Schools As Microcosms of the Socialist State

I read a post on our Facebook page today that really just made me shudder - and that happens rarely anymore with all I've learned about the Common Core and specifically the data collection aspect of the initiative. 

Here is the post by DeShawna Marie Smyth:

"What is sad is our school is spending less and less time on actually educating our students and more time sending the students home, calling the parents, or ticketing the parents because the child is wearing a zipper on their sweater, or a hood on their jacket, or the wrong color of tights! Our uniform rules have gotten out of control here! Not only are parents getting tickets, but children are worrying too much about what they need to be wearing at school and less about what they are learning!"

And now my return post:

OH WELL SAID!!!! I knew that 'uniform codes' were so much more insidious than everyone thought and I think this is one of the things they are supposed to do (in order to change society)! Along with putting the child in a box (the school makes them feel inseparable from their counterparts). After all, you can't have a society of little automatons who are willing to do the state's bidding if you don't first decide to take away their sense of 'self' - their sense of who they are. See, everything is done for the sake of 'safety' these days. Schools tell you, "We're installing this retinal scanner to make sure your kids are safe" and "We're making all kids wear a uniform because we don't want kids to be sad if they don't have enough money for the clothes the other kids have" - which, incidentally is socialism! What happens when you buy all the items (school supplies) the school wants at the start of school. The school takes them and puts them into a single pile so no one has the items they bought and brought with them, doling them out instead to the kids 'according to their need. 

DeShawna replies to my comment:  

This is exactly how I feel!!! They add more and more restrictions and call it "Safety" when it's really "conformity".

Apparently this struck a cord because here are a couple of other posts:

Tina Dobbs: Don't forget, not wearing a belt is a huge offense as well!!

Paula Ray: Or can't take purse with ya because of personal reasons on a field trip because not allowed to bring bags, electronics, or jackets.

Until I pulled them from school, ALL my kids were in a public elementary school that forced a dress code.  The worst part about the whole thing was not the conformity, but the LACK of conformity.  Basically, I was one of the only parents in the entire school that followed the dress code!  My kids would put something on in the morning that was out of dress code and I'd tell them to go change, after which I'd get a 5 minute diatribe about how I was so mean and "no one else in the school followed the dress code".

I would show up at school on numerous occasions and I could tell the dress code wasn't being enforced - or at worst, it was being enforced SELECTIVELY.  

What did this teach the kids?  That not only were rules not important, but if you were important enough, rules didn't apply to you.  Gosh, I get this feeling about our President everyday!  Is this why the word 'president' and the word 'precedent' are so similar? 

I can't help but come back to the frog in the boiling water scenario.  Parents are that frog.  Schools have turned up the heat on us so gradually by implementing 'tools' to help them 'teach' our children better or keep them 'safer' and we've been either so dumbed down or trusting - or a combination of both - that we've gone right along with it to the point that now, many schools are simply little socialist states.

I'm telling you, I think parents are starting to wake up - at least I hope so, because the lives of our children and this country are at stake.  

Here are my thoughts:  When you find your school not allowing your child to use the school supplies you bought - BE CIVILLY DISOBEDIENT!  Say, "I do not want these items used for other children - I bought them for mine", and then have your child play tattle-tale!  

If your school has a dress code, get some parents together to ABOLISH it and if that's not possible - BE CIVILLY DISOBEDIENT and say, "I'm sorry but my child will not wear a uniform to a public school.  I have the right AS HIS/HER PARENT to allow him/her to dress any way I find fit that doesn't offend others."  (Sadly, today you'd have to add that, as many parents seem to be uncertain of what is appropriate clothing and need to be educated on the topic - notice I say EDUCATED and not HAVE THEIR PARENTAL RIGHTS USURPED!)

If your school is giving Common Core tests and you don't want your child to take them but the school won't provide an opt-out - BE CIVILLY DISOBEDIENT and say, "My taxes help pay for this public institution and I don't agree with the tests and standards this school is using, therefore, my child will not be taking the tests."

There is no reason to be ugly and certainly not violent, just kind, but firm!  Stand parents - it's time!

