Common Core - I Call Bullsh*t!!

When I went to school, 30-plus years ago, we learned based on a curriculum that was designed by the teachers and the school, and then approved by the school board. We went to class where the teacher discussed the information in each subject - Social Studies, Science, English, Math, etc. - and at the end of each week or so we took a test on the material we'd learned. We were graded based on our knowledge of that material. Some kids did great, others didn't.

If our grades weren't good enough at the end of the year we failed and got left back in the same grade to learn everything again the following year. In junior and senior high we had to go to summer school to make up what we'd failed and sometimes still got left back. If we passed, we moved ahead to the next grade level to start the learning process again the following year - which was only a few months away, but you know what I mean. In the process of learning new material we reviewed what we'd learned the previous year and all the information was integrated year after year until we graduated.

Kids today are being taught shit via the Common Core method, my kids included. And I have to say, it sucks. It just completely SUCKS!! Why? Because they're not learning anything except how to take tests every few weeks, and as long as they score within a certain percentile on these tests they get moved ahead to the next grade level, even if they haven't learned anything. How do I know? Because I see it every day, and I see it in my kids.

I was playing a game with Zachary today. He's in the sixth grade. The word I was describing was 'Japanese' so I gave clues like "origami", "country", "Asia", "islands". He had no idea what I was describing. NONE!! Then I asked him a few questions just for shits and giggles. 

Me: "Do you know what Yiddish is?" (That was another word he was supposed to guess.)
Zach: "Nope." 
Me: "Who discovered America?"
Zach: "Lewis and Clark?" (He wasn't kidding.)

UGH!!!!!

When Tyler, who's in seventh grade, got home from school a little while later, I posed the same questions to him. He answered "China" to the first question and couldn't answer either of the other two. WHAT??

What have they been learning in school since they started Kindergarten? 

As we ate dinner, I asked them more questions.

I asked them where specific states were located. Ty couldn't tell me which state was directly above Florida and thought Massachusetts was "somewhere near Virginia?" Zach didn't know which state was directly west of Missouri (We live in Missouri.) and he thought Washington was where North Dakota is.

They both knew the three branches of government but when I asked Zach what makes up Congress he said, "The Senate and the Republicans...and they get stuff." Ty had no idea that each state has a governor and each city/village has a mayor; he thought the President was the entire United States government. Neither of then knew who the Vice President of the United States is, but they both told me Barack Obama is the President.

This is just Social Studies and Geography, and only a small sample of what I asked them. They both said that they may have learned all of that stuff in earlier grades but forgot it by now. I can't imagine why they'd remember it since it's never discussed again after the test is taken. They both also said that they don't learn anything regarding current events. When I was in school everybody in the class had to cut out an article from the newspaper so we could discuss recent goings on in the country. What gives?

I can't blame my kids for not knowing anything and I can't blame the teachers, either. The teachers are doing what they're told to do - teach our kids to take tests on a regular basis. I blame the assholes who developed the Common Core bullshit that's being shoved down our kids' throats. This bullshit is taught at rapid pace and then the kids are tested on it a few weeks later. The tests were developed by people I don't know who think they know better than all the parents in America how our children should learn. The tests are then graded by the same people who have, among themselves, decided what the grading standards ought to be so that no child gets left behind. BULLSHIT!!

These morons think that by turning our children into robotic test takers we're competing with other countries in the test-taking/education department, but they're not noticing that our children aren't learning a fucking thing. They don't give a rat's ass about our children getting educated, they care about making money and it's making me sick and angry.

With as little as my boys have learned in Social Studies, I'm afraid to find out what they don't know in Science and English, and don't even get me started on Math. I haven't yet checked with my daughter to see what she hasn't learned in her first three years of school, and I'm not sure I want to. I'm willing to bet, though, that it's not nearly close to what she ought to be learning.

So here's the deal you Common Core shitheads! You go ahead and teach my kids how to take tests if it makes you rich; that's all you corporate assholes care about anyway. I'll spend my time with my kids giving them an education; an education that they can be proud of. By the time they leave my home and head out on their own, they'll be better educated than you could ever imagine. And when someone asks them where they went to school they'll say that where they went to school doesn't matter because where they got an education was at home, with their mom.

Until next time...peace to all

In Memory of Wil

Last Monday morning, February 23rd, I had to call my sister, Corey. Not because I had a problem or because I felt the sudden need to chat. I had to call her because I found out that her 15-year-old son Wil, my nephew, had died in a car accident the night before. I couldn't not call her. As her sister, and as a mother, my heart was breaking for her for my surviving nephew, 13-year-old Liam. 

When I found out about Wil I cried so hard I could barely speak, but I calmed myself enough to call Corey. When she answered the phone I had no words. I just kept repeating that I was so very sorry. We cried together and discussed the accident and we talked about Wil. She told me how she was doing, and how sad and worried she was for Liam, who was best friends with his brother. Corey home-schooled her boys so they spent most days together as a family. We didn't talk long because I knew she'd have other calls to take and make but I told her I'd be here for her if she needs me; and we spoke more over the few days afterward.

Wil had been in the car with his father, his step-mother, a step-sister, and Liam, and they'd stopped on the highway in a traffic jam. The man driving behind them never hit the brakes of his truck; although Corey told me that the hospital staff didn't think he was drunk, he was somehow distracted. The driver slammed into the back of my ex-brother-in-law's vehicle at 60-70mph. The impact caused Wil, who was in the rear center seat, to fly forward - yes, he was wearing a seat belt - and hit the seat rest in front of him. He hit it so hard he broke it, and his injuries were so extensive that paramedics had to life-flight him to the hospital. He died before my sister could get there.

The service was this past Saturday, February 28th, at the church they attend where they live in Georgia. I knew my kids and I wouldn't be there because I have no working vehicle so I couldn't drive, and I don't have the money to fly. I felt awful but Corey completely understood. I called her before the service to let her know I was thinking of them but she wasn't in the mood to talk and said we'd talk in the days following. That was fine with me; I want to give her time to adjust, even if it's just a little bit.

In the meantime, I was trying to find something that I could do to help Corey and Liam. Since her divorce, she's no longer involved in the business that she and my ex-brother-in-law started - and ran from their home - so she has no steady income. She's also got a lot of medical issues of her own which will make it difficult for her to find work, not to mention that she still has to school Liam. Another friend of mine suggested I start a GoFundMe campaign for Corey to try to collect donations to help her with Liam's and her expenses for a while. So, with Corey's permission, I started the campaign.

It's been up and running for a few days now and it's gotten some wonderful donations but I'd like to try to get some more support for them. I want to give Corey and Liam the time to grieve and heal without having to worry about bills for the immediate future. If I can get enough support, they'll be able to do what they need to do for themselves and Corey won't be burdened with the stress of wondering how she'll pay for her utilities, or for whatever else Liam or she may need in the coming months.

So I'm asking a favor. I'm putting the link for the GoFundMe page up here In Memory of Wil Cohron and I'm asking my readers to please circulate the page by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you feel it may be seen - you can click on the above link and there are 'share' buttons on the campaign site; and if you'd care to contribute, I'd be extremely grateful and I know Corey and Liam will, too. Every little bit helps and I want to thank you all in advance for any assistance you can offer. And, if you would, please pray for them. They need all the support they can get right now. Thanks again.

Rest in Peace Wil Cohron
8/5/99 - 2/22/15

Until next time... peace to all.