Yes, the Kool Aid must stop

I took some heat last week for accusing some  pro Common Core Tweeters of serving up the Kool Aid. They accused me of labeling them Jim Jones and called it  disturbing, hyperbolic, and offensive. They claimed their position is not as dangerous as ordering 900 to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Kool-Aid laced with potassium cyanide.

They used that lame argument to deflect my statements that called them out for pushing an education reform agenda that they are profiteering from. There is a whole flock of vultures out there looking to profit from Common Core, teacher evaluations, and the privatization of our public schools. And yes they are serving up Kool Aid to those who follow them.

Some may say, my words are too harsh. I’ve been called a anti- Common Core zealot. Even so, I stand by my words.

Ineffective teachers or administrators, teacher’s unions,or  poor curriculum have not caused many of our schools to be in trouble.  Education reformers  have ignored the root causes of our nation’s education based discourse  and have added sugar to the mix to disguise the real problems our schools face.   If we drink the Kool- Aid being served up by the reformers, we blindly agree that education reform, in the form of some magical set of common standards, tests, and evaluations will solve our nation’s problems.

Poverty, racial segregation , and  inadequate funding are the real culprits. In reality, education reforms do nothing to address the 16 million children in our nation that live in poverty and they  ignore the fact that 5 children die each and every day from abuse and neglect. It allows mayors like Rahm Emanual to  close the largest number of schools, at one time,  in our nation’s history, claiming he can’t afford them, while spending $55 million on a stadium. 

You still think using the analogy, ‘”drinking the Kool- Aid” is too harsh? I don’t think so.

The Common Core is a dangerous social experiment that will eventually destroy our education system and lead us on a path to no where. It ignores individualism and prevent differentiation of thought and techniques. It demands that all students be at the same place at the same time, uniformly marching through texts and math problems.

The assessments used to measure, not the student but the teacher, abuses children while ensuring we maintain our lockstep  cadence through the years. It ignores the emotional  needs of our children by demanding they cite evidence for their innermost feelings and thoughts. It sends the message to our children that the world doesn’t give a shit about what you think, just answer the question or you may be labeled a 1 or 2.

All the while we hear the mantra of step right up and be college and career ready, just take a sip of this Kool- aid and all will be right.

Yea, say that to the hundreds of   children that were killed by guns this year , the 7.5 million children without health insurance, the 16 million children who come to school hungry, or the 1.6 million children that are homeless.