Schools As Institutions of Democracy? Whose Democracy?

I read an article today - I couldn't help it, the title begged me - called "Why Schools Must Talk About Trayvon Martin".  I had to find out why tax dollar supported public schools MUST talk about Trayvon Martin. 

This was a blog on EdWeek, written by a special education teacher in Boston and his thesis was that since schools are supposed to be institutions FOR democracy, we should be having "contentious conversation" because this discussion should ameliorate societal ills.

Perhaps this is why the National Social Studies Standards (now Oklahoma's own Oklahoma Academic Standards) calls America a Constitutional Democracy instead of the Republic it really is.

The whole blog smacked of John Dewey - the Father of Progressive Education - who believed that - among other things - schools were little microcosms of the world and that we could just change all of society by keeping kids in school and away from their parents.

I simply could not let the post go without commenting, and this is what I said:

"The questions around promoting contentious conversations are messy. We raise schools up as institutions for democracy, even when they have historically fallen short of this ideal when it comes to persistent social ills, such as segregation, student dropout rates, poverty, and school violence."

Oh I totally agree. That's why I would immediately institute a conversation about Christianity and its contributions to America in my classroom - certainly a 'contentious' topic by any real examination of world views today.

And, though I'm a Christian - don't worry - I can handle the topic evenhandedly, and make sure all religions - including atheism - are also discussed. There will be nothing to worry about - I'm a teacher - I can handle it.

Since classrooms are really extensions of the great social experiment that is 'democracy', there is no reason this topic shouldn't be discussed in depth.

Who is the "we" that believes in raising up schools as "institutions for democracy"? I'm a conservative and I certainly don't believe that. I expect schools to teach the absolute BASICS and let parents - who are the experts in raising their own children - do all the "contentious" stuff at home.

Yes, there are a lot of 'throw away' kids out there today and most are produced by the very system that claims to help them. Many may not have support systems outside of school, but schools are not - and were never meant to be - a place to "cure social ills". That was historically the role of the church.

I always find it curious that the people who seem to scream the loudest about democracy (and the First Amendment), are the last to really practice it. I wonder if that's why people "often feel uneasy about such dialogues" in schools?

As a past public school educator and now a home educator, I think it IMPERATIVE to confront this nonsense when and where we see it.

Public school's lack of results today is simply an extension of Dewey's failed prescription for public schooling.  How can I say "failed"?  Well, let's look at the observable evidence.  Since the 1970's SAT scores have been falling. 

College Board National Report on 1996 College Bound Seniors - http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/CBS%2096%20National.PDF

 

Progressive education began under Dewey in the late 20's and has been churning out teachers from Dewey-seeded teacher colleges since that time.  In fact, the liberal bend of universities is well documented, particularly by David Horowitz.

When I speak, I often refer to a section in the book "To Kill A Mockingbird" where Scout gives an account of the new teacher (she has red nails and high heels) and how she told Atticus to stop letting her read from the Wall Street Journal because she was now in charge of Scout's education and she would take care of that in class.  Scout then goes on to regale the reader with her frustration that this "Dewey Decimal System" of education as Jem called it, forces her to create project after project while everyone she ever knows - like Jem and her dad - were smart because they read books - something she itches to do over 'projects'.  That story was to have taken place in the 1930's - as Dewey's legion were crisscrossing America to take root in primary and secondary schools from cities to sleepy rural towns.

If this has been going on since the 30's, what in the world would it be like today?  Just what we're seeing - Common Core and all!

STOP SAYING YOU'RE "JUST A MOM"!

Yesterday at our second Interim Study on the Common Core at the state Capitol, I met the sweetest lady.  We had been wondering about this gorgeous woman sitting in the corner (we usually have a clue who most of the people are, or are at least attached to, at these things), when she came up to us at a break and introduced herself.

She told us she was "Just a mom" who had been following our emails and was becoming more and more concerned about Common Core and didn't want her small (and quite excellent) school from becoming eaten by the Common Core blob.  She was exceptionally literate and had the intestinal fortitude and presence to introduce herself to people she didn't know because of a concern she had about the future of her children.

