Last week, members of the House Education Committee voted to turn back the clock on public education in Kansas.
None of that high falutin learnin’ for our kids. No-Sir-Ree-Bob.
That was the sentiment after hearing a presentation by Duke Pesta, a Wisconsin educator who is traveling the nation debunking Common Core, a K-12 curriculum developed by education leaders from across the nation.
The professor’s spiel is in the same vein of those who purport fluoridation is harmful to one’s health or that vaccines cause autism. In the case of education, Pesta maintains Common Core is a thinly veiled contrivance by President Obama to indoctrinate our children to socialism.
And our lawmakers fell for it.
It should come as no surprise that while Pesta has a captive audience, the darling of the Tea Party also takes the opportunity to bash the Affordable Care Act and the federal government as a whole.
Pesta has been compared to an old school evangelical fire and brimstone preacher. In his address, the anti-Common Core zealot walked around the room shouting and waving his arms, haranguing members.
Cowered, committee members refused to allow any dissent be voiced, and voted to repeal Common Core in its entirety.
The measure, House Bill 2676, will now go before the House for a vote, possibly today or Tuesday.
THE DANGERS?
For one, it will eliminate or greatly diminish classes geared to prepare students for college, including advanced placement classes and the International Baccalaureate Program — two paths highly valued by competitive institutions of higher education.
Second, it would eliminate the use of the SAT or ACT, tests that high-schoolers take to qualify for entry into college as well as scholarship opportunities. Both tests adhere to Common Core guidelines.
Third, it would ban the reading program Lexia, newly instituted in Kansas to help elementary school students.
Fourth, the directive usurps the power traditionally held by the State Board of Education, which, over the last six years has worked to devise a curriculum that puts greater emphasis on reading, math, and science.
