘construct’ their own knowledge in little groups and teachers are forbidden to engage in ‘direct instruction’?” –Andrew Wolf, Editor and Publisher, The Riverdale Review, Bronx Press Newsgroup
Pull quotes:
“Consider the recent history of high stakes testing in the state of Washington. We spent more than a decade and a billion dollars on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) only to find that the test was deeply flawed…..”
“The truth is that as long as we try to force every kid through a one size fits all system we will never see improvement. No other country in the world is running an education system on the pretense that all students are the same and as long as we pursue that folly we will continue to waste precious resources and fall further behind our competitors.”
Read the commentary by Bob Dean
A dad in Florida was furious at what he found in his son’s backpack.
Read the article: “Dad furious after finding this crayon-written paper in Florida 4th grader’s backpack: “I am willing to give up some of my Constitutional rights…..to be safer”
These incidents happen frequently and have been going on for years. I know, because a similar incident happened in our family years ago. Only now, in these days of instant media, are we able to learn what is happening. Be alert! And maybe you’d like to consider homeschooling–we did, and it was terrific.
“Anytime you’ve got a one size fits all attitude regarding education, it’s never good for the students, the parents, or education in general,..”
Have you been hearing about the “Common Core State Standards”? Here is a video which explains the frightening concept and which explains that this is just one component of a larger agenda. The speaker, Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project, begins the explanation with the Race to the Top program, but the roots of transformation of education began decades ago. A significant year was 1965 when federal moneys were first given to states bringing federal mandates to local districts, and another critical year was 1994 when Goals 2000 and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act were passed. President Obama’s Race to the Top program is the most recent step in the destruction of American education. Local control has been systematically destroyed. Please watch all five parts of this video.
A Kindergarten Career Test! This is wrong on so many levels–and also very revealing. Read more.
This is a Federal School-to-Work document explaining the new education system which would have as it’s goal the training of human resources. Education would no longer be for the benefit and enrichment of the student; it would no longer be to equip the student with information and knowledge to meet life’s challenges.
The student would be subject to government-defined career tracks, and an obstacle course of assessments and certifications. Different certificates would be needed to enter the workforce. The government becomes the gatekeeper between citizens and their jobs.
Pull Quote: “Young elementary school students should use the proper names for body parts and, by the end of fifth grade, know that sexual orientation is “the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender,” according to new sexual education guidelines released Monday by a coalition of health and education groups.” Read the Seattle Times article.
The United Nations has declared the years 2005 to 2014 to be the decade for Education for Sustainable Development.
According to the UN Bruntland Commission: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
In reality, it is a philosophy of redistributing wealth and destroying freedom.
A graduate school professor and clinical psychologist analyzes …and criticizes…the post-modern and post-national philosophy underlying the International Baccalaureate program