Is the issue of the Common Core a Civil Rights Issue?
I say, yes.
On one hand you have powerful and wealthy forces acting to control
education from above and on the other you have those who would be
controlled by it.
On the
educator side, teachers are being forced to teach in ways that are
antithetical to what they know to be correct and the oppressive system
to enforce those ways.
On the parental side, subject matter
that is antithetical to their religious and cultural beliefs and the
loss of a place at the table to decide these things.
For the
students, you have CCSS taking away their choice of direction in their
lives by being limited in class/career opportunities.
I think this is most definitely a Civil Rights issue.
When
the act of educating a child comes to the point of only focusing on
"college and career" readiness at the expense of the physical, emotional
and intellectual health of the child, it is no longer education. It is
programming and by definition, a crime against humanity by any measure.
Saying things like, "Don't worry, we're collecting all this data so we
can adjust the behavioral impact and responses to the increased workload
and high standards (read: difficulty)" is not an acceptable reason or
excuse for putting such pressures on a mere child! This is cruelty and
abuse with a big fat "because I say so, now take your pill and get back
to work kid" slapped on top of a pile lies and deceptions. Worse yet, is
the way those who can do such a thing walk away smiling, with pockets
full of cash. In fact, it's so much cash
that there's not enough left at the end of the week for the child's
family to be considered anything but living in poverty.
But
that's not good enough. No, these "people" have insatiable egos that
require not just obedience, they require gratitude... and lots of it!
The hoi polloi must say "thank you" with a smile on their face and a
tin cup in their hand. So the only thing to do is create a fall guy. A
scapegoat to be the object of discontent. Enter, the educators.
Teachers, the very face of education to everyone already, are the
perfect patsy. So the grand planners of the greatest intellectual
atrocity the planet has ever borne witness to, lie and manipulate them
into the trap set for the peasants as bait. The trap itself
representative of the lies and manipulation told the peasants. And the
peasants... they're already quite hungry, having been forced into
poverty by those who jetset off to Cabo for yet another congratulatory
convention of backslapping and hedonistic drum circles, billed mockingly
as an Educational Summit.
Well... Arne, Bill, Barak, George,
Eli, Dave, Dave and Chuck, Randi and Co (or is it, "Un"?) along with all
your adoring friends... no. Not this time. Not again.
We see
you. We know what you've done and we know what you are doing. The bait
and the prey have become the hunter and they're coming for you.
Heavy.
Badass.
Now.
-Michael Bohr, A Badass... Inspired
