Thursday, April 24, 2014

COMMON CORE: MATH INDOCTRINATION

Math as Indoctrination
Eagle Forum - April

One area where Rethinking Schools has it right is their view of Common Core standards. Although the mainstream media relentlessly insists that Common Core disenchantment comes only from far-right and Tea Party groups, the current issue of Rethinking Schools magazine reports on the progressive group’s displeasure in an article titled “The Problems with the Common Core”:

The standards were drafted largely behind closed doors by academics and assessment “experts,” many with ties to testing companies. . . . [It is] a massively well-financed campaign of billionaires and politically powerful advocacy organizations. . . . Rethinking Schools has always been skeptical of standards imposed from above. Too many standards projects have been efforts to move decisions about teaching and learning away from educators and schools, and put them in the hands of distant bureaucracies and politicians. (ReThinking Schools, Winter 2013-14)

Since states began implementing Common Core, all sorts of social justice math teaching has popped up in classrooms. It seems that if a lesson plan is labeled Common Core-aligned, no matter how misguided, it may be taught to students. Standards that “change how math is taught” leave classrooms wide open to adding social justice content.

 Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE IS REALLY OLD "NEW MATH"

Common Core’s newer math:  a return to mathematical ignorance
Education Reporter – April newsletter

By giving concept priority over content, Common Core has failed to learn the history lesson from New Math. Students instructed according to Common Core standards will ultimately know neither the “why” nor the “how,” and we will eventually consign these standards to the ever-expanding dustbin of failed educational initiatives, until the next messianic program is unveiled.


Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

STARR TEST IN TEXAS - CHILDREN NOT REACTING WELL

Texas Teachers scare, shame and bully kids about standardized tests
Eric Owens – Daily Caller – 4/23/2014

The Daily Caller has obtained the full text of the handout, entitled “What if I don’t try on the STAAR?” Click the link above to view one-page of comments from third graders, eight year old children.

It’s a doozy.

Trying is not defined on the handout. However students who don’t do it to the satisfaction of the adults at Lamar Elementary risk flunking for the entire school year – so, no pressure kids! – and being labeled as “lazy.”

The crowning achievement of the missive is a not-so-subtle threat to the kids about how teachers will suffer if the kids don’t do well enough.

“Your teacher will feel bad because you didn’t try. She gets paid for teaching you. She wants her boss to see what a good teacher she is, but if you don’t try, her boss won’t know what a good teacher she is.”

Also: “Teacher will be upset. Mom and Dad will be upset. Mrs. Martinez and Mrs. Aguilera will be upset. You’ll be upset because everyone is upset with you!”

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

BRAD STINE - PROUD CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN COMEDIAN

Stand up comedian destroying atheism goes viral
Eagle Rising – Onan Coca – 4/24/2014

Brad Stine - 3-minute video

 Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

HILLARY CLINTON - WHAT'S SHE WORTH?


Hillary Clinton is Worthless – Literally
Eagle Rising – Onan Coca – 4/23/2014

Hillary Clinton makes the same claims as to why she is qualified to be President and 50% of Democrats polled agreed.

She has never run a City, County, or State during her "career" of keeping control of Bill Clinton's libido, a task where she failed.

When told Hillary Clinton has experience because she has eight years in the White House, my immediate thought was "So has the pastry chef".

When it comes to running the state department, her biggest achievement was getting a US Ambassador and 3 other Americans killed by pretending terrorism had been defeated.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

COMMON CORE - WHAT'S NEXT FOR WISCONSIN'S SCHOOL CHILDREN

Northwoods Patriots signed on to An Open Letter to Wisconsin State Elected Officials on the Full and Imminent Implementation of Common Core State Standards. This is a two-page letter to all of Wisconsin's legislators and Governor Walker and describes what will occur in Wisconsin's public schools to Wisconsin's public school children and their families. Please read this Press Release and share broadly throughout the state.

Released 4/23/2014


Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND FREEDOM FROM RELIGION

Fox and Friends invited Kim Simac to discuss the CWA Easter display that was promptly opposed by Freedom From Religion Foundation.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3474198378001/fight-for-faith-anti-easter-display-goes-up-in-wisconsin/#sp=show-clips

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

KIM SIMAC - FOX AND FRIENDS - 4/16/2014

Kim Simac  will be on Fox and Friends  Wednesday morning  at 7:50  a.m. CST to discuss the Easter Table display the Concerned Women for America of Wisconsin ha d set up in the rotunda at the Capital in Madison.  
 
