As
of today, there are 73 days until the most consequential election
in American history. This is what they say about many past
elections, but this is really it. For if the Democrats seize power – control of
the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate and the Presidency – and doing it by hook or by
crook (the justifies the means, you know) America as we know it will be forever
changed. America envisioned and created by the Founding Fathers will disappear
into the shadows of history.
The
ungodly secular-humanists/Marxists slow march through America’s institutions
over the last 100 years or so will have reached a crescendo – fulfilling Mr.
Obama’s fundamental transformation of America. Never again will the demonic
Democratic Party relinquish its grip on political power and control of the
masses.
Envision
with me what a Socialist Democratic Party, takeover, a bloodless coup, a regime
change, would look like. This is one in a series of daily articles leading up
to the 2020 General Election scheduled for November 3, 2020.
#CommonCore
versus #SchoolChoice
When
speaking of public or government education this is another area where there is
a stark contrast between the communistic Democratic Party and Republican
Party. #CommonCore is a set of standards, a one-size fits all approach to
instruction. It smells of federal control. While the more conservative elements
of the Republican Party prefer local control and giving parents #SchoolChoice,
flexibility of where they are to send their children especially if their
children are assigned to failing schools, of which there are many.
On
one side of the battlefield on the education issue are the monolithic,
monopolistic, politically radical leftist powerful teachers union, the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation and others. On the other side of the issue are
many rank and file teachers, parents and conservatives, Christians and
liberty-minded patriots and their politicians.
Common
Core, Federal Control and Common Failure
Jennifer Courtney in
her excellent article, “What is Common Core Curriculum and Why Should You Care?”
makes several great observations. First, she writes, “The growth of schools
mirrored the westward expansion of the new nation, and, in the mid-19th
century, educational leaders began to speak of universal public education. For
the better part of this time, local communities set their own educational
standards and hired and fired their own teachers. However, there was an
agreed-upon base for education, a common core curriculum, if you will.
That’s where we get the expression “reading, writing, and arithmetic.”
Courtney
discusses local versus federal control, challenges of assessing student
progress under common core, the downside of standardized testing in that you
begin to teach to the test rather that to educate the student. She drives the
last point home, “Perhaps more importantly, it led to a decay of teaching big
ideas. In her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System,
Diane Ravitch talks about how the standardized testing movement led to
the death of classes like Civics, in which students learned about
their nation’s government and about their rights and duties as citizens.”
The article’s author points out, “…The traditional view
of education was to cultivate wise and virtuous citizens who could lead
themselves and their communities well.”
Courtney
concludes her article saying, “If we want to create a true common core
curriculum, we should ask bigger questions, like “How can I cultivate students
who value the greater good?” “How can I cultivate students who will sacrifice
their own interests to protect their fellow citizens?” “How can I cultivate
students who truly understand the rights and responsibilities that accompany
freedom?” When we are ready to ask those questions, we will be ready to create
a common core curriculum that benefits our students, our communities, and our
nation.”
School
Choice, Local Control and Individual Success
School
Choice and Local Control remain core principles or values of the Republican
Party Platform. The Republican Platform recognizes that “parents,” not
government, “are the child’s first and foremost educators, and opposes common
core.” The Republican Platform also supports homeschooling, private or
parochial schools, vouchers, and tuition tax credits, etc. The Republican
Platform also encourages teaching the Bible as an elective in public schools.
One
positive result of the Communist Chinese coronavirus is that parents got a
taste of what their students are learning or what they should be learning. Hope
a large segment of the population will take the opportunity to homeschool there
kids and instill their values instead of the hedonistic, humanistic values so
prevalent in public education today…
Tomorrow
we will look at a few more things that differentiate the two main political
parties in education.
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