In a typical poll, when asked for the most important problem facing America today, “Education” is buried deep down at 5% yet at a John Kline’s Tele-Town Hall meeting, two of the questions were on that broad subject :
Webster woman concerned that taxes will increase to cover high school dropouts. #KlineTTH
— John Kline (@repjohnkline) August 14, 2013
Wabasha woman has "real concerns" with Common Core. Kline: "US Dept of Education way overstepped its bounds." #edworkforce #KlineTTH
— John Kline (@repjohnkline) August 15, 2013
Complaints about the government‘s role in “Education” have been around for a long time … heck, it was the Reagan Administration that prompted the modern school reform movement in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk, which called for improving (and standardizing) curricula and academic standards.
President Reagan’s former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett was recently on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program discussing Common Core (highlights below) :
The idea of the Common Core is simple. The idea that all American students should have a common basis of knowledge in various subjects such as math and English, that there are books we should all read, be familiar with and that these help in the attainment of cultural literacy, numeracy, in math, Algebra and the like. Not a very controversial idea.
Lincoln was mostly educated on the Bible and Shakespeare. He did pretty well. That is at its core the idea, the idea of a core, a common core or a core curriculum, but its become as a series of readings and a series of standards, set of standards, developed out of the states by Governors and others which have now been presented to the country. Forty-five states have signed up saying they want to do it. However, there has been some contamination of the process.
So, there is now a very popular rebellion, a lot of our folks, tea party folks who say no, no, heck no, we won’t do this. We don’t want any part of it.
take a figure like Mike Pence, who is a guy I admire very much; good guy, smart guy, very sympathetic to the idea of the Common Core. He’s put it on hold now in the State of Indiana, partly because of pure political resistance, the tea party, other, other folks.
So when Glenn Beck warns about Common Core as “this insidious menace to our children and to our families” students would be “indoctrinated with extreme leftist ideology” it is not surprising to find that there is a FACEBOOK page Minnesotans Against Common Core.
Yet it is not just Bill Bennett that can see the merits in “Common Core” but also Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee. In fact, Mike Huckabee recently wrote a letter to Oklahoma lawmakers, urging the continued bold adoption of rigorous Common Core State Standards in schools (highlights below) :
it’s disturbing to me there have been criticisms of these standards directed by other conservatives including the RNC. The truth of the matter is, these criticisms are short-sighted.
Like many of you, I’ve heard the argument these standards “threaten local control” of what’s being taught in Oklahoma classrooms. Speaking from one conservative to another, let me assure you this simply is not true. States and local school districts will determine how they want to teach kids, what curriculum to use, and which textbooks to use.
These Common Core State Standards evolved as governors and state leaders were talking about what we could do together to raise standards–not a Washington solution, but a voluntary effort on the part of the leaders of the states. In fact, conversations about these standards began long before President Obama occupied the White House.
OK … let’s get to the heart of this issue.
The standards were written through a joint effort of the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Common Core doesn’t establish a national curriculum but instead lays out specific facts and concepts students are expected to master at the end of each grade level, with the ultimate goal of increasing college and career readiness among American young people.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty described the process, “The common core that emerged from this work is no surprise. All graduates must have core knowledge and that core is not bound by state lines.”
Yet John Kline in his Student Success Act has included strong anti-Common Core language.
So it is that Michele Bachmann may get the headlines during her Presidential run for opposing Common Core, it is John Kline that is working to squash it.
Maybe its not so hard to distinguish the Republicans from the Tea Partiers on the importance of education … on one side there is Ronald Reagan, Bill Bennett, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush … and on the other is Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann and John Kline.
And that is the reason that John Kline is so happy to get Tele-Town Hall questions on Education.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/06/07/education/common-core-standards Minnesota has not competely accepted Common Core.
Will these common core standards help close our achievement gap? Do we think yes? We are 50/50 worst or almost the worst for graduating our black, indian, poor, etc kids.
And THanks Amy for the read. From your link http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/06/07/education/common-core-standards I notice MN is one of only 5 states that didn’t accept all the common core objectives, and it seems we thought math should be more rigorous than the common core objectives.
Tim Post said ,”Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have accepted the Common Core standards that seek to improve student knowledge of math and reading. But Minnesota adopted the Common Core standards only in reading. The state will opt for its own math standards, as state education officials say they are more rigorous than the new national benchmarks.”
@Jfredmuggs3rd
FYI – We are discussing Common Core & #JohnKline role – http://t.co/OD7rl7bWO9
IMO, Kline is leading the movement
Common Core grass roots education standards … http://t.co/ISz5IJrfsv via @sharethis #DFL51 Its Ronald Reagan & Tim Pawlenty vs John Kline
[…] John Kline in his Student Success Act has included strong anti-Common Core […]
This article paints a pretty picture of Republicans vs Tea Partiers, however, the author misses quite a few points. Allow me to acquaint you with some facts! First, Common Core is more than a set of standards. If you’ve read the Race to the Top grants or No Child Left Behind waivers, you would realize that there are 4 major components to those grants and standards are but one portion. Second, Pearson has quite the monopoly on the textbook market and has married up with Gates for the virtual classroom model. Gates himself says that “when the tests are aligned they will serve as a powerful force and the curriculum will line up with the tests.” This man is not to be trusted nor should our schools be given over to the corporations. This is much more than an overreach of the federal government, because they merely handed off their assignment to NGOs, lobby groups and a non-profit. None of those groups are accountable to the public. And lastly, though I could go on, Common Core is opposed by Liberals and Conservatives. You’ll find all political stripes to be against when they know what they’re talking about. Even, the Convention of World Socialists have come out against Common Core. Good evening!
Minnesota adopted the standards when then Gov Pawlenty and Commissioner Seagren filed the RTTT grant papers for the lottery. Even though we received no money, we were tied to the standards. Minnesota adopted ELA and all the other subjects are embedded within ELA. We didn’t adopt Math (under careful scrutiny of the Univ of MN on behalf of the feds), but most districts are teaching Common Core Math (it’s what all the texts contain). We adopted the Social Studies last spring, although it’s already embedded in the ELA. Their is genuine interest in the Next Generation Science Standards for adoption this year. All subjects must be implemented by the spring of 2015. Individual districts are just now applying (deadline Oct 3, 2013) for the RTTT-D (District) grants. Individual districts are applying directly through the federal government for additional entanglement.
Hi Linda,
THANKS for reading the commentary and offering your opinion.
Let’s take the textbook question. In most industries, aren’t their leaders and standard product offerings … although there may be some “niche” markets that appeal to select groups … such you may have Pearson, Beka Book and BJU Press (formerly Bob Jones University Press), etc, but shouldn’t they have to comply to some standard ?
That said, isn’t there approximately 14,000 school districts in the states that are participating in the Common Core which was developed under the auspices of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers ? Thus, won’t the major players (such as Pearson) comply to what NGA wants … developing textbooks to satisfy those goals ?
IMO, the textbook publishers are not the problem, but instead the news that SAT scores do not show improvement. Nationally, 43 percent of test-takers were considered college-ready, the same as last year. Which is why U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable support the Common Core education standards and tests as they see Common Core as a way to remain competitive in a global economy.
Yes, there may be people from all political stripes that object to Common Core — for a variety of reasons — but when 45 states are embracing Common Core in some manner, that is a broad support.
Sadly for some the implication is “Common Core is to education what Obamacare is to health care”, thus it must be rejected … thus, I am not surprised that John Kline opposes Common Core.
Regards,
Mac Hall
MinnesotaCentral