While reading a recent article from The World Socialist Website in opposition to the Common Core State Standards, I was amused by the interesting bedfellows the war over Obama's education reforms has made. A conservative like myself agreeing with the World Socialist's points of opposition to the Common Core State Standards Initiative — And an accused socialist like Obama sending Arne Duncan to ask the conservative Chamber of Commerce to support the CCSS against increasing attacks. The World Socialist Web Site is simpatico with libertarian Glenn Beck in reporting that CCSS is a "FEDERAL initiative bankrolled by various corporate interests" — while the US Media is backing Obama's agenda and pushing the administrations propaganda that CCSS is "State-led".
To reassure me that I hadn't landed in an alternate universe where socialists support limited government, the "World Socialist" article concluded their astute analysis of the deficiencies of CCSS by placing blame squarely on evil capitalism."The provision of high quality public education is incompatible with the continued existence of capitalism." Here is of course where we differ. My contention has been that Common Core is the result of a key tenet of socialism; markets heavily regulated and centrally managed industries. Common Core is the educational counterpart: managed markets, managed work force, managed career paths - P-20.
Despite our obvious differences -- our different solutions for quality education and strategies to address poverty and other social factors that most profoundly affect educational outcomes -- we seem to have found common ground on Common Core.
Our common ground includes:
1) We oppose the "intensified testing regime to evaluate the performance of students and teachers" that will not improve education and does great harm to students and teachers.
2) We oppose Obamacore because it seeks to "tailor public and higher education entirely to the needs of corporate America" (State Capitalism). Viewing students as cogs in a global economy and "assessing students for the purpose of channeling them into collage or trade skill tracks."
3) We oppose the unholy and unaccountable partnership between the compulsory power of the federal government and the bankrolled priorities of various corporate interests and political unions.
4) We oppose the movement towards tracking our children from Pre-K through career and the privacy concerns associated with making that data available to the Federal government, private political NGO's, and corporations.
5) We oppose the creation of giant corporate education monopolies, "radically altering the market for innovation in curriculum development, professional development, and formative assessments."
6) We oppose the cost to state taxpayers — "none of the funding going to teachers’ salaries... increasing resources for art, music and gym courses" — instead states will be forced to divert funds to "CCSS implementation and testing materials such as computers, software and training materials for teachers."
Can our common ground NOW lead to a common solutions later?
Common solutions are usually built on common understanding of the problem. Albert Einstein said it this way, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." For this reason I hope to reach open minded progressives, to persuade them to entertain the idea that the Capitalism they see today is not the product of Free Market Capitalism that propelled American freedom and prosperity. Capitalism has been corrupted by the power hungry in the government who seek to control the free market and the power hungry corporate moguls who seek corporate privilege via law. Thus both sides amassing great power and wealth by corrupting both government and business.
It would certainly make for a much more cohesive reform movement if my socialist friends (and yes I have some) might find truth in what a true believer in the virtue of Capitalist, Ayn Rand, taught: "A free mind and a free market are corollaries." Without some foundation of truth to which we all ascribe I am leery about our chances of finding common solutions, however, their is a glimmer of hope because we already oppose Common Core on common ground. It seems like a solid starting point to build meaningful education reform in the US. Can we? I hope we have the opportunity to find out.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Common Core: Managed Corporate Monopolies for Education Reform
Monopolies are an enemy to liberty, whether those Monopolies are Corporate Monopolies or Government Monopolies.
Our constitution was designed to protect our liberties from the tyranny of government monopolies and the first government policies to "bust-the-trusts" were designed to check the power of a few corporations over the free market.
Today we are losing our footing on both sides, we are consolidating power in the federal government by moving more and more power away from states and local governments, and our federal government is hand picking corporations to provide government sponsored "services".
The Common Core Federal takeover of education is the worst kind of monopoly because it combines the principle of government monopoly with corporate monopoly. Don't be fooled by those who say the Common Core initiatives are "free market" reforms in education! There is nothing free about the federal government coercing states into a central system and making monopolies out of a small handful of companies like Achieve and Pearson to supply the educational products that schools are forced to use.
