Who Knew Education Was A “Non-Family Enterprise”? And More On Education *Open Thread*

Yes, thus proclaimeth the Main Democratic Presidential Candidate, Hillary Clinton. I bet that is news to families ALL across the country, of all generations. Never mind the plea of teachers and schools for eons for parents to be involved in their children’s education. Apparently, it is all about the State for Madam Secretary. Oh, and Common Core is AWESOME.

Wow.

The Federalist has the story about Clinton’s astonishing claim:

During her first official campaign event in Iowa earlier this week, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised Common Core and referred to children’s education as a “non-family enterprise.” Clinton’s controversial statements about education, which were captured by C-SPAN, came in response to a question from a participant about how to offer a quality education throughout the U.S.

Clinton initially responded to the question about how to fix the U.S. educational system by praising Common Core. She then said that families today are too “negative” about the current system, a system Clinton described as “the most important non-family enterprise” in the country. After noting what she described as “unfortunate” opposition to Common Core, Hillary Clinton also blithely dismissed the concerns of Common Core opponents by saying they just “do not understand the value” of the controversial top-down curriculum:

http://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4534543

Although Clinton said there shouldn’t be “two tiers of education” in the U.S., she opposes school choice, which would help parents in failing school districts send their children to better schools. Her comment that children’s education is a “non-family enterprise” is also likely to enrage families who believe that parents should be key players in the education of their own children. […] (Click here to read the rest and the transcript of Clinton’s comments about Common Core.)

How are children supposed to learn good study habits, or get help with their homework, without their families being involved, huh? Sheesh!

And then there are her comments about Common Core and how great it is. We ignorant people just do not understand how wonderful this Bill and Melinda Gates-inspired curriculum that has essentially become mandatory (in contravention of the law) is.

Funny that Clinton should say that. One of the topics of conversations with my niece when we were picking up the kids and dropping them off was Common Core. She said that it takes her son over two hours to do his math homework every night because it is Common Core. Now, she is very good at math and computers, my niece, and she said the way they structure their math problems are just insane. Many of us know this from videos like the one below:

This mother is absolutely spot on. It is absurd the complicated manner by which Common Core demands students solve these problems. Moreover, my niece said the manner by which these questions are spelled out are above the level of the grades in which they are taught (and my grandnephew is in a very good Charter school).

Fortunately the state, where my niece and her family live, North Carolina, is going to get rid of Common Core, but for now, that is what they are having to teach. All of which lead me to make this quip when Suzy asked our 4 year old goddaughter if she could guess how many minutes before her parents showed up. She guessed, “900 pounds?” I said, “there’s your Common Core math right there.” Ahem. It is a top-heavy, imposed curriculum that was NOT designed by educators, the people who SHOULD have been designing a curriculum like this. But that ain’t how this Administration rolls.

Another note about education: many of us have been lamenting the kinds of things teachers are having kids in elementary schools do these days. Who could forget the Obama song a school in NJ was forced to perform (I will spare you the video lest it get stuck in your head, but here’s the link)? Or the school teacher, also in NJ, who got her 3rd grade class to write Get Well notes to a convicted cop killer, and then blamed her kids for it? Just yesterday, a dental hygienist, a dental practice of all women who had been discussing, with glee, Hillary’s running because she is a woman (and yes, I answered truthfully, though non-confrontationally, when they asked me if I was excited about it), told me a story about her 8 year old son. She said he came home all excited with a PTO ballot telling her she had to vote for Hillary Clinton because she was a woman. He is EIGHT. And this was for the PTO (I had already told her I didn’t believe in voting for someone just because she was a woman, and that I didn’t buy into Identity Politics). THAT is how it starts, apparently, but I sure don’t remember our teachers telling us for whom our parents should vote when I was 8 years old.

Which leads me to this, which supports many of our suspicions about the current state of Education in this country. That would be the impact of unions on forcing a Progressive ideology in our schools. From Daily Caller:

A school board in Tennessee brought up a resolution Thursday to censure an outspoken member who has criticized local officials involved in an alleged attempt to indoctrinate children.

“Robert ‘Bobby’ Hullett provided the resolution to censure,” Susan Curlee told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It is unclear who is supporting it and who is opposing the resolution.”

Curlee, a school board official out of the town of Williamson, has been trying to bring attention to what she sees as a potential and growing problem in her community and many others across the country. She alleges that union groups have a stranglehold on teachers and administrators, and that curriculum has become more progressive as a result.

“They developed a strategic partnership to come in and enforce some of these progressive agendas specific to education,” Curlee detailed in a March 24 DCNF article.

As many of us suspected, it seems. And we know it is not isolated to Tennessee, oh, no. Just look at the Chicago Teachers’ Union and their activities. Yikes.

Clearly, we need to make sure our schools are institutions of education, not indoctrination. I can think of a few places to start, How about you?

This is an Open Thread.

Tags: Common Core, Sec. Hillary Clinton, Teachers' Unions, Tennessee