Gina Miller
Gina Miller, a native of Texas and current resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is a conservative Christian political writer and radio/television voice professional. Contact her through Facebook.
October 21, 2013
Common Core would make any communist regime proud
By Gina Miller
Let's just jump right in here to the crux of the Common Core "State" Standards with an excerpt from the paper, "History of Education in Communist Countries," by Hae Yoon Jeong, 2009, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy:
The communist revolutions in the 20th century had their goal at creating total revolutions and establishing a new society different from the capitalist society. This new society required people with new loyalties, new motivations, and new concepts of individual and group life. Education was acknowledged to have a strategic role in achieving this revolution and development. Specifically, education was used to produce ardent revolutionaries ready to rebel against the old society and establish a new order and also to bring up a new generation of dexterous laborers to take up the various tasks of development and modernization.
... Marxist-Leninist philosophy was the basis of the Communist education system. It emphasized the role of schools and youth organizations in educating students by indoctrination. For this the Communist societies paid a lot of attention to schooling. There had been great confidence that schools would be a major instrument for building the "New Communist Man." Such a person would work diligently, would have a clear insight into the dynamics of social change, would understand and be skilled in modern technology, and follow the tenets of Marxism-Leninism.
According to Communist educational philosophy, a good, modern education is one that is polytechnic. Central to such an education is teaching about production and providing labor training and work experience to youngsters while they are in secondary and higher education. Marxist interpretations of the duty of the school include the job of teaching young people the leading role of material conditions of production in shaping social and political events(2). Young people should be given an understanding and some experience of the way production processes are organized; the social consequences of different ways of organizing production; and the importance of technological change.
Marxism-Leninism also stresses atheist education and anti-religious propaganda in the schools. The main approach taken is to emphasize the superior quality of the answers which science, as opposed to religion, can give to the basic questions of human existence.
All authoritarian regimes must necessarily commandeer their country's education system. They must own and mold the minds of the children to make the kids into pliable, group-thinking serfs of the state – "good citizens." Freedom of thought and wealth of real knowledge are anathema to communist leaders.
For those who are paying attention, it is quite clear that the United States of America has been taken over by hardcore communists, which is the culmination of a hundred years of communist termites chewing away at the foundations of our once-free Republic. Naturally, they don't call themselves communists, but they are doing the very things communists do. I need not give you, educated reader, the laundry list of anti-freedom, anti-American lawlessness that has poured forth from Barack Obama (or whatever his name is), his administration and Congress, all of which has dragged America toward tyrannical, centralized control of our nation, which is the definition of communism.
Centralized control of America's education system is of paramount importance to these lawless degenerates. The problem they face here in the United States is that our nation, from its founding, has forbidden the federal government from dictating education standards and curriculum to the states. The communist central planners have found a way around this. It's called theCommon Core "State" Standards. As with all communist programs, the name is misleading. In fact, it's a damnable lie. The Common Core is not a set of state-created standards. To the contrary, they were developed by a leftist, Washington-based think tank, Achieve, endorsed by two Washington-based trade groups, and funded, in part, with millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others, like the Sandler Foundation (of Herb and Marion Sandler, hard Left allies of George Soros, ACORN, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for American Progress, MoveOn.org, and of course, so many more).
Pushers of the Common Core have been very careful to create the illusion that this is a state-led effort. To this end, they partnered with Washington's National Governors Association (which does not represent all the states) and Washington's Council of Chief State School Officers. Neither of these groups was tasked by any state or state board of education to create the new standards. In fact, state legislators, teachers and parents were left out of their development.
Common Core proponents also claim that the standards are voluntary, which is also misleading. In 2009, the Obama administration created a funding carrot for the states, Race to the Top grants, as well as waivers for provisions of No Child Left Behind. States could applies for these, but in order to qualify for the grants and waivers, states were required to adopt the Common Core standards and related national tests, sight unseen, because the standards were not even presented until 2010. Currently 45 states and the District of Columbia have taken the bribes and adopted Common Core, but a number of them are now working to get rid of it.
At present, the standards, which you can read online, only cover math and English language "arts." Naturally, the communists were not going to go overboard by initially including history, science and social studies in their standards, subjects that would reveal the leftist ideological agenda behind the standards. But science standards are on the way, and the rest will follow (as will nationalized curriculum based on the Common Core).
From a Concerned Women for America pamphlet:
Proponents claim that the Common Core standards are "rigorous," "evidenced-based," and will make students "college-ready." (8) However, curriculum experts believe the Common Core standards are below average and only prepare students for a community college rather than a four-year university. (9)
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Professor Emerita at the University of Arkansas served on the Common Core Validation Committee and refused to sign off on the English language arts standards. She cited poor quality, empty skill sets, the de-emphasis on literature and low reading levels. She is concerned that the reading level that will assume students "college ready" will be seventh grade level. (10)
Equally disturbing is the prominence of nonfiction "informational texts" such as technical manuals, government documents, brochures and menus rather than highly regarded classic literature.
Dr. James Milgram of Stanford University, the only mathematician on the Common Core Validation Committee, refused to sign off on the math standards. Dr. Milgram maintains that the math standards will, by eighth grade, leave American students two years behind their peers in high performing countries. (11) [Endnotes available at source link]
But the quality of the standards is not really the point, is it? No. This is about central command and control of our nation's education system, about ripping the authority from states, local communities and most importantly parents, none of whom have any say whatsoever in what the standards entail, nor can they change them at all.
It is also about tracking and data-mining our kids from cradle to career to grave (Obamacare tracking also covers cradle to kindergarten and beyond, of course). Oh, yes! Tied to the adoption of the standards, states are required – in violation of privacy laws – to collect information on all students – detailed, invasive information – to be shared with the federal government and other "interested" third parties.
From the Concerned Women pamphlet:
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a June 8, 2009, speech, "Hopefully, someday, we can track children from preschool to high school and from high school to college and college to career." (5) This should send a chill down the spine of every parent.
States that chose to take federal money via the 2009 Stimulus bill had to agree to build expensive high-tech systems to track student performance and other personal data.
Further, in January 2012, the United States Department of Education, without Congressional approval, changed the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to allow the transmission of students' personally identifiable information "to any governmental or private entity designated by the Department and others as an 'authorized representative,' for the purpose of evaluating an education program." (6)
This National Education Data Model recommends collecting data such as academic performance, disciplinary history, family income, religious affiliation, health history, etc. – over 400 data points in all (7) – without parental consent!
There is much more that can be said about the Common Core, like the ghastly price tag of it, which we can only guess at this point – a massively high price that will be borne by the states. There is also a whole book that could be written on the leftist revolutionaries who are behind the creation of the Common Core, and the billions, even trillions, of dollars that companies stand to make off of it – companies involved in its funding and development and the public relations push for it.
I have only touched on the surface of the communist education endgame of Common Core. Thankfully, millions of Americans are learning about this poison pill and are fighting back against it. It is essential that we learn all we can about the Common Core and that we tell our friends and family and let our state representatives and governors know that we want no part of this illegal federal takeover of our children's education.
You will find a wealth of informational resources on the Internet to help you understand and combat the Common Core. I also highly recommend anexcellent video series by Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project. The video is in five short parts that will give you a clear overview of the treacherous Common Core. Learn it, and fight it.
© Gina Miller
