WHO IS COMPETENT?

I really feel sorry for our legislators here in Montana- really. They come in for ninety days (only ninety days thank goodness!!) and they have to be experts on everything from finance to oil drilling and water quality to education. Education, which takes the lions share of our budgets and prepares our children to be the citizens that will run this country, is always a sleeper issue. Most people don't know what goes on in school so they are easily manipulated.

So who's competent to run our schools? Who's competent to run our cities? Who's competent to protect our environment? Who's competent to handle poverty? Who's competent to handle police and fire and disaster relief? Ask the experts- that's who testifies at the legislature for the most part. Their answer will always be the Federal Government- that's where those grants come from.But is the Federal Government really that much smarter than all of us? Do we really need the Federal Government to run our cities and schools, take care of our poor and rescue us in a disaster? Really? There was a day, not so long ago, when we handled our problems locally- hired our own teachers and police and firemen- even had county hospitals for the poor and county welfare programs too. This blog is about schools so I'll just address the train wreck of allowing Federal "experts" to run our schools.

The Common Core folks are pulling off an amazing propaganda feat. Working with legislators that don't know- they are telling them that they need "21st century skills taught for the new work world". It just so happens that those 21st century skills are the world peace ideas of the hippies- the same free school ideas they've been pushing since the 70's- open classrooms- collaboration- project learning- open ended questions. You have to ask - WHAT MAKES THESE SKILLS THE ONES THAT WILL PREPARE WORKERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?? These are skills that will definitely teach children to "question authority"- but will they teach children focus, responsibility,and discipline that are at the core of the work ethic? Will they teach the best of western civilization and all that has been created in literature and scientific thought?

Common Core,according to its own writers, IS TAKING INFORMATION OUT OF OUR CURRICULUMS.The Common Core folks disdain those fill in the bubble tests where you demonstrate that you actually have knowledge. They will determine what knowledge is when they grade those subjective group project answers. WOW. You will qualify for college and demonstrate your achievement levels in groups now if they get their way!

So there it is- Common Core advocates have convinced a fair number of unawares legislators that their world peace open classroom teaching is what the workers of tomorrow must have.The students of yesteryear are busy making new aps by the day- running the internet and developing things like google and Facebook. They are the lawyers and doctors and researchers that are discovering cures and new drugs and technology and prosthetic devices of all kinds. They didn't need the open classroom to become competent- they didn't need the federal government at all- maybe student loans helped but they could have gotten those at the bank in most cases.

Who's competent? WE ARE COMPETENT!!! WE DON'T NEED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO RUN OUR SCHOOLS!! I HOPE OUR LEGISLATORS, THOUGH THEY ARE VERY BUSY IN THESE NINETY DAYS, WILL SIT DOWN AND THINK FOR A MINUTE WHAT A SCAM THESE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RADICALS ARE RUNNING. I HOPE THEY WILL LEARN TO TRUST THEIR LOCAL EXPERTS AND TEACHERS AGAIN- THAT'S WHO'S COMPETENT!!!