For example Achieve has a monopoly on the Common Core standards which are copyrighted. These proprietary standards when adopted can not be altered. Pearson will soon be determining what gets taught in schools across the United States with their Common Core aligned curriculum and media centered products. Where is parental or educational oversight? Not in the hands of the people.
Both Conservatives and Progressives need to wake up to the reality; America's free market is on life support and that's why our private and public institutions are failing. Common Core is the natural result of markets heavily regulated by Washington and centrally managed industries. Common Core is the educational counterpart: managed career paths, managed work force, managed markets!
True and sincere conservatives and progressives see the same sickness in America but have been diagnosing it with opposite treatments. Progressives often see capitalism as the sickness that is breaking down our institutions and look to government for the cure. Conservatives and libertarians see government meddling in the free market and heavily regulating business as the sickness and less government as the cure. Since we can agree that the nation is sick we can also agree that administering the wrong cure will be the death blow.
As a conservative I hope to convince open minded progressives to entertain the idea that the Capitalism they see today is not the product of Free Market Capitalism that propelled American freedom and prosperity. Capitalism has been corrupted by the power hungry in the government who seek to control the free market and the power hungry corporate moguls who seek corporate privilege via law. Thus both sides amassing great power and wealth by corrupting both government and business.
This central control of government and the State Capitalism it is creating are the most dangerous threat to our liberty. Capitalism is sick, but not because Capitalism was born that way, it is sick because it has been perverted and twisted by unholy power hungry alliances of big business and the government's compulsory power. Together they have created consumers forced to buy their products and now centrally groomed workers to meet their needs.
The solution in education is the same as the solution in government and markets — Free local and unique education markets! If Americans are to succeed in fighting off this latest "education reform" they must combine their efforts across the political spectrum. Tyranny is always more organized than liberty and the forces of tyranny are dividing our nation in order to conquer it. To save our children and the future of liberty in America we have to see the enemy to that freedom clearly, and that enemy is not the limited government our founders devised or the free markets they championed.
There will be no individual freedom, intellectual freedom, or economic freedom if Americans don't come together and oppose the central dangers of government sponsored monopolies. We must understand what Ayn Rand taught, this truth, "Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries."
For the visual learner: Economics 101: School Choice, why government monopolies are bad.
Our constitution was designed to protect our liberties from the tyranny of government monopolies and the first government policies to "bust-the-trusts" were designed to check the power of a few corporations over the free market.
Today we are losing our footing on both sides, we are consolidating power in the federal government by moving more and more power away from states and local governments, and our federal government is hand picking corporations to provide government sponsored "services".
The Common Core Federal takeover of education is the worst kind of monopoly because it combines the principle of government monopoly with corporate monopoly. Don't be fooled by those who say the Common Core initiatives are "free market" reforms in education! There is nothing free about the federal government coercing states into a central system and making monopolies out of a small handful of companies like Achieve and Pearson to supply the educational products that schools are forced to use.
For example Achieve has a monopoly on the Common Core standards which are copyrighted. These proprietary standards when adopted can not be altered. Pearson will soon be determining what gets taught in schools across the United States with their Common Core aligned curriculum and media centered products. Where is parental or educational oversight? Not in the hands of the people.
Both Conservatives and Progressives need to wake up to the reality; America's free market is on life support and that's why our private and public institutions are failing. Common Core is the natural result of markets heavily regulated by Washington and centrally managed industries. Common Core is the educational counterpart: managed career paths, managed work force, managed markets!
True and sincere conservatives and progressives see the same sickness in America but have been diagnosing it with opposite treatments. Progressives often see capitalism as the sickness that is breaking down our institutions and look to government for the cure. Conservatives and libertarians see government meddling in the free market and heavily regulating business as the sickness and less government as the cure. Since we can agree that the nation is sick we can also agree that administering the wrong cure will be the death blow.
