Common Core: Dumbing down our children one dollar at a time
Bradley County as well as many other states participating in Common Core are starting to see money trickle in to their systems for education reform.
A hundred thousand here and eighty thousand there and we have a system bribed by the federal government to implement socialistic education reform changes! Who knew it would take so relatively little to coax radical change?
Race to the Top, locally in Tennessee it’s called First to the Top. This delivery of radical reform uses the Common Core standard spearheading the nation and it’s educational system toward socialism, much in the way the government has taken over the healthcare apparatus.
Many questions remain unanswered about Common Core. One particular concern to many parents and teachers is the deliberate dumbing down or teaching to the lowest denominator and is it really necessary?
With the top down governmental approach to education reform as the catalyst to reform it’s leaves few with little doubt that this will be the end result and the intended consequence.
The focus on readying our kids for the workforce and to survive a two year stent in college while the American dream of working hard to get ahead eludes us.
This leads many to believe that the least effort, with the least grey matter exercised will yield the same result as a parent expecting their child to succeed at a very high level. This dualistic exchange speaks volumes of the intent of RTTT and Common Core.
Just the name “Common Core” says we are teaching to the least in the class and expecting the high achievers to come to the middle so there will be no social disparity shown delineating natural selection and tapping into the reserves of the fertile mind.
Common Core means “Common,”
as Webster defines common as
basic, simple, rudimentary, having no rank, not of the upper class!
http://www.yourdictionary.com/common
With the recent move of the Bradley County Schools to integrate special education into classrooms for
80 percent of the day it clearly shows that the intent is to teach to
the lesser of students while exceptional children halt their heightened learning. To literally step back and grasp rehashed information perhaps from prior grades and experiences is unfair and does not serve the population fairly. No longer does advanced learning or teaching up to those with a gift seem a priority.
The end result is gifted students will be forced to dumb down to the least common denominator taking away drive and enthusiasm to excel. Think it doesn’t happen? Observe your gifted student as I have melt into obscurity where a system that used to revolve around them achieving at a high level now wants them to be equal to all others. Gifted kids are often rendered the role of a tudor or a classroom assistant to bring lesser students to the middle where socialism ferments! Totally missing the opportunity to fertilize a growing mind in need of nurturing. This deliberate shake down of greater intelligence should be condemned instead it is embraced by School Supervisors all over the nation. Because to speak out would mean a shortened career.
This is leaving many bored and unchallenged by a system that is no longer allowing the cream to float to the top. Natural God given ability to rise to the top is now a foreign substance sinking to the bottom of the education food chain. Our children are being asked or shamed by a system to not be as smart as you can be because a socialistic set of reformers somehow deem it unfair to others to simply attain heights within their ability without
propping them up. It’s the “let’s give everyone a trophy” syndrome that has locked us into a politically correct environment looking for equality of the masses. This is surely the greatest form if injustice.
The comment below shows the intent of the reformers. The lopsided opinion that because your child has a gift he or she must share with all for the “common good” of a society is unjust and steals autonomy from a creative spirit Stifling those with the ability to contribute to society unfairly shrinks the abilities of high achievers while diminishing their full impact or fingerprint on the global scene.
An excerpt and quote from the Cleveland Daily Banner this week sheds a new light on the goal of Common Core and reflects the dumbing down of our children so everyone can attain mediocrity. The article quotes this supervisor shortly after announcing the acceptance of funds from RTTT and Common Core. “Supervisor of Student Services Dr. Joy Hudson has been working with teachers throughout the system to move more of the special education students into the general education classrooms for up to 80 percent of the day.” “The model currently being pursued is co-teaching by placing a general education teacher and a special needs educator in the same classroom.” “A component being added by CCS is feedback provided by students.”
When Common Core was first implemented the thought that dumbing down to the lowest common denominator was a theory based on an observation of the material presented. Now that theory has been proven and is no longer a conspiracy as evidence based research is being revealed as reformers are taking the radical steps to implement the changes.
Now before you jump on the liberal bandwagon and accuse those informing to become vilified allow me to make this statement. I believe we are all Gods children and all our children are special and loved by all parents.
This should not be so much about a child but about all children and the system that is pulling them down together. When the finger is pointed to one child another child becomes disadvantaged. In this case, both parties are in a situation that is less than optimal because the bar is being set at mediocre or common!
As you desire a special needs child to become functional inside a classroom there is a parent that wants their child to reach beyond the stars and not be held captive by a system that will only allow them to be common or mediocre, a far less expectation of their God given ability.
Bradley County News Network 