The Freedom FROM Religion group felt the need to counter  the CWA display and possibly obtained a "streamlined" permit from the Capital Police yesterday. Their "JESUS CHRIST IS A MYTH" display is a great conversation starter and a wonderful example for  Kim.  She is happy to know that Jesus is real and  His sacrifice is what gives  her  entire world beauty and hope.  
 
Praise GOD - Alleluia!   Jesus is Risen - He is Risen Indeed! 
Kim Simac
Concerned Women for America
Wisconsin State Director

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Friday, April 11, 2014

SECOND AMENDMENT DEBATED AT CPAC 2014

Liberal ideology is hateful and borderline sociopathic
Liberty Alliance – Article and 30-minute video

Panel included:
Sheriff David A. Clarke
Emily Miller
Sandy Adams

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

CONTRADICTIONS IN AMERICA

The six contradictions of socialism in the United States of America:
1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half of the population is subsidized.
 
2. Half of the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims.
 
3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government.
 
4. Their representatives run the government - yet the poor keep getting poorer.
 
5. The poor keep getting poorer - yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
 6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about - yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

NORTHWOODS PATRIOTS AND NORTHLAND PINES - OPEN FORUM

On April 8 the Northwoods Patriots hosted an Open Forum.  Julaine Appling, President of the Wisconsin Family Council and Wisconsin Family Action made a presentation on the Human Growth and Development statutes that school districts are required to follow in Wisconsin if they offer a health program that includes “sex education,” in spite of the fact that those words “sex education” are not in the statute.

Over 80 were in attendance, first as Ms Appling explained her roll in drafting language that is family friendly and respects public school children, their parents and the community at large.

Then Dr. Mike Richie and Mr. Jim Brewer, both with Northland Pines School District, followed up and offered their assurances that changes will be made in the HG&D curriculum.

Dr. Richie indicated that he will open the doors to parents to review curriculum and text books.  In addition, the School Board will appoint members of the community, as designated by the statute, to an ad hoc committee, that will review and recommend future curriculum for HG&D.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

LOIS LERNER – TIMELINE ON IRS DELAYS

LOIS LERNER REFERRED TO DOJ FOR CRIMINAL PROSECUTION
Posted by Eric Cantor on April 9, 2014

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

COMMON CORE PARENT OPPONENT "SUSPENDED" FROM SCHOOL

Mom suspended from son’s elementary school for warning other parents about Common Core
Godfather Politics – Dave Jolly – 4/8/2014

So what legal right does the school have for taking the actions they did in this case?  As long as Christopher Duran was not disrupting his class, he has the First Amendment right to hand out the fliers his mom printed out.  If they had allowed him to do so, there would not have been the confrontation between Christopher’s mom and the principal.

Did the principal have the legal right to get the police involved and issue a 14 day suspension against Katherine Duran?  All she did was insist on getting back her forms that the principal illegally confiscated from her son.

School administrators and faculty so often assume a lot more authority than they legally have.  They continually trample on the constitutional rights of students and then get angered when called down for their illegal actions.


This is why I advocate that every teacher and school administrator be required to take classes on the constitutional rights of student and teachers.  Educators must be educated on what they can and cannot do. 

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE HOLD UP IN THE ASSEMBLY: KESTELL EXPERIENCES OPPOSITION

Was Steve Kestell threatening opponents of Common Core?
Wisconsin Election Watch - By Kyle Maichle, Editor of Wisconsin Election Watch, - 4/8/2014

ELKHART LAKE – Representative Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake, 27thDistrict), served as Chairman of the Assembly Education Committee.  The seven term incumbent has been Committee Chairman since the beginning of the 2011-2012 session.   On Tuesday, the Representative announced that he will not seek re-election in the 2014 election cycle after being the target of “no confidence” resolutions approved by three Congressional district Republican parties.

With fervor struck up by opponents of Common Core standards, Chairman Kestell was a target.   Two individuals who are opposed to Common Core spoke directly to Wisconsin Election Watch alleging how Representative Kestell has treated them when expressing their opposition.

Ed Perkins of Appleton is an opponent of common core standards and a member of the Fox Valley Initiative.    He feels that Common Core should be stopped because lawmakers “knew nothing about it” referring to when Wisconsin school districts started implementing the standards in 2009 up until 2013 when opposition intensified. Perkins feels that because education is the largest item in the Wisconsin budget, special consideration should be taken into account to hold back the new standards citing costs.

