The day of the NC General Assembly Common Core hearing, we had WRAL smearing the opposition to the Common Core Standards by choosing to run with the one person who showed up toting an over-sized Bible. Yesterday, the News and Observer had an unsigned Op-Ed from their staff smearing the parents, grandparents, children, teachers and concerned citizens who came out to express their concerns over the Common Core Standards.

Now, we have the Charlotte Observer reprinting another unsigned Op-Ed from the News and Record staff.  The title this time is, Uncommonly irrational Common Core fears and it is nearly the same smear piece, just with the pieces moved around.  It makes a lot of false claims about what was said and doesn’t address ANY of the repeated concerns of the parents who came to speak out.

Why is the media smearing opposition like this? Why aren’t they covering the actual concerns? Because that would require them to defend the standards — and they can’t.

So the plan becomes: Shut Up.

Go read it and then it’s time for a take-down section by section.

Let’s begin:

There may be some valid reasons to worry about the Common Core academic standards. Communism, pornography, social engineering, sex education and the Muslim Brotherhood are not among them. Yet, those were among the horrors cited at a legislative research committee hearing in Raleigh last week.

The News & Record Op-Ed starts with a nice, big smear. Did you get that? There are valid reasons, but we’re not going to mention one of them here. We’ll cherry pick hot button issues from the statements made in order to make 40 who opposed Common Core out of 60 total people who spoke sound like crazies.

 

The initiative wasn’t even begun by President Barack Obama, as many of its critics think. It was devised by the National Governors Association to introduce greater consistency across the country. One of its strongest proponents is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016. North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory also endorses Common Core.

The above paragraph is to politically charge the issue so in the next one the News & Record can smear the Tea Party.  Let’s pick this one apart:

1. Not one person last week said Barack Obama started this thing.
2. It wasn’t just the Natl. Governors Association, it was also the Council Of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Achieve, Inc. and plenty of money from the Gates Foundation.
3. Why would anyone care what Jeb Bush thinks?
4. Also, Governor McCrory hasn’t said whether he endorses it or not, though some of his statements have implied a tacit approval. He’s fence post sitting like other governors.

A prominent critic is U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has said, “We should not allow the federal government to dictate what our children learn; rather, parents, through their teachers, local schools and state systems, should be able to direct the education of their children.”

Like I said, they want to drag in the Tea Party and why they picked Ted Cruz on this topic when Sen. Grassley is leading the charge, I’m just not sure.  Maybe they are misguided and misinformed? Dear News and Record, I point you to the Senate Resolution that you clearly haven’t read.

If parents made curriculum decisions, every child might have his or her own lessons. States set curricula, but without national standards they can’t tell if their students are learning as much as children in the rest of the country. By North Carolina’s own standards, its students were doing great. When scores on state tests were compared to national assessments, a different picture emerged. Uniform standards allow a better comparison. This approach isn’t dictated by the federal government. It has been embraced by 45 states because young people who graduate from high school in North Carolina should know generally what students know in New York or California.

There’s a lot going on in this paragraph above. Let’s break it down piece by piece.

The first line made me laugh. OH NO! What if parents … CHOSE for their child because they know their kid better than anyone else?!  All are kids belong to the state, or something?  Hi, News and Record and Charlotte Observer — that’s called parenting? Also sometimes applicable to homeschooling? Let me tell you something: Common Core is likely to be the best salesman for homeschooling in history.

Consider second sentence from the larger paragraph above:

“States set curricula, but without national standards they can’t tell if their students are learning as much as children in the rest of the country. “

What the heck are they talking about?

States set curricula based on the skills the standards dictate and based on what will be tested. Without national standards we can’t tell if they are learning as much as other kids in the country? Gee, how were we telling what kids were learning for the last 60 years?

Then there is this bizarre comparison to national scores with no mention of what tests or national assessments they are talking about. We’re just supposed to believe them that North Carolina wasn’t matching up. IF that were true, then what has State Superintendent Dr. Atkinson the Department of Instruction been doing all this time? Knitting?

“Uniform standards allow better comparison.”

Really? And what study does that statement come from? Where’s the proof? Children are not uniform. While some skill sets can be agreed upon at various ages, no two kids learn alike or at the same pace. What uniform standards allow for is measuring the middle 40%, which is the focus of Common Core.

This approach isn’t dictated by the federal government. It has been embraced by 45 states because young people who graduate from high school in North Carolina should know generally what students know in New York or California.

No one said it was, but states were most definitely enticed by the Federal government to adopt Common Core. MONEY is why it was embraced. I have yet to see a Common Core supporter prove to me that students in North Carolina didn’t generally know the same thing as students in New York or California.

Ok, we’re almost there. Last section:

State legislators ought to examine the impact of Common Core standards, but they should tune out irrational fears. If the future is frightening, it’s not because of a federal takeover of education. It’s because our young people aren’t learning enough.

Yes, I agree, they ought to examine the impact of Common Core. In fact, at least a dozen of the people who spoke at the public comments portion of the Common Core Study Committee meeting spoke on that very topic: Impact on their kids.

It’s worth noting, I have yet to see ONE news report talking about the wave of moms who came in there, fought back tears while speaking and relayed the stories about the mental beat down the Common Core was having on their young kids. I’ve also yet to see a news outlet report on the Data collection being done, the looming estimated $642 million in coming costs or the fact June Atkinson is President of the CCSSO – one of the entities who created Common Core and of which holds the copyright. Oh yeah, the copyright; not a story I’ve read in North Carolina media has reported on that either.

WHERE IS THE REPORTING? *crickets*

Legislators should look to the experts who refused to sign off on these standards as part of the validation committee and the parents who stood in front of them describing the reality of what Common Core is doing to their kids and not the irrational smears of a newspaper editorial board.

Opposition to Common Core has the facts, we can endure the smears. This is about our kids and all bets are off.

Related:

See the Common Core movie, “Building the Machine”, for free online March 31st!

Thank you to Carolina Plott Hound for linking!