As a conservative I hope to convince open minded progressives to entertain the idea that the Capitalism they see today is not the product of Free Market Capitalism that propelled American freedom and prosperity. Capitalism has been corrupted by the power hungry in the government who seek to control the free market and the power hungry corporate moguls who seek corporate privilege via law. Thus both sides amassing great power and wealth by corrupting both government and business.
This central control of government and the State Capitalism it is creating are the most dangerous threat to our liberty. Capitalism is sick, but not because Capitalism was born that way, it is sick because it has been perverted and twisted by unholy power hungry alliances of big business and the government's compulsory power. Together they have created consumers forced to buy their products and now centrally groomed workers to meet their needs.
The solution in education is the same as the solution in government and markets — Free local and unique education markets! If Americans are to succeed in fighting off this latest "education reform" they must combine their efforts across the political spectrum. Tyranny is always more organized than liberty and the forces of tyranny are dividing our nation in order to conquer it. To save our children and the future of liberty in America we have to see the enemy to that freedom clearly, and that enemy is not the limited government our founders devised or the free markets they championed.
There will be no individual freedom, intellectual freedom, or economic freedom if Americans don't come together and oppose the central dangers of government sponsored monopolies. We must understand what Ayn Rand taught, this truth, "Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries."
For the visual learner: Economics 101: School Choice, why government monopolies are bad.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
What's Wrong With the Common Core?
WHY COMMON CORE IS NOT FREEDOM IN EDUCATION
What is Common Core?
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of content standards at this time limited to English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. FORTY-SIX STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HAVE signed on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a project sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA). The standards were written by teams of curriculum specialists and vetted by panels of academics, teachers, and other experts. In 2010, the federal government funded two consortia to develop assessments aligned with the Common Core. The new tests are to be ready in 2014. These standards, if adopted by a state, will replace existing state standards in these subject areas.
There are other components of the initiative beyond standards and testing. States that adopt the CCSS must participate in the Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) that will be given twice yearly, and participation in the State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS). These data basis will store testing data along with private student specific data and share that data with other states, the Federal Government, and private interests.
What's wrong with Standards?
What is Common Core?
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of content standards at this time limited to English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. FORTY-SIX STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HAVE signed on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a project sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA). The standards were written by teams of curriculum specialists and vetted by panels of academics, teachers, and other experts. In 2010, the federal government funded two consortia to develop assessments aligned with the Common Core. The new tests are to be ready in 2014. These standards, if adopted by a state, will replace existing state standards in these subject areas.
There are other components of the initiative beyond standards and testing. States that adopt the CCSS must participate in the Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) that will be given twice yearly, and participation in the State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS). These data basis will store testing data along with private student specific data and share that data with other states, the Federal Government, and private interests.
What's wrong with Standards?
Nothing. Every state has standards as a way of creating consistency in curriculum throughout their state. Proponents of the CCSS want this same consistency in what schools teach nationally but they defend CCSS by downplaying curriculum as the objective (which would not be popular) and asserting that CCSS are rigorous standards that will raise academic proficiency. The problem is there are real questions about what impacts student achievement most. Is it standards curriculum, and tests OR socioeconomics, family life, and biology?
The Brookings Institution studied the effect of standards on achievement and found that "states with weak content standards score about the same on NAEP as those with strong standards." It found in it's report, "How Well Are American Students Learning?", that variations are most apparent within states where all students learn under the same standards and curriculum. Brookings gives this warning to those who put too much confidence in CCSS as the solution to erasing achievement gaps and improving achievement overall, "The empirical evidence suggests that the Common Core will have little effect on American students’ achievement. The nation will have to look elsewhere for ways to improve its schools."
It's Not A National Curriculum, Right?
Curriculum follows standards. The push for common education standards argues that all American students should study a common curriculum, take comparable tests to measure their learning, and have the results interpreted on a common scale. This is the "equality of inputs = equality of outputs" philosophy. Good or bad when standards are written and copyrighted by private companies and then cashed strapped states are enticed into adopting those standards by the Federal Government who promises federal dollars and NCLB waivers in exchange, states are under contract with the Federal government and are not free to change any portion of the standards. In fact, under CCSS guidelines states are allowed to add only 15% of original content standards. The connection between standards and curriculum is clear. As the Brooking Institute wrote in their report, "The intended curriculum is embodied by standards; it is what governments want students to learn. The differences articulated by state governments in this regard are frequently trivial." So national standards will lead to a national curriculum.
