Despite criticism from the conservative base of the Republican Party, The Boston Globe states former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has no intention of stepping back from his support for the nationalized Common Core standards.
According to the Globe, “Just saying the name Common Core generates animosity among some GOP primary voters.”
“It’s become Obamacare for education,” says John Brabender, a Pennsylvania-based Republican consultant who advised former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. “Even people who cannot articulate why they are for or against it — they still consider it toxic.”
The Globe likens Bush’s support for Common Core to former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s “tortured relationship with conservatives” over his Romneycare health plan that ultimately served as a template for Obamacare.
Bush’s advisers, the Globe report states, indicate he is committed to supporting the Common Core standards and will continue calling for higher national standards.
The possible 2016 presidential contender, however, has spoken about the Common Core standards as both more “rigorous” and “higher” than other standards and, as the Globe observes, as the new “minimum” in classrooms.
No independent studies have been conducted to support the claim that the Common Core standards are more “rigorous” or “higher” than other standards.
Last week, CNN reported that during an address in Florida, Bush did not mention the name “Common Core”; he simply said he is for “higher standards” and wants to limit federal involvement in education decisions.
Conservative Republicans, especially, have rejected the Common Core, based on the federal government’s decision to entice states into adopting them in exchange for competitive grants and waivers from the onerous restrictions of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.
Americans, in general, have grown to dislike the Common Core as they become increasingly aware of what the initiative entails.
As Breitbart News reported last August, a Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup (PDK/Gallup) poll found that only 19 percent of Americans knew “nothing at all” about the Common Core standards and that 60 percent opposed teachers using the standards to guide what they teach.
The survey of more than 1,000 Americans 18 years and older found that Republicans appear to be most educated about the Common Core standards, with 54 percent stating they knew either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about the initiative, compared to 40 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents.
Of those identifying as Republicans, 76 percent said they opposed teachers’ use of the Common Core standards, compared to 38 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independents.
The Common Core standards were developed by three private organizations in Washington, D.C.: the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council for Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and progressive education company Achieve Inc. All three organizations were privately funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and none of these groups is accountable to parents, teachers, students, or taxpayers.
There is no official information about who selected the individuals to write the Common Core standards. None of the writers of the math and English Language Arts standards has ever taught math, English, or reading at the K-12 level. In addition, the Standards Development Work Groups did not include any members who were high school English and mathematics teachers, English professors, scientists, engineers, parents, state legislators, early childhood educators, or state and local school board members.
The Common Core initiative consists of a set of English and math standards, assessments created by two federally funded interstate test consortia, and the creation of massive student data systems in the states–data to which the federal government will ultimately have access. These data systems will be of major importance to a federal “school to work” (STW) or “workforce” paradigm that is intimately connected to Bush’s other problematic cause for conservatives: amnesty.
Recently, Bush said the United States should be “dramatically expanding immigrants that are coming to work.” He spoke of “a guest worker program to deal in the areas where there are shortages.”
The standards have the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other big business and industry groups whose main interest is also workforce development, a means by which business and industry will be provided with guaranteed labor through federal education enforcement mechanisms.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.