More and more teachers are waking up to the problems of Common Core. There are any number of issues that are hot-buttons for different people. Some are upset about the constitutionality issues, assessments, curriculum (or lack thereof), low quality standards, privacy concerns, database tracking of students, or other reasons. This post is the 2nd set of comments from Utah teachers. Click here if you missed part 1 of teacher comments.
In one absolutely stunning development, it’s being reported:
New York’s largest teachers’ union is asking parents to join teachers in opposing the state’s use of what the teachers’ union calls “hastily implemented standardized tests for high-stakes decisions affecting students and teachers.”
For months, a statement from New York State United Teachers says, it has been pressing the state Education Department to acknowledge teachers’ growing concerns with the state’s implementation of new Common Core learning standards and new standardized tests that students must take in April.
“While NYSUT supports the ‘potential’ of the new Common Core learning standards and fully embraces the principle of accountability for students and educators, two-thirds of teachers said in a poll that their students lacked textbooks and materials aligned with the state’s new standards,” the union statement contends. “Even worse, many teachers say students will be tested next month on material that has not yet been taught, with the state still distributing materials and guidance to teachers as late as last month.”
One comment posted to Facebook by an ASD bus driver who gave permission for his comment to be shared with his name:
I am a 67 yr old school bus driver for Alpine School District. I have been driving for 4 years. I spent my career in middle management in private companies. I have been teaching the students who ride my bus about the Constitution, what made America different; the many forms of tyranny; socialism, communism, progressivism, fascism, and about common core. My middle school and high school students knew nothing about these subjects. I get about 5 minutes each bus ride to educate. I question and ask them to do their own research. I bracket everything in freedom and responsibly. Once you nudge their interest, they come up with very thoughtful responses and can see the daily loss of more and more individual freedoms being traded for dependency on government. I teach that slavery comes in many forms and that every decision we make has consequences.
My BS degree was in sociology, my wife’s was in child development and family relations. My graduate work was in large system management. (control and brainwashing)
I have been studying common core and by the 6th grade we will have a bunch of secularist robots. The teaching objectives are insidious and downright anti freedom in every way.
Utah and the rest of the nation will be lost if we do not get rid of common core. One administrator I know is just as concerned as I am after he took my advice and studied the objectives.
-Randall Jones
More comments from Utah teachers:
| Comment | Grade Taught | If Administrator | County | Name |
| We should never have a “one system fits all” education program, and especially not one from the federal government! I have both a special needs child, and a gifted child. In our family then, we would not have freedom of choice to learn and grow according to our own individual needs and desires. This is WRONG! | Retired 1st grade, and college | Utah | ||
| Common Core is a way to push communism and indoctrination in the public school system. The amount and type of data that is being collected and monitored is scary. | K-5th | |||
| The standards are controlled by the Federal Gov and that violates the constitution which leaves decisions regarding education to the states. | 11,9,7,4 | Davis | ||
| Children are each unique and require unique solutions to learning. CC is a one size fits all curriculum aimed at going at the pace of the lowest common denominator. | 4th | Utah | ||
| Restricts students to a “Common” curriculum. Hard working and passionate students are held back while teachers must focus on slower students to help them understand or master. Needs and abilities are not held in “common.” | 11th – 12th | N/A | Weber | |
| I’m an art teacher, common core is like giving a kid a set of oils and saying OK, now go problem solve, go create a masterwork….Ya good luck with that! what happened to..lets first build a foundation, teach them basic skills, hold their hand for while and then when they understand their tools and have a few skills, then..and only then do problems get solved and masterworks created. | 10-12 | utah | Jerime | |
| Common Core Standards are a bad idea because it gives the government too much control over what students are taught and how they should learn. Common Core seems like a dumbed-down standard that our States will be forced to implement in order to obtain much needed government educational money. In addition to the great expense of the Common Core program, power will be taken from the teachers to prevent them from creating teaching plans based on the needs of their students. This also removes the opportunity for the teacher to share their enthusiasm and love of learning with their students by dictating what and how they should teach. Teachers become robots rather than those who can use their talents to inspire. Also, if the Common Core Standards are implemented, parents will have a more difficult time helping their children with homework because the methods being taught are very different than how they were taught. This could be most confusing, especially in math. | 3-6 | Salt Lake | Tiffany Barlow | |
