Sophia
GOP The Daily Dose
11/24/2013
…The reason why this is so concerning is that Tupelo prides itself on data driven instruction. Now, data is nice if it helps you figure out if a student needs extra help in a particular area. However, what if that effort is aimed at monitoring the political views of a student? What if there is a shift in student opinion to say, the wrong opinion on gun control or say the wrong opinion on right to life issues? Is the school collecting data toward that end to monitor the political beliefs of these young children? As you check out the school district’s video on data driven instruction, ponder for a moment where does monitoring education end and monitoring indoctrination begin?…
…In the era before “data driven instruction” an assignment like this might have been received differently. In light of “data driven instruction,” are student opinions on this assignment part of the “data?” After similar incidents with surveys in Maryland and other places, it does prompt one to wonder if this is now part of the data.
As a side note to the teacher, she doesn’t quite have Republicans corrected stated, unless one is going strictly on party platform. For example under abortion, there are quite a few Republicans pro-choice Republicans. I am not one, but I have met many who are, and I have met many Democrats who keep trying to change their party platform on the matter. Abortion is one of those issues that is difficult to draw a partisan line upon. Even so, I am rather shocked that a teacher is discussing it with ten and eleven year olds.
Further, gun control is another issue that is not strictly partisan. In the part of the world I live in, there are Democrats with a stronger commitment to the second amendment than some Republican Governors, like Chris Christie.
As far as gay marriage is concerned, this teacher has apparently not heard of Log Cabin Republicans. But what I find even more troublesome is that gay marriage is being discussed by a teacher in the classroom. I find it disturbing that a government employee, which is what a public teacher really is, is having a conversation with children of this age on this topic.
Quite frankly, wouldn’t classroom time be better spent teaching something like, math, geography, science, art, or music? …
The complete article, with video, is at GOP The Daily Dose.
Update: Common Core by any other name
Is “Common Core” a dirty word?
No, said state Board of Education Chairman Gary Chartrand.
Chartrand made the statement Tuesday, after state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart suggested Florida might “rebrand” the controversial Common Core State Standards. The national benchmark are already being used in Florida classrooms, but have drawn ire from Tea Party groups and libertarians, who consider the standards an example of federal overreach.
Board member Kathleen Shanahan said a name change would cause “more public confusion.”…
More Cracks in the Core: Massachusetts Halts Common Core Implementation
This week, the Massachusetts Board of Education voted to slow the transition to Common Core.
The board decided to delay implementation for two years while it compares the Common Core aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests to their existing—and widely praised—Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam…