Does that sound like "Just a mom" to you?

What is it that has made us women -

women by the way who cook, clean, garden, help with homework, drag kids to every game, practice and recital known to human kind, sometimes work a second job (notice I said SECONDARY to MOTHERHOOD job), drag screaming kids out of theaters and restaurants, clean vomit off of floors and beds, schedule doctor, dentist and specialist appointments, wipe snot, stop the car on the shoulder of the highway to referee fights, talk to a teacher on the phone about a child while simultaneously navigating dinner and overseeing homework, vacuum, grocery shop, shop for clothes (normally having to not only clothe children but spouse as well), make sure everyone's band instrument is in working order and is ready to go to band, go back home to pick up the forgotten instrument, make sure everyone has their lunch before they get out of the house, come back home to pick up the lunch someone has forgotten, book tickets for the whole family to the one kids performance at the Thunder game, try and remember to juggle all family birthdays so no one is left out...

think we were JUST anything!

For Pete sakes, most women do the job of 10 men in any single given day.  Some women also have children with disabilities, adding an order of magnitude of difficulty to one already in the order of base 10 (I'm thinking of 10 to the 100th power!).

In fact, my husband tells me regularly that it irritates him daily that I work hard enough to earn a 6 figure salary but never really get paid a dime.

What made me think I was more than "JUST a mom"?  I don't know, I was probably just born feisty - I usually say that when I was born and the doctor spanked me to get me to cry I hit him back!  But in all honesty, I have regular mom duties that I have to add in to my Supermom-Activist activities and still and all, I seem to get most things (not cleaning, but most of the other important things) done in a day.

I am a mom and I am PROUD of that term - I LOVE being a mom (most days!).  I love the job and love the kids enough to FIGHT for them and so that is just what I do.  I don't think about it or ruminate on whether I'm QUALIFIED to fight for them, I'm already QUALIFIED because I'm their mother.  God gave those kids to me and it's MY job to mother them and raise them up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord" to be kind, intelligent, wise, servants of the Lord.  Who else holds that edict FOR me?  No one!  Consequently, I am EMINENTLY qualified to take on the job of mothering which also includes PROTECTION of my children from anything I SEE as a threat - and I SEE Common Core as a THREAT to their intellect and way of life.  Therefore, I will fight for my kids against Common Core because I am QUALIFIED to do so!

For some reason, women have let people - from all walks of life - but particularly Superintendents, Principals, teachers and legislators - think we are not smart enough to engage in the learning of our children.  We needn't be consulted on the ways and methods our children are being taught - we've got better things to do.

THIS MUST STOP!  WE ARE NOT 'JUST' MOTHERS!  It is time for ALL MOMS to stand up and realize that we do more work than 20 people in one day and we can CERTAINLY find time to also comprehend and engage in the education of our children!  It is time - HIGH time - that we started realizing that WE and WE ALONE have the power to effect change in our communities, states and nation - for and on behalf of our children - if for no other reason.

We are QUALIFIED to FIGHT for our children and we will do so - no matter WHAT anyone says!  And the crowd all said, "Amen"!

PS:  And if you'd like a LIST that gives you just a few MOMS that are involved in trying to stop Common Core, let me just give you a start right here:

Yvonne Gasperino from Stop Common Core New York
Alisa Ellis, Renee Brady and Christel Swasey from What is Common Core
Christy Hooley from Wyoming Against Common Core
Joy Pullman (working mom AND Common Core Fighter) from the Heartland Institute
Kristin George of Kansans Against Common Core
Heidi Huber of Ohioans Against Common Core
Heather Crossin and Erin Tuttle from Indiana - Hoosiers Against Common Core
Stephanie Zimmerman of Stop Common Core Idaho

In fact, there are COUNTLESS pages of Stop Common Core - fill in the state - on Facebook.  I'll bet you 10 to 1 there's a MOM at the center of EACH!

Common Core Ushers In The Police State - America's New Way Of Life

I was mortified when I went out looking for a photo to add to this blog and found this picture on Bing.com images.  I'm sure this was not an actual Newsweek cover, but it sure could be!

