"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." - Thomas Jefferson 1820

"There is a growing technology of testing that permits us now to do in nanoseconds things that we shouldn't be doing at all." - Dr. Gerald Bracey author of Rotten Apples in Education

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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Take this Educational Survey on School Reform from a George Soros Funded Think Tank

Don't you just love it?  Republican and Democrat politicians in various state and federal positions tout school choice as parent driven.  They tend to minimize or ignore the fact the parents have no control over WHAT their children are learning.  They don't mention the Common Core standards are used in charter schools and do not function much differently in educational content delivery.

If the primary reason traditional schools are failing is the educational content (the alleged reason for the implementation of Common Core standards), then why does the need exist to close traditional public schools and open charters and utilize trigger options, which will teach the same content?  The syllogism should read:
  • Major Premise: public schools do not operate under state standards stringent enough for students to prepare for the global economy;
  • Minor Premise: public schools must be under the auspices of stringent common standards so all students can be prepared for the global economy to successfully compete in the workforce;
  • Conclusion:   public schools must cast aside state standards and utilize common standards so they can succeed in the workforce.
If that's a valid syllogism, then why the big push for charter schools and the trigger option?  Why fire all the teachers and administrators or open charter schools with public funding if the premise is it's rotten standards that placed the US in an educational decline?  The other arguments about rotten teachers, administrators, educational equity disparities should be considered secondary arguments. 

Below is a survey from the Fordham Institute you might want to complete and give your opinion on school "choice".  Some interesting facts about Fordham you might not know:

  • Fordham is headed by Chester Finn, former employee of William Bennett who headed up Ronald Reagan's Department of Education.  Finn is on Bennett's radio show regularly.
  • William  Bennett defied Reagan and increased the Department of Education's budget. (search "William Bennett" within the document).
  • Fordham is now teaming up with the Center for American Progress (as indicated in the survey), a George Soros funded organization. 


The survey is embedded in an email:






The Thomas B. Fordham InstituteCAP Image
Dear xxxxx,
As part of our efforts to advance education reform, we are conducting a very short survey on the importance of certain school reform issues in your state. We would appreciate your answers to these questions, and it should not take you more than a couple of minutes to complete the survey. Note that we are working with the Center for American Progress on this project so it’s possible that you may receive a similar survey from that organization. Please fill out the survey only once.
http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=_E2D01eQxWhLhzfk65L5lw
Thank you – we appreciate your time!
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is the nation's leader in advancing educational excellence for every child through quality research, analysis, and commentary, as well as on-the-ground action and advocacy in Ohio.
Find us online: http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=oGlCNVCBRnj7LjLfp8fG6A http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=nb8rzzPmzTpGDnSiLGHmRQ http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=sebnR4FUemB3KJc3pM0yRQ
www.edexcellence.net

Thomas B. Fordham Institute
1016 16th Street NW
Washington DC, 20036
202-223-5452





It's good to know which organization(s) fund such surveys.  Knowing this push is from a Soros funding group for "advancing educational reform", shouldn't  that make a fiscally and constitutionally responsible politician question the motive for such "reform"?   

Did you notice none of the questions had to do with restoring local control or reducing Federal control and spending in education?



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