Pittsburgh Bishop Rejects Common Core Standards

[PietroPaolo]

If you are a Catholic parent of school age children, you’re probably aware of the potential dangers and harms of the controversial “Common Core” curriculum standards. There has been a big movement among the laity here in the Dio. of Pittsburgh to reject the Common Core standards and stick with our current standards which are both higher and in conformity with the Magisterium of the Church.

Yesterday, I’m happy to announce, our good bishop, David Zubik, announced the rejection of Common Core for all our schools here. It is a minor victory nationally, but a resounding one locally.

His full letter can be read HERE.

 

[manualman]

Sounds good, but what does it mean? Most states establish SOME sort of minimum curriculum requirements that tend to dictate how the textbooks get written. I’ve yet to come across a diocesan catholic school that doesn’t use the same sorts of Science, Social Studies, English and Math textbooks used by the public schools.

So if folks want catholic schools to reject Common Core, where are the textbooks going to come from?

 

[Memaw]

Sounds good, but what does it mean? Most states establish SOME sort of minimum curriculum requirements that tend to dictate how the textbooks get written. I’ve yet to come across a diocesan catholic school that doesn’t use the same sorts of Science, Social Studies, English and Math textbooks used by the public schools.

So if folks want catholic schools to reject Common Core, where are the textbooks going to come from?

Maybe it’s time we start printing our own again. God Bless, Memaw

 

[manualman]

If that’s even allowed anymore. I’m not close enough to the situation, but I believe many states actually require even all PRIVATE schools to use curricula approved by the state bureaucrats. I thought that the only way around that was to home school.

Anybody better educated on the matter care to comment?

 

[Coatimundi]

Maybe it’s time we start printing our own again. God Bless, Memaw

That shouldn’t be necessary. Many publishers offer “print on demand” books. These are books which are submitted by an author, but only printed when an order is made for the book. For a large order, such as from Catholic diocese for its schools, I think finding a publisher would be easy. The difficult part would be writing the textbook.

If it needs approval by the state board of education, that might slow things down as well, but I know nothing about that topic. I hope someone who is informed about these things will offer some insight for us.

 

[mkmom4]

My daughter and I were just discussing this yesterday. The Diocese of Charlotte has adopted these standards. My grandson is in PK in a lovely Catholic school. When my daughter asked about this, she was directed to the site of the National Catholic Education Association. There is a video about this. It states that one reason they are going along with this is because in a few years it will be hard to get materials that are not common core. She was also directed to a statement from our Diocese giving their explanation of what this will mean.
I have seen, excerpts of the first grade text book and workbook. One question in particular from the workbook stands out. There were many other things that got to me, but this one really made my blood boil. The question was a fill in the blank:

MY MOTHER _________ ME TO CLEAN MY ROOM.

The choices were:

 TELLS   NAGS

The correct was NAGS. Isn’t that lovely? My daughter is trying to find out more from the school. I have not spoken to any teacher who likes this.
I don’t know what my daughter will do.
Merle

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

If you are a Catholic parent of school age children, you’re probably aware of the potential dangers and harms of the controversial “Common Core” curriculum standards. There has been a big movement among the laity here in the Dio. of Pittsburgh to reject the Common Core standards and stick with our current standards which are both higher and in conformity with the Magisterium of the Church.

Yesterday, I’m happy to announce, our good bishop, David Zubik, announced the rejection of Common Core for all our schools here. It is a minor victory nationally, but a resounding one locally.

His full letter can be read HERE.

Seems the largest thing is that their current standards are higher.

 

[CWN_News]

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh has assured parents that his diocese will not adopt the educational standards of the “Common Core” program.The National Catholic Educational …

More…

 

[JimG]

“We are embarking on a great expansion of the left’s long-term project of trading off our best chances to foster individual excellence for broadly-distributed access to mediocre education.”

That’s a quote from this article about Common Core.

I haven’t read much about Common Core, but what I have read makes me quite uneasy. Like John Stuart Mill, I don’t like the idea of government meddling in education. Rather than standardized tests, what they really seek is standardized children. Instead of the Dept of Education, perhaps we should call it the Ministry of Propaganda.