Why is national curriculum a problem?
Well to start with, the authority to operate school systems is constitutionally vested in states. But just in case you are an American who isn't motivated by the constitutional argument think about it this way: Control over 100,000 public schools, 14,000 school districts, and over 500 Billion in education tax dollars will transfer from the hands of parents and local school boards to unelected boards, bureaucrats, and private partners the USDOE decides are more capable of managing education.
This massive federal takeover is fueled by the belief that states individually cannot be trusted which is just another way of saying the people can't be trusted. Our founders taught that government closest to the people governs best because it is the most responsive to the unique local needs of the people, it is the most innovative and creative, and most easily corrected when it fails. CCSS will undermine the decentralized, federalist principles on which education has been governed since America’s founding.
What Does Testing Look Like Under Common Core?
Proponents of the Common Core are excited about the CAT tests which are developed by companies like American Institutes for Research (AIR) with grants from the federal government. AIR "is one of the world's largest behavioral and social science research organizations" and is applying behavioral and social science to educational assessments. These tests are highly accurate, therefore the push for implementing the latest and greatest technologies to assist with the accurate measurement of student progress in academics. So what's the problem?
What's wrong with Common Core National Testing?
There is reason to seriously question what these tests are seeking to measure beyond cognitive ability and knowledge sets. Already in use these tests have well documented potential to be highly accurate for personality assessment and companies like AIR have the ability to devise tests that input selected variables that measure “behavioral characteristics” along with variables that measure language arts, science or math. Award winning child psychologist Dr. Gary Thompson wrote, "It would be relatively “easy” to design a language adaptive test that has behavioral characteristics embedded into the design of the test. Formulas could be designed to produce two sets of results (language and behavior), and then forward the language test results to its intended target (The Schools), and the behavioral results to another intended target (Federal Government, Private Agencies)." See the problem?
Are students disadvantaged by not participating in CAT tests?
NO. Research on cognitive ability tests shows that adaptive tests, and paper-and-pencil tests lead to equivalent scores. Paper-and-pencil tests are also cheaper and the state has more control over the content of the tests and what they are designed to measure. It is nearly impossible for state leaders to provide oversight of CAT tests because no two students will see the same test, each question on the test is predictive and prompts which question follows. A grade-level test will have about 1600 possible questions, and it requires psychometrician professionals to interpret the results of such tests.
What information will they store in these data basis and why should I be concerned?
Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the Common Core agenda is the data mining of our children's information outside of parental consent or knowledge. Stored in these data basis that were created as part of the "Race to the Top" grant program is highly personal student data such as social security number, health-care histories, learning disabilities, disciplinary action (from detentions for minor infractions to expulsions), attendance, homework completion, religious affiliations, and any educational or physiological data assessed through CAT. In 2011 portions of FERPA, education privacy act, were changed by Arnie Duncan at the USDOE so that data the states share with the Federal government can then be shared with private organizations and companies WITHOUT PARENTAL PERMISSION.
GOOD OR BAD OVERALL?
Many will argue Common Core based on whether or not the standards are good rigorous standards, whether or not the Common Core will improve education in American, whether a national curriculum will lead to indoctrination of our kids, or whether or not the Common Core will make America's economy more competitive. These are interesting discussions but whatever side you come down on in each of these cases there are a few simple facts about Common Core that make it a dangerous path for American education. (1) States who adopt Common Core lend their constitutional powers and responsibilities to oversee education in their states to the Federal government and move decision making over a child's education further from the hands of parents and communities. (2) There is no way to control the private interests who are highly involved with Common Core or to be certain they have our children's best interest at heart. (3) There is no way to be certain that very private intimate data on our children and by extension our families won't be abused by the Federal Government or private interests with access to this data. And (4) There is NO evidence that further standardizing curriculum and a new testing regime will result in better educations for our children.
