Category Archives: EDUCATION

Duncan Plays His Last Card: Politicizing

Posted on June 10, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Over the course of the last few months, proponents of Common Core have accused the opposition of ‘playing politics’, turning Common Core into a ‘political football’ , ‘being against this White House’ and being ‘against this President’.

All of this falls under the umbrella of politicizing the debate. This politicizing the debate on education is nothing more than a tactic employed to silence opposition. It’s the last card played in this debate and others. It means the other side is desperate; they can’t defend the standards. It means proponents are losing the messaging war. It’s shutuppery.
It means we’re winning.

White Suburban Politican Arne Duncan just flopped down the politicizing card.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan sternly admonished Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin for signing a bill to repeal the controversial Common Core education standards in her state.

Both Indiana and South Carolina have also opted out of the state standards backed by the Obama administration after initially adopting them. But Duncan’s fire was aimed at Fallin, the chairwoman of the National Governors Association, the organization that helped develop the standards.

“The Oklahoma example is a pretty interesting one,” Duncan said during a White House press briefing Monday. “Let me give you a couple of facts. I think sadly, this is not about education. This is about politics.” – The Blaze

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Posted in Common Core | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Occupy Monday 6/9/14 Edition: Kids as Props

Posted on June 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

It’s Monday. Time to Occupy again.

This week it’s about Education. Specifically it looks like they are targeting school choice. Ironically, the same vouchers Occupy Monday are complaining about are specifically for low income students — the very people they claim to be protesting for.

The NC NAACP wasted no time in using kids as props for their flyer. This includes the Defacto Leader of the NC Democrats posing with a child with special needs to promote his agenda: Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Moral Monday, NC NAACP, NCGA, Occupy 2.0, Reverend Barber | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Occupy Monday 6/9/14 Edition: Kids as Props

The Gates Coup Of Education

Posted on June 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Over the weekend, the Washington Post featured an article on Bill Gates and his foundation, which supplied nearly 3 billion in funding to develop, promote and push Common Core. Gates couldn’t do it alone, he needed the Department of Education on board and dangle a carrot in front of the states. He got it with the Race To The Top grant. What resulted was an education coup.
What opponents have been saying from the start is true: Common Core is not state-led. It’s Gates-led.

The follow-up article today in the Washington Post calls it just that, an education coup. The opening of this article lays bare the key spots of how this happened, with little or no vetting by the states.

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Posted in Common Core | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

North Carolina and The Shared Learning Collaborative

Posted on June 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

In my article earlier today, I linked to an article by Mercedes Schneider which had a familiar talking point in it. A talking point we’ve heard come out of the mouths of NC Chamber members and legislators who are their allies in forcing Common Core down the throats of NC parents and kids.
At the end of my earlier article, I mentioned that I didn’t even touch on the second half of Schneider’s article which dealt with the Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC) and the sharing of unprecedented student information. This article is the follow-up.

Schneider talks about their state superintendent and his pressuring of Governor Jindal to keep the Core and the PARCC assessments. This combination would result in an unprecedented amount of data collection on students as well as subsequent sharing. Here is the relevant section:

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, NCGA, Pat McCrory | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on North Carolina and The Shared Learning Collaborative

“We Don’t Need Last Minute Change”

Posted on June 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Stop me if you’ve heard this line recently:

“They do not need a last-minute change. They do not need chaos in the classroom.”

Sounds like the NC Chamber of Commerce or perhaps Senator Stein or Rep. Brandon complaining about dropping the Common Core? Maybe Dr. Atkinson?

It’s none of them, although any one of them has said something similar in the last few weeks. No, this quote comes from Louisiana’s state superintendent. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

NCSPIN Re-Runs N&O Op Ed Smearing Parents

Posted on June 8, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Another day, another N&O anonymous Op-ed smearing those who oppose Common Core. More Common Core Shutuppery from our media. Gotta love it.

You can read it at NCSPIN. I won’t send the traffic to the N&O. Here’s my response (below), which I also posted in the comments of the NCSPIN piece.

I’ve added some hyperlinks where relevant.
Begin Comment:

Another Anonymous N&O Op ed likely written by the Chamber of Commerce for them in which they demonize parents, students and teachers who see the Common Core for what it is: a flawed set of experimental standards.

MEMO TO N&O: This isn’t Right or Left. This isn’t the Tea Party. One of my friends involved in this is as Liberal as they come and she LOATHES Common Core. This movement includes people from all walks of life and ideologies and we’re sick of our own news outlets smearing us.

Let me know how that “tea party is racist” label you are attempting to put on your readership works out for ya?

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Posted in Common Core, Media Bias | Tagged , , | 2 Comments