Common Core Sneaks Political Agenda
into Lesson Plan, Posted on Tuesday the 27th of
October 2015, by Alice Greene: Guest Writer
Common Core
critics are furious with a new study guide called “The Battle over Gun Control”
which not only gives kids a slanted perspective of the topic but also hints
that the Common Core has a political agenda. The study guide/lesson plan
was authored in part by the nonprofit and taxpayer-funded National Writing
Project, which states that “moderate gun control” policies introduced after the
Sandy Hook school shooting were destroyed by the “powerful political influence”
of the National Rifle Association.
The lesson
plan’s wording, according to Second Amendment advocates, frames the gun control
debate in a one-sided way aimed to influence young minds: “The issue took
center stage in December, when a long gunman entered an elementary school…one
of the deadliest mass shootings in US history,” reads the guide’s intro. “Yet,
month’s down the line, the issue remains highly controversial: An attempt to
enact moderate new gun control measures this spring was voted down in the
Senate, due in part to the powerful political influence of gun rights groups
like the National Rifle Association.”
“Guiding
questions” in the study guide include:
1. When a greater number of people in our society own guns, are we
safer or more at risk?
2. Are rules and guidelines that were created over 200 years ago still
applicable today?
3. How accurate is this statement: The only thing that stops a bad guy with
a gun is a good guy with a gun.
One of the
Core’s biggest enemies is the grassroots organization Voices Empower. The
group’s founder, Alice Linahan, told Fox News that “it’s a shift from teaching
fact to teaching attitudes, belief, and behavior.” Linahan isn’t really
concerned about gun control views, but she does worry that such methods of
teaching may leave children unprepared for the real world. “Does a child get a
job because they can read well, write, and have competent math skills, or do
they get a job for supporting gay marriage and gun control?” she asks.
While the Core
is not a curriculum, it has a big effect on classroom lessons due to its
standardized tests. Curriculum providers often advertise their material as
aligning with Common Core exams. Although it is not clear how widely this
particular lesson has been distributed, many schools throughout the country
utilize lessons created by the National Writing Project, an organization
funded by the Department of Education that receives over $25 million each year
in grant money.
According to
Linahan, lessons like “The Battle over Gun Control” will continue to be used in
schools across the country if the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is
re-authorized. “What will be mandated in the act, if it’s renewed, will
continue a shift in our education system and makes it federal law,” she said.
Voices Empower plans to campaign against the re-authorization.
The Common Core
Initiative was jointly constructed by governors and state education chiefs from
48 states. The goal was to create a uniform standard of career and
college-ready knowledge for grades K-12. Critics argue that it is not the
federal government’s job to develop or enforce educational standards. Backed by the
Obama Administration in 2009, the Common Core has been adopted by nearly every
state – in many cases after the incentive of federal grants.
http://punchingbagpost.com/common-core-sneaks-political-agenda-into-lesson-plan
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