Common Core will be the issue of 2014 in Sarasota County—and with good reason.  From a pedagogical perspective, the Common Core of State Standards Initiative is an abomination.

The K-2 standards promote abstract thinking, a skill young children cannot perform due to their still-developing brains. Flaccid curriculum in the high school years only compounds this problem.  This academic disaster is best presented by Dr. James Stergios, executive director of The Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank, as follows: 

“Common Core emphasizes experiential, skills-based learning while reducing the amount of classic literature, poetry, and drama taught in English classes. Its more vocational bent includes far greater emphasis on jargon-laden ‘informational text’ extracts, and it supports analyzing texts shorn (cut) of historical context and background knowledge…Common Core draws from the so-called ‘21^st century skills’ movement, which elevates soft skills like global awareness, media literacy, cross-cultural flexibility and adaptability, and creativity to equal footing with academic content… Stanford University emeritus professor of mathematics James Milgram, the only academic mathematician on Common Core’s validation committee, refused to sign off on the final draft of the national standards. He describes the standards as having “extremely serious failings,” reflecting “very low expectations,” and ultimately leaving American students one year behind their international peers by fifth grade and two years behind by seventh grade.”

Academics are being sacrificed for the lofty goal of application of knowledge.  The problem with this “progressive” thinking is students need some knowledge before they can apply it.  In other words common core emphasizes process over content.

Beyond the shoddy pedagogical practices is the clandestine process of putting Common Core into action. Back in 2008, the D.C.-based drivers of Common Core and national tests (Gene Wilhoit, of the Council of Chief State School Officers, and David Coleman, president of the College Boards) convinced Bill and Melinda Gates to bankroll Common Core.

The idea of saving American education was too much for Bill Gates to resist.  Like Mighty Mouse he opened the nearest window and shouted: “‘Here I come to save the day!’ That means that (Mighty Bill) is on the way...”

With a net worth of $79.2 billion, Bill and Melinda Gates rigged the public policy process (spending $1 billion) along with President Obama’s scheme, Race to the Top. This happened even though the federal government is expressly forbidden to direct school curriculum. That didn’t stop President Obama and his “Race to the Top” Stimulus scheme ($4 billion) trying to avoid explicit federal law.  The “Race to the Top” did the trick and enticed 45 states (including Florida) to sign on and adopt the Common Core Standards.  States like Kentucky were so giddy about the money they signed on prior to the standards even being completed.  These 45 states were also given a waiver from the oppressive No Child Left Behind requirements.

Since the standards were adopted by non-elected State Boards of Education (including Florida) the American people were hoodwinked by this clandestine process.

Bill Gates became an understudy to Don Corleone:  “I'm gonna make him (former Governor Charlie Crist) an offer he can't refuse. Okay? I want you to leave it all to me.”  Crist took the $700 million in RTTT money in 2009 followed by Shirley Brown and the rest of the Sarasota County School Board, who accepted the $3.5-million “slush fund.” This was a de facto agreement to relinquish control of Sarasota County curriculum to President Obama in 2010.  To this day, Democrat Charlie Crist is tied to Common Core at the hip.  The only way Governor Rick Scott can win re-election is to draw a clear distinction between himself and political chameleon Crist, and that is to pull the plug on Common Core 2.0, the Florida Sunshine State Standards, and re-institute the Florida Next Generation Standards from 2009.

Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in Southwest Florida.  He holds a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Connecticut and a master's in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.  In addition to teaching he is a former elected education official and speechwriter