{"id":1265,"date":"2013-06-01T07:06:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-01T07:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2014-02-09T04:31:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T04:31:33","slug":"common-core-nationalizes-and-dumbs-down-public-school-curriculum-article-by-ron-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/blog\/2013\/06\/common-core-nationalizes-and-dumbs-down-public-school-curriculum-article-by-ron-paul\/","title":{"rendered":"“Common Core” Nationalizes and Dumbs Down Public School Curriculum – Article by Ron Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"The<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ron Paul
\n<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
June 1, 2013<\/big><\/span><\/div>\n
Recommend this page<\/a>.<\/strong><\/div>\n
******************************<\/div>\n
\n

In addition to shredding civil liberties, launching a utopian global war for democracy, and going on a spending spree that would make LBJ blush, the so-called \u201cconservative\u201d Bush administration dramatically increased federal control over education via the \u201cNo Child Left Behind\u201d act. During my time in Congress I heard nothing but complaints about this law from teachers, administrators, and, most importantly, students and parents. Most of the complaints concerned No Child Left Behind\u2019s testing requirements, which encouraged educators to \u201cteach to the test.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, but not surprisingly, instead of improving education by repealing No Child Left Behind\u2019s testing and other mandates, the Obama administration is increasing national control over schools via the \u201cCommon Core” initiative. Common Core is a new curriculum developed by a panel of so-called education experts. The administration is trying to turn Common Core into a national curriculum by offering states increased federal education funding if they impose Common Core\u2019s curriculum on their public schools. This is yet another example of the government using money stolen from the people to bribe states into obeying federal dictates.<\/p>\n

Critics of Common Core say it \u201cdumbs down\u201d education by replacing traditional English literature with \u201cinformational texts\u201d. So students will read such inspiring materials as studies by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the EPA\u2019s \u201cRecommended Levels of Insulation,\u201d and \u201cInvasive Plant Inventory\u201d by California\u2019s Invasive Plant Council. It is doubtful that reading federal reports will teach students the habits of critical thinking and skepticism of government that the Founders considered essential to maintaining a free republic.<\/p>\n

Like Obamacare, Common Core (now dubbed \u201cObamaCore\u201d by some) has sparked a backlash in the states, leading some to propose legislation forbidding state participation in the scheme. I hope these efforts lead to states not just opting out of Common Core, but out of No Child Left Behind and all other federal education programs as well.<\/p>\n

Parents can also effectively \u201copt out\u201d of programs like Common Core by seeking alternatives to government education. It is no coincidence that, as federal control over education increases, the quality of public education has declined and more parents have chosen to homeschool.<\/p>\n

To support these parents, I have established my own homeschool curriculum. Unlike Common Core, we do not dumb down any of our offerings. Instead, the goal is to provide students with a rigorous education in history, math, English, foreign languages, and other core subjects necessary to a well-rounded education. Unlike the top-down model of nationalized education, the homeschool curriculum is deigned to encourage maximum input from parents and students. While the curriculum will reflect my belief, and interest, in Austrian economics, libertarian political theory, and the history of the struggle against centralized coercive power, the curriculum is being carefully designed to not show bias toward any one religion. I hope all parents of any faith\u2014or no religious belief at all\u2014will feel comfortable using the curriculum.<\/p>\n

I believe it is important for those of us concerned with education and liberty to fight our battles locally. We must oppose further encroachment on the autonomy of local public schools and work to roll-back existing interference, while encouraging and supporting the growth of homeschooling and other alternative education movements. The key to restoring quality education is to replace the bureaucratic control of education with a free market in education. Parents should have the freedom to select the type of education that best suits their child\u2019s unique needs.<\/p>\n

\n

Ron Paul, MD, is a former three-time Republican candidate for U. S. President and Congressman from Texas.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article is reprinted with permission.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ron Paul June 1, 2013 Recommend this page. ****************************** In addition to shredding civil liberties, launching a utopian global war for democracy, and going on a spending spree that would make LBJ blush, the so-called \u201cconservative\u201d Bush administration dramatically increased federal control over education via the \u201cNo Child Left Behind\u201d act. During my time in Congress I heard nothing but complaints about this law from teachers, administrators, and, most importantly, students and parents. Most of the complaints concerned No Child…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1634,5],"tags":[797,76,467,2120,932,227,1033,2123,916,59,2122,2124,2121,65,914,2125],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-2","category-politics","tag-autonomy","tag-barack-obama","tag-choice","tag-common-core","tag-curriculum","tag-free-market","tag-george-w-bush","tag-homeschooling","tag-learning","tag-liberty","tag-no-child-left-behind","tag-opt-out","tag-public-school","tag-ron-paul","tag-school","tag-standardized-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1268,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/1268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}