In the words of Ronald Reagan: “Remember that every government service, every offer of government - is paid for in the loss of some personal freedom... In the days to come, whenever a voice is raised telling you to let the government do it, analyze very carefully to see whether the suggested service is worth the personal freedom which you must forgo in return for such service.”
The Brookings Institution studied the effect of standards on achievement and found that "states with weak content standards score about the same on NAEP as those with strong standards." It found in it's report, "How Well Are American Students Learning?", that variations are most apparent within states where all students learn under the same standards and curriculum. Brookings gives this warning to those who put too much confidence in CCSS as the solution to erasing achievement gaps and improving achievement overall, "The empirical evidence suggests that the Common Core will have little effect on American students’ achievement. The nation will have to look elsewhere for ways to improve its schools."
It's Not A National Curriculum, Right?
Curriculum follows standards. The push for common education standards argues that all American students should study a common curriculum, take comparable tests to measure their learning, and have the results interpreted on a common scale. This is the "equality of inputs = equality of outputs" philosophy. Good or bad when standards are written and copyrighted by private companies and then cashed strapped states are enticed into adopting those standards by the Federal Government who promises federal dollars and NCLB waivers in exchange, states are under contract with the Federal government and are not free to change any portion of the standards. In fact, under CCSS guidelines states are allowed to add only 15% of original content standards. The connection between standards and curriculum is clear. As the Brooking Institute wrote in their report, "The intended curriculum is embodied by standards; it is what governments want students to learn. The differences articulated by state governments in this regard are frequently trivial." So national standards will lead to a national curriculum.
Why is national curriculum a problem?
Well to start with, the authority to operate school systems is constitutionally vested in states. But just in case you are an American who isn't motivated by the constitutional argument think about it this way: Control over 100,000 public schools, 14,000 school districts, and over 500 Billion in education tax dollars will transfer from the hands of parents and local school boards to unelected boards, bureaucrats, and private partners the USDOE decides are more capable of managing education.
This massive federal takeover is fueled by the belief that states individually cannot be trusted which is just another way of saying the people can't be trusted. Our founders taught that government closest to the people governs best because it is the most responsive to the unique local needs of the people, it is the most innovative and creative, and most easily corrected when it fails. CCSS will undermine the decentralized, federalist principles on which education has been governed since America’s founding.
What Does Testing Look Like Under Common Core?
Proponents of the Common Core are excited about the CAT tests which are developed by companies like American Institutes for Research (AIR) with grants from the federal government. AIR "is one of the world's largest behavioral and social science research organizations" and is applying behavioral and social science to educational assessments. These tests are highly accurate, therefore the push for implementing the latest and greatest technologies to assist with the accurate measurement of student progress in academics. So what's the problem?
What's wrong with Common Core National Testing?
There is reason to seriously question what these tests are seeking to measure beyond cognitive ability and knowledge sets. Already in use these tests have well documented potential to be highly accurate for personality assessment and companies like AIR have the ability to devise tests that input selected variables that measure “behavioral characteristics” along with variables that measure language arts, science or math. Award winning child psychologist Dr. Gary Thompson wrote, "It would be relatively “easy” to design a language adaptive test that has behavioral characteristics embedded into the design of the test. Formulas could be designed to produce two sets of results (language and behavior), and then forward the language test results to its intended target (The Schools), and the behavioral results to another intended target (Federal Government, Private Agencies)." See the problem?
Are students disadvantaged by not participating in CAT tests?
NO. Research on cognitive ability tests shows that adaptive tests, and paper-and-pencil tests lead to equivalent scores. Paper-and-pencil tests are also cheaper and the state has more control over the content of the tests and what they are designed to measure. It is nearly impossible for state leaders to provide oversight of CAT tests because no two students will see the same test, each question on the test is predictive and prompts which question follows. A grade-level test will have about 1600 possible questions, and it requires psychometrician professionals to interpret the results of such tests.
What information will they store in these data basis and why should I be concerned?
Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the Common Core agenda is the data mining of our children's information outside of parental consent or knowledge. Stored in these data basis that were created as part of the "Race to the Top" grant program is highly personal student data such as social security number, health-care histories, learning disabilities, disciplinary action (from detentions for minor infractions to expulsions), attendance, homework completion, religious affiliations, and any educational or physiological data assessed through CAT. In 2011 portions of FERPA, education privacy act, were changed by Arnie Duncan at the USDOE so that data the states share with the Federal government can then be shared with private organizations and companies WITHOUT PARENTAL PERMISSION.
GOOD OR BAD OVERALL?
Many will argue Common Core based on whether or not the standards are good rigorous standards, whether or not the Common Core will improve education in American, whether a national curriculum will lead to indoctrination of our kids, or whether or not the Common Core will make America's economy more competitive. These are interesting discussions but whatever side you come down on in each of these cases there are a few simple facts about Common Core that make it a dangerous path for American education. (1) States who adopt Common Core lend their constitutional powers and responsibilities to oversee education in their states to the Federal government and move decision making over a child's education further from the hands of parents and communities. (2) There is no way to control the private interests who are highly involved with Common Core or to be certain they have our children's best interest at heart. (3) There is no way to be certain that very private intimate data on our children and by extension our families won't be abused by the Federal Government or private interests with access to this data. And (4) There is NO evidence that further standardizing curriculum and a new testing regime will result in better educations for our children.
In the words of Ronald Reagan: “Remember that every government service, every offer of government - is paid for in the loss of some personal freedom... In the days to come, whenever a voice is raised telling you to let the government do it, analyze very carefully to see whether the suggested service is worth the personal freedom which you must forgo in return for such service.”
THE PRICE IS TOO HIGH AND THE SERVICE TOO POOR
Friday, April 12, 2013
Stop Common Core: The Overview
Jane Robbins discusses the Common Core Standards, looking at their origins, the federal and private interests behind their creation, and the threat they represent to parents’ and teachers’ voice in what their children are learning.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
In Defense of Family: Help the Romeike Family Keep and Maintain their Family in Freedom!
If you haven't read the story of Romeike Family yet, if you are not aware of what our government is arguing in the case to deport this family, then you need to take a few minutes and educate yourself. Obama’s Justice Department, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, is arguing that parents have NO fundamental liberty in matters concerning the home education of their children. The US DOJ is arguing that the fines, looming prosecutions, and threats of removal of their children from their custody if they resist state education can't be considered persecution because the complete nationwide home school ban singles out no particular group. Essentially a ban on everybody's freedom persecutes no one.
German parents have not been able to legally homeschool their children since the practice was banned by the Nazis in 1938. The purpose of the ban was to force children to be indoctrinated by schools controlled by Hitler and the Third Reich. After that time, the ban has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Germany. According to the court, “preventing homeschooling was to counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies.” It is simply astonishing that our government would argue that such a ban jeopardizes no fundamental liberty. Not only does the DOJ's case ignore the perils of history, it contradicts thousands of years of tradition and a hundred years of constitutional case law that upholds the God given natural rights of parents to the custody and control of their children; which includes the right to raise their children as they see fit, to direct their upbringing and destiny, and to control their education and activities.
If the Romeike family is forced to return to Germany they will lose the God given right to nurture, teach, and guide their children in a way consistent with their closely held religious beliefs -- and if they resist this state control over their children they will face fines, prosecution, and even the forcible removal of their children from their care and custody. Is there any worse persecution than this? Is state control and abuse of your children worse than the control and abuse of their minds? Is there any kind of persecution worse than this?
I have tried to imagine which is worse, to lose my freedom to worship as I choose or to lose my freedom to control the education and upbringing of my children and have concluded they are one and the same! The unity of the family and a parent's God given right to protect and educate that child is in my mind our most sacred right under God, our most sacred responsibility, and essential to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not only is it a fundamental human right and an American heritage it is central to my faith and religious convictions. I believe that this is the case with the Romeike family.
