"belonging to or shared by two or more people or groups; done by many people; occurring or appearing frequently, not rare".This definition seems innocuous enough, however if you continue reading you find disturbing definitions such as
"4b: characterized by a lack of privilege or special status <common people>; 5a: falling below ordinary standards: second-rate; b: lacking refinement: coarse"Our children are not common, in any sense of the word. They are unique and precious and should not ever be reduced to being "common", especially in such a critical arena as their education. Now, I know there are people who will dismiss these definitions as nothing more than an opposed parent using minutiae to make a point. Words mean things, people. Our language and ability to properly communicate thoughts and ideas are extremely important. The dictionary, and its cousin the thesaurus, are powerful tools in communicating those thoughts and ideas. Plus, I love the English language and enjoy using it properly.
My second issue with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) name is the use inaccurate use of the word state. The purpose is to imply, though the creators also outright claim, state level involvement in the creation of these standards. This is a flat out lie. These standards were created and written by private trade organizations and by businesses seeking to turn our children into a new profit base and create a streamlined 'common' workforce. In other words, the federal government, and the 45 states who rushed to accept and implement these standards, are monetizing the children of the United States, turning them into a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded.
Additionally, Common Core calls for gathering, storing, and sharing shocking amounts of information on students and their families. Some of the information they collect includes, though is most certainly not limited to, your family's religion and details on the exercise thereof, your political beliefs or leanings, health related questions, whether you have guns in your home, and details about your marriage. Schools are also collecting biometric data (palm scans, retina scans) on your children, with precious few limits on how that data can be shared.
However, it is my belief that the biggest and most revealing issue with Common Core is the centralization. Local control is completely a thing of the past. Parents have no say, no influence, no sway with what is happening in their children's school (in fact some parents who attempt to question Common Core are being arrested for trying to get answers). If the Common Core State Standards were everything its proponents claim them to be I would still fight their usage on these grounds alone. Absolutely no good can come from removing parents from their child's education. There is no legitimate reason to remove parents from the educations process. This is to me is the single largest red flag concerning Common Core. Why does the government want a set of standards and teaching methods that parents are so unfamiliar with they cannot help their children even with kindergarten level work? I don't mean that parents can help their children solve the problems before them or that they can't help their children access the information they need to complete an assignment, because they can. I mean that this new curriculum (yes, it is a curriculum no matter how many times the authors make claims to the contrary) teaches and requires methods that no parent has ever seen before. This prevents parents from being able to be involved in their child's education.
It also leads us to another serious problem with these standards, they are brand new, untested, and unproven. Our children are being used a guinea pigs. Not only are they being experimented on, our children being exposed to ever more degrading levels of filth in the form of required readings, sexual education, and tolerance education. Thankfully, many parents are seeing these issues and are fighting for their children.
