If you’re like me, you keep hearing about the Common Core. Or, maybe not. Virginia is one of only four states (plus D.C.) that refused to adopt the new standards.

A very brief summary of what Common Core Standards is all about:

http://platypusmedia.com/files/Common%20Core%20Article,%20May%202013%20for%20web.pdf

Common Core is teaching what a crappy county this is, white terrorists, etc. i.e. indoctrination beginning at an early age. And you wonder why people homeschool...

Just sounds like a new way for testers to charge us and make more revenue...

The Bill Gates Co. wants kids to think more critically, creatively, communicate more, etc., etc. This is not anything new. Here's what's new---they want this, but they don't want to allow teachers to think more critically, creatively, etc. They want to hire more and more "specialists" to tell teachers what to do and to interpret these common core standards for them. Teachers are being treated like automatons and we wonder why students can't think critically, creatively, etc.???

The answer is so simple, but it doesn't cost as much and they will not be able to gouge the taxpayers for more money. The answer is to hire bright and creative people who actually TEACH the kids and to let them use their brains. Dont' bother them with unnecessary meetings and insipid overworn professional development sessions (especially those with many years of service). What you end up with now are either teachers who feel truly insulted or teachers who are sucking up to all this crap (and end up in the "specialist" or "coaching" jobs). I have no confidence that the Bill Gates of the world can change this. Education is very local and personal---it happens in the microcosm of the teacher-student (and parent) relationship. Everyone else is VERY much on the sidelines. The teacher is the most important element and I don't see a lot of support for that part of the process. Teachers are being stripped of their professionalism. BTW, the best and fairest tests that do not demoralize students are the ones made by the teacher for their unique class.

Leave the niglets in bath tub. For that matter, leave a full size nigger in the bath tub. They can't swim!

What a lot of these charter school specialist morons won't tell you is that the US is among the top in the world in standardized testing if you throw out the people who don't take the tests in other countries.

Young Curmudgeon Wrote:
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> What a lot of these charter school specialist
> morons won't tell you is that the US is among the
> top in the world in standardized testing if you
> throw out the people who don't take the tests in
> other countries.


Could you say that in English, please?

I was being snarky, but I was actually trying to parse what you meant, since your other posts seem reasonably intelligent.

you wrote: "the US is among the top in the world in standardized testing if you throw out the people who don't take the tests in other countries."

Who are the people whose standardized testing scores we would throw out in order to put the US on a level playing field with the rest of the world?

What are the parameters of that cohort?

Young Curmudgeon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a lot of these charter school specialist
> morons won't tell you is that the US is among the
> top in the world in standardized testing if you
> throw out the people who don't take the tests in
> other countries.


I think what you are trying to say is that more students in the US take these types of tests. Where in other countries, more people have been excluded from the group that is allowed to take these types of tests, i.e. at some point the students who don't take the tests have already been told "you need to go to trade school or you're an idiot who shouldn't get going to college, wasting your time and parents' money there."

In the US there is the belief is that "no child left behind" means everyone needs to go to college." Really???? Remember the average intelligence is that average (and sometimes I think its going south - fast).

Uh... Wrote:
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> Who are the people whose standardized testing
> scores we would throw out in order to put the US
> on a level playing field with the rest of the
> world?
>
> What are the parameters of that cohort?

People who would be put in vocational education, special ed cases, non-English speakers (I think they can get it in their native language), people who are not college material in general.

blanche Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think what you are trying to say is that more
> students in the US take these types of tests.
> Where in other countries, more people have been
> excluded from the group that is allowed to take
> these types of tests, i.e. at some point the
> students who don't take the tests have already
> been told "you need to go to trade school or
> you're an idiot who shouldn't get going to
> college, wasting your time and parents' money
> there."
>
> In the US there is the belief is that "no child
> left behind" means everyone needs to go to
> college." Really???? Remember the average
> intelligence is that average (and sometimes I
> think its going south - fast).

You've just stated the problem with the American educational system. Nobody wants to fix it, however.

Exactly, no one wants to fix the system because the teachers' unions don't want to face the fact that they aren't teaching.

And the colleges like the money and the professors like to indoctrinate the young impressionable ones that haven't learned to think by the time they get to college.

The teacher's unions are way overrated as the problem. Virginia is a "right to work" state and has no unions (they are called "associations" here and have no bargaining rights whatsoever). Unions nationwide have been in decline for decades (across all industries and professions). The fact that working people cannot earn a living wage ("the working poor" never used to exist) and that they cannot get jobs with health insurance has created the income gap we are seeing today in this country. Teachers are barely hanging on as part of the middle class. How can you attract decent teachers in this atmosphere? It's a vicious cycle---low pay leads to bad teachers leads to public complaints leads to lower pay leads to (you get the picture).

We need to point the fingers at ourselves. We vote. We elect the school board, the board of supervisors, the senators, the congressman, etc., etc. The teachers are only responding to these groups and what they perceive that the public wants (says a lot about the public, doesn't it?). And yes, the colleges are taking advantage of all of this (jacked up prices for one thing). This whole bubble will also collapse.

coming soon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The teacher's unions are way overrated as the
> problem. Virginia is a "right to work" state and
> has no unions (they are called "associations" here
> and have no bargaining rights whatsoever). Unions
> nationwide have been in decline for decades
> (across all industries and professions). The fact
> that working people cannot earn a living wage
> ("the working poor" never used to exist) and that
> they cannot get jobs with health insurance has
> created the income gap we are seeing today in this
> country. Teachers are barely hanging on as part
> of the middle class. How can you attract decent
> teachers in this atmosphere? It's a vicious
> cycle---low pay leads to bad teachers leads to
> public complaints leads to lower pay leads to (you
> get the picture).
>
> We need to point the fingers at ourselves. We
> vote. We elect the school board, the board of
> supervisors, the senators, the congressman, etc.,
> etc. The teachers are only responding to these
> groups and what they perceive that the public
> wants (says a lot about the public, doesn't it?).
> And yes, the colleges are taking advantage of all
> of this (jacked up prices for one thing). This
> whole bubble will also collapse.

Someone who actually gets it. The parents and students are the problem. Yes, and so are the administrators. If you want to fix the problem, you have to stop interfering with them. You have to stop the standardized testing nonsense by which someone's ability is extrapolated from how his/her students do on one 60 question multiple choice exam.

Colleges have been taking advantage of federal financial aid for years as well. The best way to deal with it? Cut off the tap. Only people who genuinely NEED financial aid get it, not people who simply want it. There are other sources of student loans...