All of our natural God given rights acknowledged by our constitution as unalienable rights -- freedom of speech and thought, freedom of religion, property rights, privacy rights -- are in the support of this central human endeavor to form families, to bring children into those families, to love and nurture those children, to teach them and guide them, and to see them grown with those values we've instilled in them. It is central to our pursuit of happiness in this life to pass to our children our legacy of faith as well as our worldly goods. When any government degrades and undermines this fundamental human God given right then they are exercising tyranny over the human soul and mind and denying individuals the essence of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
German parents have not been able to legally homeschool their children since the practice was banned by the Nazis in 1938. The purpose of the ban was to force children to be indoctrinated by schools controlled by Hitler and the Third Reich. After that time, the ban has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Germany. According to the court, “preventing homeschooling was to counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies.” It is simply astonishing that our government would argue that such a ban jeopardizes no fundamental liberty. Not only does the DOJ's case ignore the perils of history, it contradicts thousands of years of tradition and a hundred years of constitutional case law that upholds the God given natural rights of parents to the custody and control of their children; which includes the right to raise their children as they see fit, to direct their upbringing and destiny, and to control their education and activities.
If the Romeike family is forced to return to Germany they will lose the God given right to nurture, teach, and guide their children in a way consistent with their closely held religious beliefs -- and if they resist this state control over their children they will face fines, prosecution, and even the forcible removal of their children from their care and custody. Is there any worse persecution than this? Is state control and abuse of your children worse than the control and abuse of their minds? Is there any kind of persecution worse than this?
I have tried to imagine which is worse, to lose my freedom to worship as I choose or to lose my freedom to control the education and upbringing of my children and have concluded they are one and the same! The unity of the family and a parent's God given right to protect and educate that child is in my mind our most sacred right under God, our most sacred responsibility, and essential to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not only is it a fundamental human right and an American heritage it is central to my faith and religious convictions. I believe that this is the case with the Romeike family.
All of our natural God given rights acknowledged by our constitution as unalienable rights -- freedom of speech and thought, freedom of religion, property rights, privacy rights -- are in the support of this central human endeavor to form families, to bring children into those families, to love and nurture those children, to teach them and guide them, and to see them grown with those values we've instilled in them. It is central to our pursuit of happiness in this life to pass to our children our legacy of faith as well as our worldly goods. When any government degrades and undermines this fundamental human God given right then they are exercising tyranny over the human soul and mind and denying individuals the essence of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
STAND WITH THE ROMEIKE FAMILY SIGN THIS PETITION
Under American law, the Attorney General has the right to grant asylum to the Romeike family at any time. A petition has been started on the White House website, We the People, requesting the family be allowed to stay. Although the first petition was taken down as it did not meet the threshold of 100,000 signatures within 30 days, a second petition was started on March 19. PLEASE HELP US REACH THE REQUIRED SIGNATURES!!
Under American law, the Attorney General has the right to grant asylum to the Romeike family at any time. A petition has been started on the White House website, We the People, requesting the family be allowed to stay. Although the first petition was taken down as it did not meet the threshold of 100,000 signatures within 30 days, a second petition was started on March 19. PLEASE HELP US REACH THE REQUIRED SIGNATURES!!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
COMMON CORE: Relinquishing Our Constitutional Rights
Common Core State Standards are essentially education without representation and threatens the freedoms of families nationwide. You don't need to know everything about the Common Core State Standards agenda to make a strong case against it. Even if all the CCSS and it's curriculum models were healthy educationally, even if you could support data-mining student's personal info for the "betterment" of the workforce of the future, CCSS is still a federal takeover of education that has serious implications for the future! On the pure basis of our republican form of government parents nationwide should be seriously concerned and should oppose the federal government taking this much control over local education.
With CCSS we have the most significant change in US education EVER. We should oppose a mandated set of national standards, national tests, and national curriculum models (that inevitably follow such standards) because they are binding on the states. Once agreed to CCSS will transform classrooms coast to coast without parents and citizens having any say in what's happening in their local schools and practically no democratic means to appeal should they be displeased in the future!
We must oppose our state Governors and legislators relinquishing our constitutional powers to the DOE. CCSS has been a clandestine un-democratic takeover of education coast to coast, whatever the supposed benefits, the dangers are far more compelling.
