Allen West on Common Core

Is Common Core a Co-Creation of Political Correctness and Crony Capitalism?

During a forum  held by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, Granite State professor Dr. David Pook offered that he helped craft the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts because of "white privilege".  

Ironically, the Derryfield School in Manchester, New Hampshire (which has a 91% Caucasian student body) where Pook serves as chair of the History Department, does not use those Common Core standards because they are inferior.

So why do some politicians continue to champion Common Core? Some have suggested crony capitalism. 

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) is a big backer of Common Core.  Kathleen Jasper, a former Florida educator and founder of ConversationED.com, suggest that there may be pecuniary interests in pushing Common Core.  Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education is heavily tied to Pearson, a leading education publisher and test making company.  So Pearsons publishes the k-12 books, they create the tests, they score the tests and coincidentally keep the data.

Per Jasper, Pearson garners between $15-$30 for each test administered.  Due to No Child Left Behind and Race For the Top federal mandates, students have to retake the tests over and over again until they achieve an acceptable score.  So kids keep constantly taking tests (without knowing why they failed) and businesses like Pearson profit from processing the perpetual paperwork. 

Presuming this is an accurate assessment, it is ironic to see how Educrat's political correctness works well with crony capitalism in Common Core which imposes a regime which profits from failure to educate well. 

h/t: American Thinker 

Jeb Bush on Exploring

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) has indicated on Twitter and Facebook  that he is actively exploring a run for the White House in 2016.  This announcement is no great surprise, as he has been toying with this decision for years, and facilitating for faux leaks.  Last week, the press reported Jeb's secret meeting with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) on how to win the nomination without pandering and presumably circumventing the influence of the Tea Party.  

The two term Governor has a name which acts as a two edge sword, as he is the son of President George H.W. Bush and brother of President George W. Bush.  Due to the legacy and residual resentment for "41" and "43", a prospective "45" may find that his surname is a four letter word in more ways than one.

Thus Jeb Bush seeks to be run on his own record.  So as Jeb explores embarking on a run for the White House, voters ought to explore Jeb's record and his fundamental policy positions.

Gov. Jeb Bush has been outspoken about encouraging amnesty and comprehensive immigration reform.  In addition, Governor Bush was noted for making educational improvements to the Sunshine State's school system.  However, his steadfast support of Common Core brings charges of crony capitalism benefiting establishment Republicans with education businesses.   By endorsing effective immigration amnesty and Common Core are not popular among grassroots Republicans.  No wonder why Jeb visited "Juan" McCain for his advice.  

There is little doubt what Jeb will find in his explorations.  Republican Party activists might find a white elephant and certainly a RINO. 

National Geographic Illiteracy Illustrated

Americans are infamous for being blissfully ignorant about areas beyond their shores.  Unfortunately, this geographic illiteracy is applicable for places between our borders.

A new study commissioned by the Movoto real estate company asked 400 Americans to locate seven states on a map within five seconds.  The average score was 3.4 states. Those surveyed were likely to locate some of the more iconic states, as well as those states not part of the contiguous 48 states.

Movoto opined that plenty of the quiz takers were guessing their way through New England. In addition, a sizable number of those surveyed mistook Pennsylvania for New York. Survey takers also made many mistakes in the Mountain West which borders are divided by straight lines.

Watch the video with the real time responses from the survey.

As someone who loves geographic, and who always sought blue slices when playing Trivial Pursuit, the Genus edition, this Geographic Illiteracy Illustrated is disheartening.  Consider the geographic knowledge which Fourth Graders were expected to know in 1862.

Alas, what is more shocking is the same survey group tended estimate that the US population was between 1 to 2 Billion.   That inflates the population almost as much as Heathcare.gov reports of Obamacare sign-ups.

But  such young skulls full of mush who are clued into pop culture would score well if they were on SNL's Black Jeopardy, where does not depend upon having a clue of real knowledge but having the right attitude.

As concerned citizens attempt to stop the steam rolling of Common Core curriculum confusion, these engaged individuals ought to also stress geographic as part of the diversity education rather than just feeling good about being a progressive American Idiot who is left with little choice but to be a drone for the neo-statist agenda.

h/t:  Movoto blog

A Bit of Common Core Constitutional Cut Up

Sixth Grade students in Bryant, Arkansas were given a curious assignment as part of theCommon Core curriculum.   The History class at Bryant Middle School had an assignment aimed at inspiring persuasive and engaging presentations.  All the groups of eleven year olds had to do was prioritize and revise the Bill of Rights.

 The History class work is premised on the idea that the government of the United States has determined that the Bill of Rights is outdated.  The assignment asked students to assume the persona of an excerpt on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights named to the "National Revised Bill of Rights (NRBR) Task Force, which is charged with ensuring that the "pursuit of happiness remains guarded in the 21st Century".   The substantial objective of this exercise was to excise two Amendments and add two Amendments.

This exercise was fundamentally flawed on its substance. This faux NRBR task force was supposed to protect the "pursuit of happiness".  But that phrase is in the Declaration of Independence (1776) not the Bill of Rights.

These middle school students had not been schooled on the reasons why the Bill of Rights was introduced by James Madison in 1789 and ratified in 1791.  They have no idea that the Constitution would not have been ratified by several of the States without the prospect of a Bill of Rights.   Obviously, the arguments by the Federalists and Anti-Federalists would be far beyond their ken in civics.

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The Bryant School District is proud to embrace the Common Core standards to improve students literacy and math skills. Common Core seeks to augment these skill sets through interdisciplinary learning.  Thus this History assignment was supposed to test reading, writing and language skills on informational texts.

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Unfortunately, this History exercise was premised on the Patriot Act debate, which is asking a lot of middle school students, particularly without the background knowledge of history or civics.  Moreover, the instructions of the exercise circumvents the Constitution Amendment process in trying to prune and update it.  The subject matter is so cutting edge, it is hard not to believe that the teacher will not color the debate and the student presentations. Such shaping of opinion in the guise of education shows why some conservatives are so chary about Common Core.

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