Blaming 'White Soccer Moms'

From Investor's Business Daily editorial, Duncan Blames Common Core Fight on 'White Soccer Moms':

Perhaps nothing personifies the arrogant nanny state paternalism of the Obama administration more than this statement by Duncan on Friday: "It's fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were, and that's pretty scary."

Secretary Duncan made his comments about the Common Care State Standards (CCSS) before a group of school superintendents in Richmond, Va., to a meeting of the Council of Chief State Schools Officers organization (CCSSO). This is one of the two organizations that own the public license to the Common Core State Standards.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative was devised by a group of the nation's governors and backed by the Obama administration in 2009 with the goal of setting a uniform standard for grades K-12 nationwide. Some 45 states, in many cases enticed by federal grants, have signed on. It has since morphed into what many consider an attempt to nationalize education and control what future generations think and know. [snip]

As Valerie Strauss points out in the Washington Post's "The Answer Sheet," New York was the first large state to implement the standards and give students new standardized tests supposedly aligned with the Core. Test scores plummeted by 30% this year. [snip]

Free minds are the last thing Common Core advocates have on their minds. Common Core contains statements in its lessons such as "The commands of government officials must be obeyed by all" and "The wants of an individual are less important than the well-being of the nation."

In the middle school, Common Core calls upon students to read only the First Amendment. Can't have 14-year-old minds learning about the other amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights, such as, say, the Second Amendment or the 10th — those defending the right to bear arms and limits on federal power.

Public education as we know it is a relatively recent phenomenon. This nation was built on the foundation of the proverbial little red schoolhouse and local control.

Now we are to be in thrall to ideologically driven teachers unions and education statists who seemingly share V.I. Lenin's terrifying belief: "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."