Perkins faced threats from Representative Kestell over e-mail communications he had with the Representative over failing to schedule a committee vote on Assembly Bill 617.  On February 20th, Representative Kestell abruptly cancelled a vote in the Assembly Education Committee on AB 617

Perkins provided Wisconsin Election Watch with a copy of actual communications between him and the Representative.  In an e-mail sent the day after the committee vote, Perkins said: “I want to share with you my great dismay at your public statement yesterday wherein you stated, “This Common Core bill will not be voted on indefinitely”.  You appear, to me and others, as though you will dictate what bills you will allow to have a hearing and if you don’t like the bill no matter how the public or your constituents feel, that is the end of it. As you know even Gov. Walker has made it very clear that he wants standards created by and for our state, not those imposed on us by the US DEPT. of Education, the NGA or the Bill & Melinda Foundation.



Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

NORTHWOODS PATRIOTS AND NORTHLAND PINES - OPEN FORUM

Julaine Appling - President of Wisconsin Family Action
will be our GUEST SPEAKER to lead the discussion:

April 8, 2014 - 6:30 p.m.
Eagle River Inn, Eagle River

WHAT IS MANDATED AND
WHAT IS THE SEX-EDUCATION CURRICULUM
TEACHING OUR KIDS AT NORTHLAND PINES SCHOOL?

Please attend and bring your friends and neighbors. 

Our over-riding goal is to help the school district develop a new system to properly present sensitive information to students in a suitable fashion, acceptable to all parents and the community at large.


FACEBOOK: NORTHWOODS PATRIOTS

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Monday, April 7, 2014

OPEN THE BOOKS -- FIND THE PORK

Open the Books
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6SLtjokndo&feature=youtu.be
Four-minute video about an app that follows the money

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Saturday, April 5, 2014

ID REQUIRED FOR VOTER REGISTRATION

New Voter Registration Requirements Take Effect
4/5/2014

MADISON, WI – The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is providing guidance to voters and local election officials about voter registration requirements that become effective yesterday. 
All electors, except those in the military and those residing overseas permanently, must now provide a valid proof of residence document when registering to vote.  Under previous law, a document establishing residency was not required if an elector registered to vote more than 20 days before an election. 

“The Legislature sought to make the proof of residence requirement consistent for voters regardless of when they register to vote,” said Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the G.A.B.  “It is important that voters understand that they must have a valid document showing their current name and address when they register with a clerk or at a voter registration drive, or that they must submit a copy of the document when registering by mail.”

A variety of documents can be used to prove a person’s residence, including a valid driver license or state identification card, a utility bill or residential lease, a bank statement or paycheck, or a property tax bill or other document issued by a unit of government.  A full list of acceptable documents is available here:  http://gab.wi.gov/publications/voter-guides/proof-of-residence.
Governor Walker signed 2013 Wisconsin Act 182 (Senate Bill 267) and it became effective on Friday, April 4, 2014.  The G.A.B. has issued guidance to clerks, special registration deputies, and voters regarding the new requirements, which may be found athttp://gab.wi.gov/node/3151

Elections Division Administrator Michael Haas noted that election officials will be implementing a number of new legislative changes leading up to this fall’s elections.  “Change has become a constant in the world of elections,” Haas said.  “We appreciate that municipal and county clerks will need to adapt their procedures and training to comply with these changes.  Their efforts will help ensure the integrity of the registration and election process while assisting each qualified elector to become eligible to vote.”

For more information, contact: 
Reid Magney, Public Information Officer, 608-267-7887


Proof of Resident to register to vote
Government Accountability Board – 4/4/2014

 Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

SCHOOL LOCKED DOWN OVER A CAMERA TRIPOD

Public schools deliberately creating culture of feat and setting the stage for tyranny
Freedom Outpost - Daisy Luther – 4/5/2014

What is the best way to ensure that gun control takes place within a generation?
Forget trying to change the minds of those who already have guns. The best way to do this is to encourage a culture of fear among young people.

And the public school system, with all of its zero tolerance lunacy, is doing just that. They are setting the stage for tyranny.

Case in point:

Yesterday in Baltimore, some students saw a person carrying a tripod through the school. Frightened, they reported this to administrators, which resulted in an immediate lockdown:

The tripod was a journalism student and the tripod was for his camera. However, a SWAT team descended on the school and children and parents alike were terrified after a 4 hour lockdown scenario.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

Friday, April 4, 2014

SEX ED MANDATES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: AN OPEN DISCUSSION

Julaine Appling - President of Wisconsin Family Action
will be our
 GUEST SPEAKER
to lead the discussion on
What is Mandated
and
 What is the Sex- Education Curriculum Teaching Our Kids at Northland Pines School?
 Tuesday night
April 8, 2014
6:30 p.m.
Eagle River Inn, Eagle River
Concern came to the attention of parents and taxpayers two weeks ago when a mother complained about an assignment her 15 year old son brought home from school.
This assignment asked him to think about and answer questions that many people believed to be wrong.
Questions about being naked with a partner and how it makes you feel. About birth control and who is going to buy it?
How many sex partners you have had, and on and on.
Just what is mandated to be taught in health classes across Wisconsin and why did Northland Pines choose this specific curriculum?
What proof do we have that exposure to all types of sex acts and practices are productive to young children?
Do our children have any privacy to religious beliefs and do parents have the opportunity to have any input?  Or opt-out?