Anymore, I frequently ponder the movie "Minority Report", detailing a world in which everyone was GUILTY until proven INNOCENT and you could be jailed for a crime BEFORE it was even committed because the police (government) had enough data on you to determine your every move.  Of course the journey for the cop at the center of the story - the one who had been such a proponent of the 'predictive' software used by the police - is to discover that even he has no liberty in the end.

We are heading for a police state in this country and people aren't noticing it because it's been a long, slow road getting here - a 'death by small cuts'.

We don't think about having to be fingerprinted or scanned to get into our kid's school because long ago the state made us put our picture on our driver's license with a bar code that can be scanned anywhere to reveal our personal information.  But we have to drive, we figure, so we'll put up with that (except for my brave friend Kaye Beach who is actually fighting this nonsense on religious grounds!).  Or, we think we need to fly, so we'll let TSA agents grope us like perverts because we're now presumed to be TERRORISTS until they find NOTHING on us - a presumption of GUILT instead of INNOCENCE.

This really hit home for me in a big way when I saw this video of a man standing up at a Common Core 'Forum'  in Maryland where a school board had an open time for parents to ask questions, but then wouldn't take direct questions from parents.

Attendees had to submit questions to the board in writing and then individual questions were asked from the pile of questions. (Gosh, how many legislative Town Hall meetings have begun using this tactic?)

Apparently, answers were not forthcoming at this meeting in the manner parents expected.

ROPE isn't surprised, we've seen this before over and over in Oklahoma where, for example, the State Superintendent filibusters for 25 minutes before even getting to the question of Common Core at the Common Core Forum in Tulsa in August and then repeats classic Common Core messaging for every answer to every question - or where the Superintendent makes comments like, "We anticipate low costs" when asked about how much Common Core will cost.

At the last (and I mean probably the LAST we will attend) board meeting we attended - where we were FINALLY going to be allowed to speak at all on Common Core (July 25) - a husband and wife from Edmond had seen our plea to come speak about Common Core at the Board Meeting - and they came.  The husband was an Airman at Tinker Air Force Base.  After speaking out against the Common Core, the Airman had a seat.  Upon listening to Amber England with Stand for Children tell everyone at the meeting that the military were all for Common Core, the airman's wife reacted by blurting out, "You don't speak for the military."

Good Lord, you would have thought she pulled out an AK47 and began to cut down everyone in the room the way Superintendent Barresi and Board Member Amy Ford nearly came across the table at the woman, screaming something to the effect of, "You need to be quiet or you'll be removed!" as if they saw her as an imminent threat to their lives. (This can all be found on the audio recording from that meeting just in case you want to check me up on my story).

At any rate, ROPE isn't surprised at what happened to the poor parent in Maryland who DARED to try to get some answers from a school board and was FORCIBLY REMOVED from the forum by a police officer and later provided with the charges of

second-degree assault of a police officer and faces a $2,500 fine and up to 10 years in prison. He was also charged with disturbing a school operation, which carries an additional $2,500 and up to six months in jail.

He absolutely did NOT assault the police officer - the police officer assaulted HIM - and if you watch the video you will see that.

WHAT IS MAKING THESE PEOPLE SO ANGRY?  What is it about the Common Core State Standards that means you can't answer questions about them, but send people out in an audience like a mobster to break the arms of parents who merely try to ask questions?

As the man leaves the hall at the forum, he tells people they are sitting there like 'cattle'.  Fortunately, as I went back to listen to it again, I definitely heard at least two or three people stick up for the guy and tell the 'powers that be' to let him stay - obviously to no avail.  There were MANY people in that room apparently.  What should have happened is that EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THAT ROOM SHOULD HAVE STOOD UP and deflected that policeman- turned-board-body guard and stuck up for the man.  He was not being rude or ugly or screaming and shouting, he was just tired of not having questions answered and spoke out of turn.

