Woodrow Wilson summed it up aptly when he said, "If you want to make enemies, try to change something" With respect to the nationwide implementation of Common Core State Standards, Wilson's words ring true. Right-wing conservatives hate common core, Country-Club Republicans are luke-warm supportive. Local control, FISCAL conservative/libertarian types (like me) are leery of another mandate being shoved down our throats locally. And why do we have to change long division from the standard, easy to teach tried and true method we were all taught and know---- to some stupid, difficult to teach more complex and multiple-step method? Do we really need to change long-division into a Rube-Goldberg contraption? Why? (It reminds me of the disaster created when some genius decided it was better to ditch phonics and do "whole language"--what a failure that was.... Better yet, could this be the new and improved "New Math" of the early sixties? Yeah, I'm leery of this, that's putting it mildly....
Now, though, even the liberal New York state teacher's union, in the bluest of the blue states-New York-- are rebuking Common Core. From an article today on MSNBC:
“Educators understand that introducing new standards, appropriate curriculum and meaningful assessments are ongoing aspects of a robust educational system,” NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi said in a statement on Saturday, after the union’s board of directors voted unanimously to approve a resolution withdrawing its support. “These are complex tasks made even more complex when attempted during a time of devastating budget cuts. [The education department’s] implementation plan in New York state has failed.”
Looks like Obama and Duncan may have to take a page out of Florida's playbook and make some revisions so they can essentially keep it, but jettison the toxic "Common Core" name. Time for a re-set and a rebranding. Perhaps they could call it Obama-Duncan state standards. LOL.
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