Common Core Called the “Obamacare of Education”
US Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) makes a compelling case for abolishing Common Core in a recent letter. As Newsmax reports:
“As a U.S. Senator, I’ve seen the federal government make a mess of everything it touches,” the Utah Republican wrote in the email sent out Monday morning. “And if they’re allowed to stay, Common Core standards will be the ObamaCare of education,” he wrote. “Common Core is the D.C. takeover of our school system. It will dumb down standards and cheapen the education our children receive.”
All kids in America “deserve the best education in the world. The only way we can make that happen is to repeal Common Core across America,” Lee wrote.
“When it comes to education, the future of our country is on the line,” the senator said in the email. “The next generation of Americans doesn’t need to be force-fed big government propaganda in the classroom.
Sen. Lee is right. Common Core is not a set of rigorous standards. It’s a set of political agendas masquerading as academics “voluntarily” adopted by the states (see here, here, and here).
Competition, not Common Core, is what American schools and students need.
Today, more than 6 million schoolchildren are benefiting from education options their parents – not politicians – think are best. These options include 51 private parental choice programs in 25 states, online education providers, homeschooling, and public charter schools.
Parental choice programs educate students to high standards, without limiting education options. And, unlike accountability initiatives involving rigid federal mandates, all chosen education providers face immediate rewards for success or consequences for failure because parents are empowered to enroll or transfer their children as they see fit.
Ultimately, Common Core rests on the faulty premise that a single, centralized entity knows what’s best for all 55 million students nationwide. Raising the education bar starts with putting the real experts in charge: students’ parents.
