Core Teaching vs. Common Core Standards. Which Mode Do YOU Think Empowers Students?

We're gearing up for our trip to Jefferson City to meet with legislators regarding the common core standards our State Board recently signed. We will meet with them before the veto session to educate them on what the adoption of common core standards mean to our students and loss of school control. We hope they will overturn Governor Nixon's veto of the bill granting legislative control of any federal education money coming into the state.

We were extremely fortunate this past weekend to meet with Neal McCluskey, CATO educational writer who has been following the adoption of national standards the last few years. We attended speeches and breakout sessions with school board members from around the country to hear about their stories about RTTT and the ramifications of common core standards.

Mr. McCluskey confirmed what we had been writing about on this blog the last several months--it is a complete federal takeover of the public school education system. Common core standards mean state and local school boards will have no authority to set curriculum and content. What do you say, as a taxpayer, when you realize your tax dollars are going to support a system in which your local community has no input? Do we work for the government or does the government work for us? Is education a state's right or a Federal responsibility? I wonder if the Legislature might want to peek at the Constitution for an answer to that last question.

Pay attention to these states who have adopted common core standards even before they were written. Isn't that unbelievable? If you operated a private company like the Federal government is running education (or health care), you would be bankrupt for your poor decisions.

Now read the article sent to me by a watchdog. This concerns educating students by core teaching (developed by a parent) vs teaching via common core standards (developed by bureaucrats):

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/090910/opi_705915318.shtml

Now, which method do YOU believe prepares students more thoroughly? The "factory" method in which "one size fits all" or the "ideal that education prepares mankind for freedom"? Why are we heading toward common core standards? Why are we insisting our children be measured at the same levels? By doing so, this government is denying the individualism of students and their particular talents. Why are allowing the Federal government control of our children's education?