In this Special Edition, I am deviating from my normal topics to alert you to a cleverly disguised program aimed at brainwashing our kids through school curriculum. You may have heard of Common Core, but you likely haven’t heard of the firestorm it has created. I have assembled some of the best recent articles on the subject.AN OVERVIEW OF COMMON CORE

Common Core Emerges as Potent Election Issue
Cowboybyte.com reports: Parents across the country may hold the key tocommon core interview this year’s mid-term elections as they vent their anger over the implementation of a controversial education achievement measure called the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted the initiative in a bid, they say, to improve education standards in Math and English, and give new life to what many view as a sagging education system.But many parents see the initiative as a bid by the federal government to take over the education system. They are also angry over the “data mining” of students’ personal information, and say the stepped-up standards are not age-appropriate and are leading to anxiety and depression in their children. Read more.

Common Core is Federal Education. It is a nationalized

Courtesy of livebinders.com

Courtesy of livebinders.com

education program that 45 states adopted, basically sight-unseen, while they were desperate to grab hold of Obama’s “Race to the Top” dollars. Liberals and conservatives alike are critical of Common Core, which offers zero innovation, lower educational standards and is a completely untested theoretical program on our children. Democrats have been gung-ho to implement a centralized curriculum ever since the Clintons were in office.

Common Core Lessons bring Politics into the Classroom
Conservative byte.com reports: There’s been no end to the criticismcommoncorezilla Common Core has received-and this lesson for an English class is a good example why: It’s exactly what critics of the Common Core school curriculum warned about: Partisan political statements masquerading as English lessons finding their way into elementary school classrooms. Teaching materials aligned with the controversial national educational standards ask fifth-graders to edit such sentences as “(The president) makes sure the laws of the country are fair,” “The wants of an individual are less important than the well-being of the nation” and “the commands of government officials must be obeyed by all.” The sentences, which appear in worksheets published by New Jersey-based Pearson Education, are presented not only for their substance, but also to teach children how to streamline bulky writing. Read more.

What He Actually Said For Common Core: “Your Children Are Really Ours”
CNS News reports: In addressing criticism of the Common Core national education standards, a panelist at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, said critics were a “tiny minority” who opposed standards altogether, which was unfair because “the children belong to all of us.” Read more.

THE FALLOUT FROM COMMON CORE

This Could Be One of the Best Cases Ever Made Against Common Core – No One Expected It to Come From a High School Student
The Blaze reports: Speaking at a local school board meeting earlier this

Ethan Young

Ethan Young

month, a Tennessee high school senior issued a brief and incredibly insightful address on the problems with Common Core standards. Ethan Young, a student at Farragut High School in Knox County, Tenn., made his case as to why he believes the school district should drop the new national education standards, a set of guidelines that were never voted on by Congress, the Department of Education nor by local or state governments. Read more and watch the video.

Illinois is Cooking the Books for Common Core!
Eaglerising.com reports: Recently I was “selected” to participate in a “testcooking the books Obama of the test” for the new Common Core state test (the PARCC) which is set to replace the PSAE in the state of Illinois. On paper, Common Core sounds like a good idea, asking a student to explain how they got the wrong answer to a math problem and if they can explain their answer giving them credit for their work; however, in the long term, this will only undermine the American education system. We all (I hope) have been taught that 2+2=4. Under Common Core, if a student answers with 5 instead of 4, and can explain their answer, the student will receive credit. School officials have said that Common Core is meant to drift towards the “how” and “why” questions instead of correct computation. Read more.

Girl Suspended for being Anti Common Core
Eaglerising.com reports: A 13 year old girl at Orange-Ulster BOCES was recently suspended from school for two days for what she believes was being against the Common Core. Officially, the school’s stance is that she was suspended for insubordination – a charge the student rightfully accepts – it’s the circumstances of the suspension with which she disagrees. The school says that she was not punished for opting out of the test, which is her right, but for disobeying her administrators. But 8th grader Seirra Olivero says it all happened much differently from the official school policy. Read more.

Teacher Bullied and Intimidated for Opposing Common Core
Eaglerising.com reports: Susan Kimball, a kindergarten teacher of 20kimballcommoncore years in the Sikeston Missouri Public School District, gave  emotional testimony before the Missouri Senate Education Committee this week that she had been bullied and intimidated once her colleagues learned that she believed Common Core would be bad for her students. Persecution for political beliefs is becoming commonplace among those of us who oppose the massive expansion of federal government control of healthcare, education, and our personal lives. The Education Committee is considering a bill that would prohibit Missouri from implementing Common Core in their schools. Read more.

Open the Floodgates? Indiana to Scrap Common Core
Cowboybyte.com reports:Indiana has become the first of 45 states to opt out of the national education standard known as Common Core, and critics of the controversial K-12 program say the move could “open the floodgates” for others to follow. Growing criticism over costs imposed by the program, as well as fears that by setting a national education standard, the program has already begun dictating curriculum, has made Common Core an increasingly polarizing issue. Although the program has both Republican and Democrat supporters, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence predicted his state will be the first of many to rethink participation.

Additional articles:

Teacher Resigns because of Common Core

Police Confront Parents for Opting Kids Out of Common Core

Common Core Lesson Teaches that America is a Racist Nation

MY PERSONAL CONNECTION

The reason I prepared this special edition is that this is exactly what I predicted in my novel, Dragon Slayers. The Obama administration has made the “Network” in my story frighteningly realistic. Check it out. It will give life to the previous articles. It is available on my website, Amazon, & the Kindle bookstore.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Video: Stephen Colbert Takes On Common Core