THE EDUCATION MONSTER
FACTS REGARDING COMMON CORE:
Common Core has been used in Maine since 1992 beginning as an experiment. You would think with parents being told how wonderful Common Core is that the state of Maine after all these years would have created their fair share of geniuses.
The Center for Youth Apprenticeship was established at Southern Maine Technical College in May, 1992. Headed by an International Advisory Board of Governors comprised of distinguished international and national leaders in business, labor and education, the Center is responsible for researching apprenticeship programs in the United States and abroad, and for ensuring that Maine's program is guided by the best methods, principles,and standards being put forth.
| center_for_youth_apprenticeship-6pgs-1990s-edu.sml_1__maine.pdf |
Former Maine Governor Jock McKernan, husband of former Senator Olympia Snowe, was the politician who brought idea of polytechnical workforce training into Maine.
THE STATE OF MAINE TOOK A LEADERSHIP POSITION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SCHOOL-to-WORK system in 1990. The following excerpts from The School to Work Revolution by Lynn Olson (Perseus Books: New York, 1997) relate to the first steps taken to implement this new corporate fascist system of governance. Olson recalled Maine’s activity as follows:
John Fitzsimmons, the President of the Maine Technical College System and former state labor commissioner in Maine during the 1980s, traveled to Germany and Denmark in the early 1990s, along with the then-Governor John R. McKernan, Jr. [husband of U.S. Senator from Maine Olympia Snowe], to get a first-hand view of European apprenticeships. The governor and Fitzsimmons were so impressed by what they saw that they plotted the outlines for a Maine initiative on paper napkins on the transatlantic flight home.
In February 1993 the Maine Youth Apprenticeship Program—now called Maine Career Advantage—accepted its first 12 students. By 1996 the initiative had spread to 276 students, 108 high schools, and 197 businesses. An additional 850 students were involved in career-preparation activities such as job shadows, developing portfolios, and summer internships.
Fitzsimmons told Charlotte Iserbyt in 19994, “I really believe, in my state, the future lies in the quality of the skilled workforce,” with a strong Rhode Island accent still lingering in his voice. “We will not compete with a North Carolina Research Triangle or with Massachusetts’s Harvard and M.I.T. and their ability to be international research areas. We will be the producers of goods. And I take great pride in that because if we’re able to produce high-quality products,it will mean high-wage jobs for our people.”
THE STATE OF MAINE TOOK A LEADERSHIP POSITION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SCHOOL-to-WORK system in 1990. The following excerpts from The School to Work Revolution by Lynn Olson (Perseus Books: New York, 1997) relate to the first steps taken to implement this new corporate fascist system of governance. Olson recalled Maine’s activity as follows:
John Fitzsimmons, the President of the Maine Technical College System and former state labor commissioner in Maine during the 1980s, traveled to Germany and Denmark in the early 1990s, along with the then-Governor John R. McKernan, Jr. [husband of U.S. Senator from Maine Olympia Snowe], to get a first-hand view of European apprenticeships. The governor and Fitzsimmons were so impressed by what they saw that they plotted the outlines for a Maine initiative on paper napkins on the transatlantic flight home.
In February 1993 the Maine Youth Apprenticeship Program—now called Maine Career Advantage—accepted its first 12 students. By 1996 the initiative had spread to 276 students, 108 high schools, and 197 businesses. An additional 850 students were involved in career-preparation activities such as job shadows, developing portfolios, and summer internships.
Fitzsimmons told Charlotte Iserbyt in 19994, “I really believe, in my state, the future lies in the quality of the skilled workforce,” with a strong Rhode Island accent still lingering in his voice. “We will not compete with a North Carolina Research Triangle or with Massachusetts’s Harvard and M.I.T. and their ability to be international research areas. We will be the producers of goods. And I take great pride in that because if we’re able to produce high-quality products,it will mean high-wage jobs for our people.”
Maine students received 1-year Technical College Certificates & Certificate of Skill Mastery and GTv. McKernan got to replace Bill Clinton in 1993 as the Governors' Representative to the Scholastic, Inc. Advisory Board and in 1994, he went on to chair the National Education Goals Panel.
COMMON CORE STATE
STANDARDS CONTENT
Concerns have been raised about the actual content of the standards. Some of those concerns are provided below.
The CCSS Mathematics Standards:
The CCSS Mathematics Standards:
- Delay development of some key concepts and skills.
- Includes significant mathematical sophistication written at a level beyond understanding of most parents, students, administrators, decision makers and many teachers i.e., grade levels.
- Lack of coherence and clarity to be consistently interpreted by students, parents, teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, textbook developers/publishers, and assessment developers.
- Standards are inappropriately placed, including delayed requirement for standard well defined instruction's for a final result, which will hinder student success and waste valuable instructional time.
- Treat important topics unevenly. This will result in inefficient use of instructional and practice time.
- The standards are not well organized at the high school level. Some important topics are insufficiently covered. The standards are not divided into defined courses.
- Places emphasis on Standards for Mathematical Practice which supports a constructivist approach. This approach is typical of “reform” math programs to which many parents across the country object.
- Publishers of reform programs are aligning them with the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice. The CCSS will not necessarily improve the math programs being used in many schools.
- Unusual and unproven approach to geometry which I might add the teachers have not learned yet.
The Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (ELA):
Uses confusing language in some standards.
- Are not always clear or measurable on expected student outcomes.
- Are not always organized in a logical way and are difficult to follow.
- Are not always organized in a logical way and are difficult to follow.
- Treat literary elements inconsistently.
- Have some writing standards that are general and do not specify what a student should be able to know or do.
- Focus on skills over content in reading.
- Do not address or require cursive writing.
