I have my problems with Common Core. As public policy I'm bothered by it for the reasons laid out in this New York Principals' open letter: the absence of sustained input from educators, the redirection of public money to prefab curricula prepared by private companies, the lack of evidence that the standards actually work before implementation, the perverse incentives high-stakes exit testing festers and fosters, and so forth.
As a parent I'm pissed off at how CC was rolled out in NY because the math homework the 9-Year-Old brings home sucks ass. I get that it's supposed to make the kids think through numerical logic, but the instructions are frequently badly written, counter-intuitive, and flat-out infuriating. Getting through what should be a straight-up fourth-grade fucking homework assignment is like dad & daughter trying to write a book report on The King in Yellow* every Tuesday & Thursday, the Math Homework Nights.
That said...
This is comical, for Missouri, anyway.
The House Appropriations – Education Committee cut deeply today into Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposals for public schools and higher education, slashing his planned increases by more than $200 million.
But committee Chairman Mike Lair, R-Chillicothe, found $8 to address a pressing problem. The money is to be used “for two rolls of high density aluminum to create headgear designed to deflect drone and/or black helicopter mind reading and control technology.”
On the summary sheet handed out to lawmakers, the money is slated for “tin foil hats” and was tied to an amendment removing language barring the state from accepting federal grants to implement Common Core standards for public schools.
That's because while there are genuine reasons to cast a cold eye on CC, there are also incredibly stupid reasons, which would be those of the far-right wing lunatic fringe that is the current right-wing mainstream:
Controversy and Porn Pervade
Common Core Curriculum
For the love of fuck.
When schools rely on Common Core (CC) Appendix B to develop literature courses for high schools, students will read books that some consider pornographic. When districts use curriculum that is “Common Core aligned,” students are encountering a variety of politically charged books to which some parents may object.
So, CC represents the attempt of the tyrranical Obama administration to propagandize America's fresh-scrubbed youth into porn and communism by developing an appendix detailing a non-exclusive, non-mandatory reading list.
If only Stalin had thunk it.
You can sewage spelunk in that last link's sewage-cave if you like; it contains many a Golden Treasure. But what strikes me the most about this particular wingnut eruption is that provokes faux-evenhanded bullshit like this:
In recent months, we have been puzzled by the small but vocal minority of conservatives who have joined forces with some on the far left to oppose the Common Core.
CC is not a plot, and cannot be explained away via simple conspiracy theory. It's too complex and has too many actors. Which is to say, as an upshot, is that I don't think the loony right are the stalking horses for the evil right as regards CC. That op-ed is panicky. The think-tanky right has created a monster and then lost control of it. To the extent that CC does represent a challenge to the autonomy of primary and secondary teachers as a field, this regressive goal of shitheads like these op-ed writers is imperilled by the rubes who've swallowed long-term wingnut propaganda.
Which is darkly funny, but still a shite situation overall.
Because of the false balance thing. "The right is aainst CC... and so is the left! Therefore, it is perfect."
Fuck.
*Google it, redsnouts.