The best education programs I’ve seen have been university programs based on a study of the Great Books. The University of Kansas had such a program once; but the administration soon undermined it. It told the story of Western Civilization through the great books, and I don’t think those in charge liked that because they don’t like the idea of western civilization.

One can’t do the great books in elementary school, of course. But even the McGuffey Readers turned out better readers and more well rounded students than we seem to now.

 

[PietroPaolo]

“We are embarking on a great expansion of the left’s long-term project of trading off our best chances to foster individual excellence for broadly-distributed access to mediocre education.”

That’s a quote from this article about Common Core.

I haven’t read much about Common Core, but what I have read makes me quite uneasy. Like John Stuart Mill, I don’t like the idea of government meddling in education. Rather than standardized tests, what they really seek is standardized children. Instead of the Dept of Education, perhaps we should call it the Ministry of Propaganda.

The best education programs I’ve seen have been university programs based on a study of the Great Books. The University of Kansas had such a program once; but the administration soon undermined it. It told the story of Western Civilization through the great books, and I don’t think those in charge liked that because they don’t like the idea of western civilization.

One can’t do the great books in elementary school, of course. But even the McGuffey Readers turned out better readers and more well rounded students than we seem to now.

While I’m no fan of JS Mill, I do agree with everything you wrote, which is why we need to get rid of government run schools and privatize the whole system. This way the parents get to choose which schools to send their kids to. If a school isn’t performing, then no one will send their kids there and the bad school will close. Similarly, parents will be empowered to choose what type of environment they are sending their kids to - secular, religious, pro-homosexual, whether they should have sex ed or teach abstinence, etc

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

While I’m no fan of JS Mill, I do agree with everything you wrote, which is why we need to get rid of government run schools and privatize the whole system. This way the parents get to choose which schools to send their kids to. If a school isn’t performing, then no one will send their kids there and the bad school will close. Similarly, parents will be empowered to choose what type of environment they are sending their kids to - secular, religious, pro-homosexual, whether they should have sex ed or teach abstinence, etc

The reality is that a massive number of people will lose access to education.

 

[JimG]

The reality is that a massive number of people will lose access to education.

No, that’s what vouchers are for. If the government must be involved in schools, provide the money–and control–to students and parents, not schools.

Washington DC had a successful voucher program. Parents loved it. It was eliminated for ideological reasons. The education establishment did not want to give parents that much choice.

 

[PietroPaolo]

No, that’s what vouchers are for. If the government must be involved in schools, provide the money–and control–to students and parents, not schools.

Washington DC had a successful voucher program. Parents loved it. It was eliminated for ideological reasons. The education establishment did not want to give parents that much choice.

Exactly. You keep the tax structures in place, but the money goes to whatever school the parents choose for their children rather than going automatically to the local public school. Parents, of course, can choose to keep their kids in the very public schools they are now using, but those schools would be forced to compete for students and money rather than complacently collecting money and peddling inferior education driven by ideologies not shared by most parents. Aren’t we always hearing about the importance of choice from liberals? They should love this idea. “My children, my choice” can be chanted as easily as “My body, my choice.”

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

No, that’s what vouchers are for. If the government must be involved in schools, provide the money–and control–to students and parents, not schools.

Washington DC had a successful voucher program. Parents loved it. It was eliminated for ideological reasons. The education establishment did not want to give parents that much choice.

Private schools will simply raise rates. While the vouchers will likely help Catholic schools quite a bit they don’t help other people much. There is also the transportation issue, poor people can’t necessarily afford (either in dollars or time) to transport their kids to those better schools making an even greater concentration of poverty.

The DC program was eliminated because there was a massive amount being done wrong and no real oversight.

Exactly. You keep the tax structures in place, but the money goes to whatever school the parents choose for their children rather than going automatically to the local public school. Parents, of course, can choose to keep their kids in the very public schools they are now using, but those schools would be forced to compete for students and money rather than complacently collecting money and peddling inferior education driven by ideologies not shared by most parents. Aren’t we always hearing about the importance of choice from liberals? They should love this idea. “My children, my choice” can be chanted as easily as “My body, my choice.”

