MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

To the Editor:

Isn't it enough to have one botched government program that adversely affects many more Americans than it promised to help?  The Obama administration is also responsive for launching the highly controversial Common Core.

While everyone has heard about Obamacare, this is not the case with Common Core, a United Nations UNESCO global education agenda.  The Tides Foundation in conjunction with UNESCO and Bill Gates of Microsoft had Common Core prepared prior to Obama's election, and once elected the funding was incorporated into the stimulus bill of 2009 and funded without knowledge or consent of Congress, as usual.

Most telling is that Arne Duncan, Obama's Secretary of Education, is a strong proponent of UNESCO.  A "Race to the Top" grant program was used to help persuade the states into signing onto the curriculum sight unseen in 2010.  If states did not agree to implement the Common Core curriculum, the education grant monies for the states was withheld.

With Common Core curriculum, students will no longer be taught math, literature, history, science or social studies the same way we were taught. Also, much of this nation's history has been distorted or eliminated by the authors of Common Core. It is a one size fits all approach to education which does not address the unique individuality of each child.

Most disturbing is that the progressive movement will flourish through the indoctrination of students, who will be lured into accepting an extreme leftist ideology.  I am not suggesting that this will happen in the U.S., but millions of German young people were won over to Nazism in the classroom. The indoctrination of students is not new; it has happened in Germany and continues in Middle Eastern countries today.

As with most every government program, there are those who stand to make substantial profits from it.  Realizing the escalating controversy over Common Core, those who will benefit from it have begun promoting it through expensive advertisements. They are countered by pockets of parents and concerned citizens all through America who are demanding their state legislators stop implementing Common Core.

Perhaps most significant is the growing number of teachers who are highly critical of the Common Core curriculum and have begun speaking out against it. Their concern forced the attention of the National Education Association (NEA) president Dennis Van Roekel, who recently made the startling confession that Common Core was indeed botched. The battle rages on.

It was on February 19, 2014, when NEA president Dennis Van Roekel posted a letter to union members at NEAToday.org, breaking with his administration pals by admitting that Common core implementation had been botched. This followed intense teachers' representative dissatisfaction with Common Core during the 2013 NEA convention at which delegates from the floor introduced two measures, both of which failed to pass.  The measures condemned Obama’s education policies outright and were critical of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Teachers, parent and concerned citizens knew several years ago that Common Core was seriously flawed, but no one wanted to hear those complaints. Those who did complain were often labeled as extremists, malcontents and nut-jobs. Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan even said he found it “fascinating” that Common Core opponents were “white suburban moms who all of a sudden discovered their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were. . . .”  Some wonder if Duncan is equally as fascinated now that the one finding fault with Common Core is his union ally.

In his letter Van Roekel maintains that “scuttling these standards” is a bad idea, but still maintains that "the union wants to make a strong course correction and move forward.”

Van Roekel further suggests allowing teachers “time to field-test the standards in classrooms to determine what works and what needs adjustment.”  As standards have started to be implemented in 46 states and the District of Columbia, doesn't it seem a little late to be field testing?

According to the NGA (National Governors Association) the CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers), and their agent, Achieve, Inc., teacher input had been included.  Not so claims Van Roekel who wrote:

"The very people expected to deliver universal access to high quality standards with high quality instruction have not had the opportunity to share their expertise and advice about how to make [CC] implementation work for all students, educators, and parents."

Van Roekel’s letter ends with this proclamation:

"There’s too much at stake for our children and our country to risk getting this wrong.  That is exactly what Common Core opponents have been saying for years."

On March 26, State Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) will present HR 543 before the House Elementary & Secondary Education Committee in Springfield. This resolution urges the Illinois State Board of Education to delay the implementation of Common Core standards until a study is conducted showing the costs associated with Common Core.

What are the chances Illinois will opt out of the Common Core curriculum as was announced by Governor Mike Pence of Indiana on Tuesday, March 25?  The chances, slim to none.

Illinois accepted Common Core sight unseen in 2010.  Endorsed wholeheartedly by the Illinois Education Union, Common Core is now being implemented across the state.

Abraham Lincoln is credited with the warning:  “The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."

Vladimir Lenin, a notorious Russian communist, knew the power of controlling schools and once said, "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."

Heed Lenin's declamation and take action if you care about the future of this nation. It is imperative that you take an interest in how and what your children are learning.  If you don't have children of school age, attend board meeting, ask questions, and be ready to confront school administrators and school boards with facts about the progressive Common Core experiment which was never tried or tested before using children as guinea pigs.

Nancy Thorner

Lake Bluff, Ill.