Why Parents Are "Paranoid" About Common Core

Townhall.com ^ | February 21, 2014 | Michelle Malkin

[Kaslin]

This week's award for Biggest Common Core Jerk goes to Missouri GOP state legislator Mike Lair. Parents, teachers and administrators who object to the government education "standards" racket -- which usurps local control, impedes academic achievement and undermines family privacy -- have politicians on the defensive. The only thing these Fed Ed flacks and hacks can respond with is cowardly condescension.

Lair, chairman of Missouri's House Appropriations Committee on Education, inserted an $8 budget line item to mock Common Core critics as tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists. Lair's item reads: "For two rolls of high-density aluminum to create headgear designed to deflect drone and/or black helicopter mind reading and control technology."

Common Core jerkitude is a bipartisan disease. Lair's ridicule of grave parental concerns about Common Core data mining follows in the footsteps of Democratic U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan (who derided opponents as "white suburban moms") and GOP former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (who derided opponents' motives as "purely political"). It's all a snitty, snotty smokescreen that will backfire as more families from all parts of the political spectrum discover the truth about Common Core's invasive nature.

Assessing Common Core is inextricably tied to the big business of data collection and data mining. States that took the Race to the Top bribes in exchange for adopting Common Core must now comply with the edutech requirements of two private testing conglomerates, the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers or the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Common Core states also agreed to expand existing statewide longitudinal database systems that contain sensitive student data from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education.

Will Estrada and Katie Tipton of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association conclude that "it will become increasingly difficult to protect the personal information of homeschool and private school students as these databases grow." In addition to stimulus and Race to the Top enticements, both the Education and Labor Departments have funded several other initiatives to build and make various interoperable student and teacher databases.

"Before our eyes," Estrada and Tipton warn, "a 'national database' is being created in which every public school student's personal information and academic history will be stored." It's no laughing matter.

Just this week, SafeGov.org, a computer privacy watchdog group, reported that Google has admitted in recent court filings that "it data mines student emails for ad-targeting purposes outside of school, even when ad serving in school is turned off." The newly exposed documents explicitly "confirm in a sworn public court declaration that even when ad serving is turned off in Google Apps for Education (GAFE), the contents of users' emails are still being scanned by Google in order to target ads at those same users when they use the web outside of Google Apps (for example, when watching a YouTube video, conducting a Google search, or viewing a web page that contains a Google+ or DoubleClick cookie)." Last month, I reported on how Google is building brand loyalty through a questionable GAFE certification program that essentially turns teachers into tax-subsidized lobbyists for the company.

In New York, opposition from left, right and center has forced education bureaucrats to delay uploading personally identifiable student information to the Common Core-linked inBloom data cloud, a partnership of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

In Colorado, Jefferson County families from both sides of the political aisle forced the district to withdraw from a meddling inBloom pilot project adopted without parental consent.

As I've explained before, the exploding multibillion-dollar education technology sector is driven by Common Core's top-down digital learning and testing mandates. Remember: Under the Obama administration, Grand Canyon-sized loopholes in the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act have already opened data mining of students' personally identifiable information (Social Security numbers, disciplinary records, biometric data, etc.) to third-party private entities.

Dr. Gary Thomson of the Utah-based Early Life Child Psychology and Education Center, a father of four and a clinical psychologist, is asking the fundamental questions politicians refuse to ask -- and continue to scorn -- regarding the Common Core-driven data collection:

--"For what EXACT purpose will this sensitive data be utilized?"

-- "What organizations will have access to identifiable academic records? Other than generic information regarding race, age, gender and geographic location, why does the federal database require identifiable information to be accessible?"

--"If the political responses to these questions are 'all information contained in the database is unidentifiable and security stored,' then why were changes made to FERPA to allow an exemption to educational privacy rights when it comes to the implementation of the Common Core State Standards?"

When politicians want to evade accountability, they go on the attack. They don't loathe anti-Common Core parents because they're "paranoid." They fear them because "paranoid" is the political demagogue's word for active, alert and well-informed.

[ilovesarah2012]

Lair’s item reads: “For two rolls of high-density aluminum to create headgear designed to deflect drone and/or black helicopter mind reading and control technology.”

I’d say given the actions of the current administration, Reynolds Wrap is a good investment.

[TalBlack]

The ‘elites’ are showing us who they are as a window closes.If all those parents (finally caught a clue and) formed up into Militias we’d then find out who was “paranoid”.

[rarestia]

The future fights will be between the States and the Federal government. Governors will call up militias again, it’s really only a matter of time. If you live in a state with an Obama bootlicker for governor, I’d suggest you make haste to a liberty-minded state before it’s too late.

[ripley]

All those paranoid parents standing in the way of brilliant, really-really smart, superior education principles brought forth by brilliant, really-really smart, superior Progressives is absolutely outrageous and should be dealt with severely.

/S/

IMHO

[smartymarty]

GED and Adult Basic Skills instructors are required to track employment status frequently..we’re told to casually ask...did you get a job...are you still working......are you seeking or not seeking...etc.
The 2014 GED is closely tied to Common Core.

[Biggirl]

You will see more likely break-up of this country down the road.

[Carry_Okie]

I can’t wait until Common Core data on individuals regarding their personal beliefs are used for college entrance and employment criteria.

[null and void]

First they ignore you.
Then they ridicule you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

[DannyTN]

Obama appointed a pedophile in charge of the education department.

Why would parents suspect common core? /s

[Bon of Babble]

Common Core jerkitude is a bipartisan disease.

Yeah, no kidding. In California, the contributions of "great" homosexuals is already a mandated part of the school curriculum:'

"California Gov. signs law mandating pro-gay curriculum" "California to introduce more gay-themed books into school curriculum"

The next push is to normalize pedophilia as "just another, normal lifestyle choice."

Think I'm kidding?

http://www.nationalreview.com/human-exceptionalism/337010/normalizing-pedophilia

[Nifster]

yup. and that so called republican from the show me state sure taint a conservative by any measure

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Why are they “paranoid?” Because Common Core further dumbs down education standards? Because it further federalizes education, making it more accountable to the distant citadel of Panam — er, DC? Because the education materials are full of garbage?

[metmom]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)

The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

bkmk