Is there a left-right alliance in opposition to the Common Core Curriculum?

[bluestateguy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to be that its not just Teabaggers that oppose it, but lot of folks on the Left too.

Someone fill me in.

[elleng]

1. Could be,

as it seems to be resulting in rules that disregard both the interests of students and teachers. It's super-politicized the provision of education, imo.

[madfloridian]

2. They say when left and right agree..then something is very wrong.

And something is very wrong when your Secretary of Education is even distancing himself from it.

It is like the NCLB and the RTTT....it is geared for public schools to fail.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. It's tricky.

In concept, it's not a bad idea. Making sure every school nationwide teaches some minimum standard set of lessons should mean that anyone who passes a certain grade should have at least the same core skills, and should be able to move between schools with less disruption in their education, for instance.

But....

In execution, it's often being pushed mainly to make money for RW private companies who write up lessons, get them certified as being common core, and then sell them to school districts who don't have the cash or time to spend devising their own common core compatible lessons. And those lessons are often pushing specific social values in the background, such as a capitalistic, competitive outlook. Some examples I came across for a math class at one point, for instance, were basically pushing supply side economics as part of their word problems.

So it's a lot like Ron Paul and his opposition to the war on drugs. Superficially it looks like a good thing, but once you get past the soundbites and into how it's really being used, it's a tool for corporatists and capitalists and certain sections of the RW.

[Squinch]

4. You are absolutely right. The right hates it, the unions hate it, and most of all, any teacher

with a child who needs ANY extra help, or with any child who has ANY intellectual gifts hates it. That means every teacher hates it.

It is ill conceived, and punitive to children, and it gets in the way of teaching and learning.

Those of us who see it up close understand that the common core, as it has been implemented, is nothing but a money making scheme for testing companies. We also understand that it is part of a concerted effort to corporatize education.

As a disclaimer, I am not a teacher, but my job takes me to many schools. I have seen the change of education under the common core. It has gone from a learning experience that excites kids and fulfills teachers, to a dronish, dull grind that is punitive to both teachers and students.

The characterization of it as something that only the right is against is completely wrong.