America’s Fatal Blow: the creation of another class of automatons—your children and my grandchildren via more government criminality—COMMON CORE STANDARDS. (Not to be confused with Ed Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Curriculum!)  This is being promoted under the auspices of individuals who laughingly identify themselves as “educators” rather than government operative agents.

Front page story in Times Record March 9, 2012…”National uniform curriculum standards topic of video event”.

The chilling lead paragraph:  “Curriculum standards determined by individual states are a thing of the past because today’s students must compete in a global workforce, area educators learned in a video conference statewide summit Thursday”.  Is the author of this paragraph asserting, in this case, a Mary Gunter, Arkansas Tech University Center for Leadership Director that all the school teachers in Arkansas are ready to turn over entire control of public education to federal government bureaucrats?

Reread that paragraph and see how easily government spokeswoman Gunter rolls out Educanto Newspeak under the guise of a “global workforce” and cede city and state control of education to federal bureaucrats.  Harken back to the criminal No Child Left Behind federal edict which has been a disaster to academic achievement…and now this further affront and confiscation of state and individual rights in blatant violation of our 10th Amendment.

Gunter remarked the “U.S. once offered the world’s best educational system, the world changed after World War II, and the country is now ranked 22nd “.   Gunter is very generous in the ranking of the U.S.   The world did not change, what changed was governmental interference and redirection of educational goals to achieve collectivist controlled thinking, e.g. death to logic, to rationality, to merit, to achievement, to work ethic & responsibility, to heritage, culture, and to rugged individualism and the vulgar refusal to enforce immigration laws.  Egalitarianism, in short.

In unison the corrupt federal government purposely failed to invoke the U.S. Constitution, thereby allowing the legal and illegal 3rd World invasions.  Recall, that government surrogate F.S. Superintendent Benny Gooden, in his famous statement “We’ll take all we can get”…was referring to illegal aliens.  Dr. Gooden was smacking his lips at the funding the sanctuary city of Fort Smith, Arkansas and its public schools would receive.

FUNDING FOLLOWS FAILURE.  Not only are American pupils not being taught true core subjects (e.g. proper grammar, classics, geography, mathematics, science, etc.) but they have to contend with a continually growing number of children who do not speak English and whose cultures and values are quite different.  Another excuse to dumb-down, to teach the Test, to revise curriculum to reflect the Politically Correct concepts being foisted, e.g. affirmative action, feminism, smears of racism, quotas, set-asides, et al. Don’t forget, MORE FUNDING.

Another educational gem by Spokeswoman Mary Gunter, “Access to a quality education shouldn’t be determined by person’s zip code, and that’s where Common Core comes in” the video narrator stated.  Translation: Gunter is articulating with bravado that government is going to force every child into the same mold regardless of local mores, culture, heritage, abilities and/or ambitions, the practice known as Marxist Communism in the real world. 

Gunter goes on to declare that “46 states including Arkansas (citizens were you aware of these goings on?—Of course not) have adopted and begun implementing the Common Core Standards.”  Not so in the case of number of participating states.  Oklahoma, New Hampshire, So. Carolina, Minnesota and Texas are removing part or all of Common Core Standards.  Five other states have not even taken the bait. 

Enter Barry Owen, one of the numerous Fort Smith School District’s assistant or deputy superintendents. It is said he is the “Assistant Superintendent of Instruction”…he asserted that “technology, social media, and access to it has changed the game”.  More educanto Newspeak from government emissary Owen. Most of us know true academic core subjects and discipline are the basis for authentic education not revisionism, omissions, approximations, etc.

Comprehend, if you can, Owen’s next statement, be forewarned that it represents a huge challenge, “we aren’t teaching them to be reservoirs of knowledge anymore (what an admission!), we are teaching them to put things back out there and to change things”.  Huh? This is the guy who is charge of INSTRUCTION?

The article is mercifully concluded with one final statement from emissary Prof. Owen, “The bottom line is if I move across the line, to Oklahoma, the curriculum will be the same as here in Arkansas”. (Not if the Oklahoma legislature has its way!)

The featherbedding polyglot formerly known as public education has become a wholesale criminal endeavor, purposely blunting the minds of our children and grandchildren under the direction of government agents like Benny Gooden, Merle Dickerson, and Barry Owen leading the charge.

NEVER FORGET: FUNDING FOLLOWS FAILURE!!!  And funding is the entire name of the game to most.

Joe & Barbara McCutchen