Consider the billions in local and state taxes we pay to fund our schools that will be essentially controlled by the Federal Department of Education by de facto means under CCSS. When we as a state sign onto this federal compact we use state dollars to carry out federal mandates in education. So what if we don't like something in the mandates? So what if we want to change this or that to better suit our state? Nope! Out of luck. You signed the compact your obligated to the whole enchilada!
I know firsthand how difficult it is to address bad public policy when state government encroaches on local school districts. When Nebraska state legislators passed a sweeping school attendance law that removed responsibility from local school boards to the state, they arbitrarily made delinquents of tens if thousands of school children, the majority of whom were at no-risk of academic failure or a life of crime. Nebraska parents found it extremely difficult to affect reforms and solve the local concerns once that power shifted to state government.
Imagine you have a serious concern about a curriculum model that was developed as a direct response to the CCSS. You talk to a member of your school board about your concerns seeking a solution to the problem and they say, "I'm sorry we have to do it that way because it's the law." You then contact your legislator for assistance and they in turn tell you there is nothing they can do because it is a federal standard they have no oversight. What do you do then? Who do you call?
It is unimaginable to think that policies that affect families so intimately would be drawn up by unelected boards in Washington and be binding on my family with no local representation to turn to for redress when those policies become tyrannical. How much harder is it to organize a national grassroots opposition to federal control then to affect change in your own school district? Almost Impossible!!
It was for this reason that our founders taught us that the government closest to the people governs best and that for freedom to endure you needed an educated and engaged populous who are eternally vigilant in protecting those natural rights that the constitution was designed to protect. We are relinquishing our God given rights at breath taking speed and I fear it will be too late to recover them when we finally realize the folly of it all!
STOP COMMON CORE NOW!
With CCSS we have the most significant change in US education EVER. We should oppose a mandated set of national standards, national tests, and national curriculum models (that inevitably follow such standards) because they are binding on the states. Once agreed to CCSS will transform classrooms coast to coast without parents and citizens having any say in what's happening in their local schools and practically no democratic means to appeal should they be displeased in the future!
We must oppose our state Governors and legislators relinquishing our constitutional powers to the DOE. CCSS has been a clandestine un-democratic takeover of education coast to coast, whatever the supposed benefits, the dangers are far more compelling.
Consider the billions in local and state taxes we pay to fund our schools that will be essentially controlled by the Federal Department of Education by de facto means under CCSS. When we as a state sign onto this federal compact we use state dollars to carry out federal mandates in education. So what if we don't like something in the mandates? So what if we want to change this or that to better suit our state? Nope! Out of luck. You signed the compact your obligated to the whole enchilada!
I know firsthand how difficult it is to address bad public policy when state government encroaches on local school districts. When Nebraska state legislators passed a sweeping school attendance law that removed responsibility from local school boards to the state, they arbitrarily made delinquents of tens if thousands of school children, the majority of whom were at no-risk of academic failure or a life of crime. Nebraska parents found it extremely difficult to affect reforms and solve the local concerns once that power shifted to state government.
Imagine you have a serious concern about a curriculum model that was developed as a direct response to the CCSS. You talk to a member of your school board about your concerns seeking a solution to the problem and they say, "I'm sorry we have to do it that way because it's the law." You then contact your legislator for assistance and they in turn tell you there is nothing they can do because it is a federal standard they have no oversight. What do you do then? Who do you call?
It is unimaginable to think that policies that affect families so intimately would be drawn up by unelected boards in Washington and be binding on my family with no local representation to turn to for redress when those policies become tyrannical. How much harder is it to organize a national grassroots opposition to federal control then to affect change in your own school district? Almost Impossible!!
It was for this reason that our founders taught us that the government closest to the people governs best and that for freedom to endure you needed an educated and engaged populous who are eternally vigilant in protecting those natural rights that the constitution was designed to protect. We are relinquishing our God given rights at breath taking speed and I fear it will be too late to recover them when we finally realize the folly of it all!
STOP COMMON CORE NOW!
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