| The mathematics in the text books no longer have a good flow from principle to principle. It is confusing and the text books do not provide enough information for kids to review when at home. Also some of the questions are more social engineering than math. | 6 | Utah | ||
| I’m against the federal government being in control of our education. Common cord goes a lot deeper that just curriculum but a complete take over of our children and their future and the future of the family unit. | High School | Utah County | Cheryl Lindsey | |
| I oppose it because nationalized education would take control and freedoms away from the parent. Individual children have individual needs that must be assessed one-on-one in many cases. I’d the curriculum is made to be the same for all nationally, many children will be left behind. Local education gives freedom to parents and teachers to better assess the needs of each child. | TESOL certified substitute | |||
| We do not need robots, we do need each child to grow to be productive individuals in their own prospective. The government DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR MY CHILD, thank you!!! I am not for Global Control??? | 4th grade | Utah | ||
| We had a great math program going based on what was best for our school. Common Core has made our jobs much more difficult. We have lost the ability to do what we know to be best for our students. The sequencing of the common core as it has been imposed on us is poor. The state can’t even generate an End of Level test but somehow the teachers are supposed to re-invent the wheel and a whole new curriculum? It is a tragic joke that isn’t funny. | 9th grade and AP Calculus. | Washington County | Malin | |
| It takes the local control away from teachers and parents. It promotes conformity and places every student being taught by the CC in one mold. It dumbs things down to an unbelievable level. My teachers wrote their own tests why can’t I? If an engineer can go to school for four years and then put a stamp on a set of plans an says build it, and we do and we trust it. Why can’t I as a licensed professional educator put my stamp of approval on an education plan that has been decided upon by me and the parents not the state or a national common core. I also have children in school. My 4th grader is frustrated with his CC math the teacher is frustrated and after talking to most of the other parents – there is nothing but frustration where the old reliable way of teaching was not frustrating. My daughter is in the 9th grade and the math is being taught differently now. There will no longer be a geometry class it will be blended into a math class. I want my kids to have geometry. | 7-12 | CTE Intro Team Leader | Beaver | Andy Swapp |
| The federal government should have no control over what or how we teach our children in Utah. I teach at a charter school, and we are constantly evaluating what does and doesn’t work and changing our methods and curriculum as needed. We use Saxon Math and group according to need and ability so that we have some 8th graders doing calculus while other 8th graders are doing 6th grade math. We allow students to move up as their understanding increases or down if they are struggling. Parents are a part of all of these decisions. Local control, school choice, and freedom to explore options and try new methods are crucial in meeting the needs of the individual child. Common Core would take all of this away from Utah schools. | 4th and 5th | Utah | ||
| CCSS abolishes state sovereignty in the role of education, controls what is being taught even if contrary to community values, irrelevant testing that disrupts the learning/teaching process, lacks evidence-based research to demonstrate superiority to what is already in place or enhances current curriculum, lack of educational and state input. The list is endless. | K-12 | Speech/Language Pathologist | Salt Lake County | Noel Lee |
| Education needs to be locally controlled. The local teachers need more freedom to address the needs of their classes. Also, it artificially sets the standards too low and doesn’t allow for the needs of gifted kids. It will also infringe on the rights of homeschoolers. | Pre K-8 | Principal and Teacher | Utah (originally) | |
| I am opposed to Common Core because we lose local control. It becomes much too cumbersome to make needed changes on a local level when the educational system is centralized. We need more local control, not less. | 3 | Utah |
Amazing comments. Thank you for sharing your professional insights.
I know from experience that each child is at different levels and were designed differently or a reason. I know business men that have college degrees but could never do what the men with hands on can do! Also, vise/versa. We need to understand that a one type test will never determine nor define our children. Some kids are not good at tests but are brilliant when spoken to. What about those kids? There is just too much faultiness with a one standard test. These are just some of the reasons I do not agree with it.
My son came home from school with math homework. I myself my brother who is very very good in math and 2 of the ladies in the school office could not do. Why are they trying to teach something when they have not been taught to teach this way. Get Common Core out ; get federal govement out and give the schools back to the states and counties. Common Core tries to teach every kid the same way .Every kid is not the same and can not learn the same. Kids need to learn on there level not to be force to learn on govement level. \\ GET RID OF COMMON CORE.//
What worries me most is the changing of the SAT’s to correlate with Common Core! If that happens how will home schoolers (not brainwashed) get into college?! How will we opt out of this evil system?