ALEC and its puppet masters have grown increasingly uncomfortable with notoriety on the national stage lately. But their activities at the state and local level--particularly in the area of education--have ramped up in a way that is eerily reminiscent of the anti-evolution wars of a decade or so ago. Unless you follow each state and many local districts closely you might miss the fact that almost all of these "movements" are following a structured script from ALEC.
The cost of not paying attention to what's happening in education these days will be another generation of low information, low logic voters, exactly what the Kochs and their buddies want.
For descriptions, read on...then ask around your own state and community.
The Common Core was an invention of Republicans (as was ACA.) The idea that every fifth grader would learn fractions, or eighth grader could write a couple of coherent paragraphs no matter where they moved is logical to almost everyone. A strong set of standards was written based on successful models from not only our country (MA for one) but other countries that are "beating the pants off of us" in innovation these days, like Singapore. There are some real problems with Common Core that deserve thoughtful debate, including the way that many evaluation systems single-mindedly use it as a stick (rather than carrot) and the very poor assessment written for it. Debate on those issues is certainly needed.
But the real problem that "hit the fan" with Common Core is the fact that it is good and tough education. Home school parents whined loudly; they were doing just fine having their kids memorize math algorithms and do the same thing over and over again. Teaching is a skill, and untrained "volunteers" often can't handle it. (A recent media interview with a home school parent admitted as much.) Conservative opinion completely reversed. Suddenly this was an insidious plot from some socialist Kenyan.
Then came the Next Generation Science Standards. Now, they weren't written by any federal agency at all, but by volunteers from 26 states. Intended to foster that same spirit of inquiry and innovation that propelled us toward Nobel 50 years ago, they shine and hold the promise of a better future. Whoops! Now legislation banning Common Core in many states adopted asterisks...no NGSS either.
In a number of states right now teachers are struggling with ALEC-composed laws that prevent them from even looking at, much less adopting national standards. And here's the "formula." New standards are being written by committees (almost always 17 people) with a minority of teachers on them. "Parents" (anti-CC activists) comprise an equal number. (After all, doesn't ignorance have to have equal time with expertise?) In Missouri, the legislature even went farther, prohibiting representatives from the Chamber of Commerce or business on the committee. (They were too anxious to have a capable future workforce, I suppose.) The same thing happens in large school districts.
In Missouri the "parents" meet (probably illegally) with legislatures before they attend the committee meetings in order to get their script. The line last week was that there would be no "story problems" in mathematics! Of course, every fifth grader in Missouri will probably rejoice but an entire generation of kids who know how to multiply but can't apply it to anything would not do a heck of a lot for our economy.
It's no coincidence that last week Rick Perry formed a committee of 17 to investigate EBOLA. It seems to be the Koch's favorite number.
When the Chamber of Commerce becomes the enemy of the right, something is really wrong. Perhaps the billionaires who are trying to buy the vote truly want the US to be last in world productivity; their investments in the Caimans will be worth more that way!
What's happening in your community? Look hard. This isn't "Back to the Future" but "A Giant Leap Backward for the US."