Tuesday 31 July 2012

COLLEGE AND CAREER READY

Our new Common Core standards once again promise "College and Career Ready." It's interesting to watch clips of presidential races in years past. They all, Republicans and Democrats, exhort about how they are going to improve the schools. This is a joke, it never happens. Why doesn't it happen? It doesn't happen because the Federal Government does not belong in the schools. The Federal Government does not know about education. Education is a local and personal thing, personal to teachers and their students, and to parents and their children. The Federal Government can do a few things kind of well, like the military, which is within its' purview under the constitution "provide for the Common Defense", however, the Federal Government's attempt to take over the schools is tragically destroying public education in America. Let's talk about "College and Career Ready."

I went to school in the fifties and sixties. We were trained early to be college and career ready. The leftists call this the "Factory Model." Yes, we had to get up early everyday (no excuse about being a "night" person, or a teenager who likes to sleep in and is more awake after noon!). It wasn't all about you. You learned respect for the rules and to follow through because it was expected. You dressed appropriately and if you weren't dressed appropriately you were sent home. Boys did not wear beards to school, girls did not wear low cut tops. There were no "dress down Fridays". Teacher's set the example by dressing appropriately for their position. No one got tattoos or had piercings all over their bodies. Drugs were almost unheard of. There was right and wrong, good and bad, and no relativity. You did one thing if you saw or heard about someone doing drugs, you called the police. Girls did not come to school pregnant. They were ashamed of getting pregnant outside of marriage. This is "College and Career Ready", responsibility and respect that encourage the discipline to work hard, to follow through, and to follow the rules, like getting to work on time and meeting deadlines.

Times change and there are many new ways to teach and teaching styles that may fit with new ideas, but it's hard to imagine how kids are being prepared to be"College and Career Ready" when they are taught every day to be suspect of big businesses and corporations. Under the new Common Core they will be taught that fossil fuels pollute and cause global warming as early as kindergarten. So I guess none of them will want to work in the natural resources industry. They won't want to work in obstetrics either because the world is "overcrowded". "Social Justice" will be taught in the new "Social Studies", so I guess these kids won't want to work for these "greedy corporations". They won't want to work for the timber industry or the construction industry because "they are destroying the environment". I guess farming and ranching are out too because they supposedly waste natural resources and pollute too. Wall Street is all "Corporate Greed" as are banks. Gee, what's left? Everybody can't work for Planned Parenthood , the Government and government nonprofits.

It's hard to see how the cultural rot now being acted out in our schools could ever prepare children to be "College and Career Ready."I'm guessing businesses might want respectful employees who don't suck on a water bottle all day and sue them for sexual harassment if their boss tells them they "Look nice today." They'll probably want people who respect their business and won't be participating in trying to destroy the company because they think the owner is the evil rich. They'll probably want someone who can do the work because they have the personal discipline to focus, work hard, and do what they're told without excuses and without expecting to be entertained. If our public schools want to prepare students to be "College and Career Ready" they'll need a cultural redo, and that includes withdrawal from the "Common Core Curriculum"!!

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