Protestantism is the cult of the US and more children will get the Christian version of hard right madrassas, effectively funded by the government via vouchers of course. While Catholic schools are known for being amazing academically this isn’t so true of Protestant schools.

 

[PietroPaolo]

Protestantism is the cult of the US and more children will get the Christian version of hard right madrassas, effectively funded by the government via vouchers of course. While Catholic schools are known for being amazing academically this isn’t so true of Protestant schools.

If the schools are not educating children they will be forced to close just like any other business that can’t preform. Currently, under preforming schools get more money rather than getting less students.

Our current system only allows school choice for rich people - those who can afford to pay school taxes and private school tuition. Why shouldn’t ALL Americans have the same right to choose as rich Americans enjoy?

As far as transportation, that too will be worked out in a privatized system as schools will be competing for students, those schools that can provide transportation will get more students and be more successful. The schools that won’t, will simply be either small and local or will close. The busing problem only exists b/c everything is currently controlled by a state sponsored monopoly of education.

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

If the schools are not educating children they will be forced to close just like any other business that can’t preform. Currently, under preforming schools get more money rather than getting less students.

Our current system only allows school choice for rich people - those who can afford to pay school taxes and private school tuition. Why shouldn’t ALL Americans have the same right to choose as rich Americans enjoy?

As far as transportation, that too will be worked out in a privatized system as schools will be competing for students, those schools that can provide transportation will get more students and be more successful. The schools that won’t, will simply be either small and local or will close. The busing problem only exists b/c everything is currently controlled by a state sponsored monopoly of education.

And how are you going to assess how well schools are educating children? Force them to do standardized testing?

So rich people should be subsidizing the private education of poor people?

And what would you do with the massive amount of public school buildings that are no longer needed because you just eliminated them?

 

[PietroPaolo]

And how are you going to assess how well schools are educating children? Force them to do standardized testing?

I won’t. The parents of the children will. We won’t need standardized testing, because we won’t need the government to tell us which schools are preforming and which are not. The schools that aren’t doing a good job will lose their students to better schools and eventually go under, just like any other business that fails to provide a quality service. Do we need standardized tests to tell us which restaurants are good? Or which grocery stores have unspoiled food? Of course not. The bad ones go out of business.

So rich people should be subsidizing the private education of poor people?

No more so than they do now. Everyone will be paying the same taxes they pay now. Instead of sending the money to whichever local public school you live or own a business in, the money would follow the students to whichever school the parents want to send them to.

And what would you do with the massive amount of public school buildings that are no longer needed because you just eliminated them?

Those schools could stay open. They would have to compete to do so and many would probably be able to do so. The ones that couldn’t would close and other schools or businesses would purchase the buildings.

Why are you so anti-Choice?

 

[TEPO]

I’m glad to see Catholics becoming so inventive. This is what what gives American Catholics a good name -we don’t follow behind the State, we lead.

(Well, some do…)

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

I won’t. The parents of the children will. We won’t need standardized testing, because we won’t need the government to tell us which schools are preforming and which are not. The schools that aren’t doing a good job will lose their students to better schools and eventually go under, just like any other business that fails to provide a quality service. Do we need standardized tests to tell us which restaurants are good? Or which grocery stores have unspoiled food? Of course not. The bad ones go out of business.

The effects of a bad education take too long to show to have real feedback.

No more so than they do now. Everyone will be paying the same taxes they pay now. Instead of sending the money to whichever local public school you live or own a business in, the money would follow the students to whichever school the parents want to send them to.

And how do the parents find out what is a good school?

Those schools could stay open. They would have to compete to do so and many would probably be able to do so. The ones that couldn’t would close and other schools or businesses would purchase the buildings.

Why are you so anti-Choice?

I’m not anti-choice, I just don’t worship freedumb or the -]golden calf/-] bronze bull by -]the temple of Mammon/-] Wall Street

 

[LightandHeat]

Forgive my ignorance but is there something in the Common Core that is particularly anti-Catholic? The public school education I received already viewed Catholicism as the old stereotype of the “greedy, power hungry, Dark Age authoritarian” BS so it would be hard to imagine something significantly more negative