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We have a series of stories lined up on Blaze Books in the coming days in connection with the release of Glenn Beck's new book out today, "Conform: Exposing the Truth About Common Core and Public Education," but it's a story that came out yesterday that perhaps trumps them all in exhibiting why Americans need to be informed about what is happening to our education system.
Child survivors of Auschwitz. (Image Source: USHMM/Belarusian State Archive of Documentary Film and Photography)
As TheBlaze's Jason Howerton reported:
"The Rialto school district in California is under fire over a stunning eighth-grade assignment that asked students to write an argumentative essay about the Holocaust and "whether or not you believe this was an actual event in history, or merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain wealth.'"
How could such an assignment possibly be considered legitimate?
“The Common Core state standards, which have been adopted by most states and the District of Columbia, emphasize critical thinking in students, which is what the assignment is intended to teach, according to school board member Joe Martinez,” The San Bernardino Sun adds."
Naturally, of the
"three sources [given to students] to...write their essays...One of the sources reportedly alleged the gassings in concentration camps were a “hoax” and there was no evidence any Jews actually died in gas chambers."
Perhaps no other story could so crystallize the asinine nature of the "standards" called for under Common Core, and the overall condition of and prospects for our education system with progressives at the helm, than this one.
And perhaps no other story could so reflect how dire the situation is in American education already, if we are already at a point in which a perspective espoused by modern-day Nazis -- anti-Semitic Islamic supremacists who harbor a genocidal desire for a second such Holocaust -- actually is to be entertained as a legitimate perspective in our schools by our children.
As Glenn Beck has said in the past, "The consciousness that created the problem can never solve the problem."
[sharequote align="center"]The consciousness that created the problem can never solve the problem.[/sharequote]
One need look no further than the schools in which today's professors spent their formative years being "educated" to understand the inherent dangers in a system controlled by today's progressives based on standards and practices inextricably tied to federal funds, and thus federal control.
This is why "Conform" is a vital book at a pivotal time in our nation's history.
In "Conform," Glenn warns us for example about what "critical thinking" actually means in Common Core parlance, and the degradation it will do to our children's quantitative and qualitative skills:
While most of these controllists admit that students will cover less academic ground under common core, they assure us that kids will go "deeper" into each concept and develop "critical thinking skills..."...This "critical thinking" approach to even simple math problems has made it impossible for many parents to understand their children’s homework, relegating them to bystander status.
...Hillsdale professor Terrence Moore, who has extensively studied the new English standards, is horrified at how Common Core guts great literature from our schools. Moore warns that this will lead to a generation of students who are clueless about many of the stories that showcased America’s founding values and principles:"Stories, you see, are what shape our view of the world. . . . Whoever controls what today we call “the narrative” controls the politics, the economics, the family, the ways of thinking, and the ways of believing. The most impressionable people, of course, are always the children.
So welcome to the world of Common Core. The Common Core, at least as far as the English standards are concerned . . . is the attempt to take away the great stories of the American people and replace them with the stories that fit the progressive, liberal narrative of the world. As such, the architects of the common core are nothing less than story-killers. . . . They’re deliberately killing the greatest stories of the greatest nation in history."
"Conform" systematically debunks all of the canards about Common Core and public education, and gets to the heart of the matter, arguing that Common Core is a top-down, federally-directed system run by progressives to dumb down our children and create the next army of community-organizing activists, all while taking power out of the hands of parents and communities.
The book then presents an alternative based on market principles to create a system more reflective of the diversity of an American supermarket than the conformity of the Soviet bread line.
It argues such positions on the basis of facts, logic, reason and history.
Perhaps the gravity of what is at stake un America's education system was put most eloquently by of all people comedian Louis C.K., when he said, "My kid's brain is where the rubber hits the road," "these are kids. They only get one chance to grown and develop and to fall in love with learning."
There is nothing of greater importance in the long term if America is to right its ship than the education of our children. It is one of the few things we can generally agree upon on a bipartisan basis.
Glenn Beck's new book, "Conform," provides parents of all stripes with the knowledge and insights necessary to fight back and ensure Common Core is defeated, and provides alternatives based in freedom to ensure a superior education at a lower price that meets the needs of children with diverse skills, interests and ambitions. In so doing provides a service that the taxpayers -- the American people -- and most importantly their children, deserve.
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