How long are we going to be rule followers when it seems that the PROPONENTS aren't following 'the rules'?  How long are we going to let educrats and those making money off  school 'reform' measures pull us around by our ears and tell us how they're going to spend the money we are forced to contribute to such a broken system?  A system so broken that many parents have given up and now pay TWICE - once for public school and again to a private school or for home school curricula because they refuse to allow their kids to partake of an education that is not only not helping them, but hurting them, their development and their worldview.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....it's time for Civil Rights era tactics.  If we're not going to be heard, we'll sit quietly until we are - even if that is well after time to close up shop!  If we're not going to be heard, we need to take our children out of public schools and deny them their funding until schools again work for PARENTS and CHILDREN and not software developers, book sellers and politicians.

I fear that Common Core is just one of the symptoms of a parasitic disease that is slowly killing its host - America.  I leave you with the following quote:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

Feds Use State Databases Against Them - So Why Do States Want Grants to Set Them Up Again?

Recently I wrote an article for School Reform News, "Obama Administration Demands Teacher Redistribution for NCLB Waiver".  Although the administration's newest excuse to use their SOCIAL JUSTICE stick is certainly inappropriate, unfortunately, one of the most incredible, dangerous and unbelievable things in my mind was not able to be included for space.

This was the fact that it CLEARLY stated in the paperwork for the NCLB part deux waivers that the federal government was going to collect state data - collected from district schools and sent to the state level - to judge whether or not a state was worthy of a second waiver.

Here is the part of the article that was not published.

Using Their Own Data Against Them,

The ESEA Guidance document states, “In July 2013, the Department began an analysis of data” from 2010-2012 to determine “the relationship between the following factors” and how schools were identifying outcomes.  Of the six factors used for analysis were student achievement, graduation rate and participation rate on state assessments.  

States wishing to extend their NCLB waiver are told that if data analysis indicates their state has not been identifying low-performing schools and subgroups appropriately or properly, the Department will work with the state to correct any and all issues identified.  Furthermore, the state will not receive a renewal of ESEA flexibility until the issues are corrected to ED’s satisfaction.

ESEA flexibility requirements, such as those for developing and implementing college and career ready standards and testing, generally align with those requirements provided by ED for successful Race to the Top grant (RTTT) application.  One of the RTTT requirements - that of “Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction” – has been duplicated under the National Center for Education Statistics by way of a federal State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grant.

Not surprisingly, all but three states have applied for and accepted federal money to create and institute a database within their state to collect educational information on students from kindergarten through 12^th grade as well as develop and link databases for early childhood education data and postsecondary and/or workforce data.  Quite apparently, states have been successful in this endeavor.  States have used their federal SLDS money to provide ED with all the data they need to further manipulate state education reform plans, all the while generating great controversy over student privacy.

Another part of the article that was not published had to do with the fact that schools would ALSO be forced to 'inform' parents of the new reforms.

Informing Or Cheerleading 

Another new requirement for successful waiver extension is the necessity for states to “meaningfully engage and solicit input from diverse stakeholders and communities on its request”.  States must provide evidence for this effort and are given five categories of admissible proof which includes, “copies of parent-friendly information regarding the renewal submission, including accessible formats and translated as necessary.”  

Minus the requirement for evidence, the necessity to include ways in which public comment were solicited were found in the first waiver documentation – “SEA must also provide a description of how the SEA meaningfully engaged and solicited input”. Oklahoma’s NCLB waiver contained approximately 56 pages of community input.  Much of the included commentary was in the form of questions to Oklahoma State Department of Education concerning the waiver, or general comments about the individual requirements.  The only specific comments regarding NCLB were against application for a waiver, yet the waiver was granted.  

It remains to be seen whether requirements to inform the community will result in efforts more akin to cheerleading than actual objective, dispassionate information sharing regarding NCLB waiver application.

Kind of makes you wonder why those of us speaking against Common Core are having such trouble getting a toe hold!  When taxpayer money is used to PROMOTE an AGENDA that has neither been proven or studied and parents (also taxpayers) are not able to hear BOTH sides of this particular AGENDA, is that fair?  Is that honest?  Heck, is that even morally right - considering the fact that many taxpayers NOT being told both sides of the issue might decide they don't like it?  Oh, hmmm...not so hard to figure out after all, is it?