FEEL FREE TO FORWARD TO YOUR E-MAIL LIST

We need your help to promote this event:

1.                  Please invite your friends, neighbors and pastors to this event. Please print this e-mail and share it with your pastor and friends.
2.                  We need help to set up at 5:00 p.m.  Event begins at 6:30 p.m.  Includes Q&A.
3.                  As a 501-C4 organization, we ask that you consider making a donation enabling us to fund this speaker and future speakers to educate us all on today’s important issues.


Our over-riding goal is to help the school district develop a new system to properly present sensitive information to students in a suitable fashion, acceptable to all parents and the community at large.




Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

OBAMACARE RESULTS IN LOST HOURS

OBAMA'S SOLUTION:  RAISE THE HOURLY RATE
(But employers cannot afford to pay higher wages)

OPINION: Let's Restore Hourly Wages Cut by Obamacare
ABC News - Rep. Eric Cantor – 3/27/2014

Just look at the math. In 2013, President Obama supported a $9 minimum wage. This year, he proposed a $10.10 minimum wage, which at the federal level turns out to be an increase roughly equal to the amount of wages a minimum wage employee would lose if they had their hours cut by 25 percent, as is happening under one provision of Obamacare. Coincidence?

Here’s how Obamacare creates those wage cuts. Under the law, an employer is required to offer government-mandated health care plans to full-time employees if they have 50 or more employees. The law then goes on to define a full-time employee as someone working 30 hours or more per week.

This added regulation makes it prohibitively expensive for many employers to keep all their employees working more than 29 hours, so hours are reduced, no new hires are made, and often jobs are simply cut.

The president is attempting to distract people from these wage cuts by proposing a minimum wage increase, but that would only make matters worse. The CBO found that about 500,000 jobs would be lost under the president’s proposal. One survey by staffing company Express Employment Professionals found that 54 percent of minimum wage employers would reduce hiring and 38 percent would lay off employees if the president’s proposals were adopted. Several more surveys and polls found similar findings.

America is not working when Washington is creating incentives for businesses to cut back the hours and reduce the wages of hardworking Americans. America is not working when Democratic policies, like Obamacare, encourage people to be fired rather than hired.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE: WISCONSIN CHILDREN WERE NOT REPRESENTED BY SENATOR OLSEN

Senator Olsen’s Office Was Opposed to Common Core Repeal before March Public Hearing
Wisconsin Election Watch – Kyle Maichle

Haley Sinklair, an intern for the free-market think-tank, asked Sarah Archibald for comment on Senate Bill 619 on February 19, 2014 at 11:51 AM.  After receiving the e-mail, Ms. Archibald forwarded the message to Senator Olsen and Dee Pattack at 11:53 AM, saying: “I say we tell them and everyone else that we are NOT interested in repealing the common core but I will not respond until I receive direction from one of you two.”  Later on, Mary Pluta forwarded Ms. Sinklair’s e-mail at 12:14 PM to the Senator and all of his Legislative staff saying: “Did everyone get this.”  Senator Olsen said to Ms. Archibald at 12:19 PM, “Nothing to say to them.”  Ms. Pattack later responded to another message from Ms. Archibald and Senator Olsen at 12:23 PM saying that: “I vote for not replying before the hearing.”


Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

ECONOMIC RECOVERY? NOT REALLY

9 of the top 10 Occupations in America pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year
Freedom Outpost – Michael Snyder – 4/2/2014

According to stunning new numbers just released by the federal government, nine of the top ten most commonly held jobs in the United States pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year. When you break that down, that means that most of these workers are making less than $3,000 a month before taxes. And once you consider how we are being taxed into oblivion, things become even more frightening. Can you pay a mortgage and support a family on just a couple grand a month? Of course not. In the old days, a single income would enable a family to live a very comfortable middle class lifestyle in most cases.

But now those days are long gone. In 2014, both parents are expected to work, and in many cases both of them have to get multiple jobs just in order to break even at the end of the month. The decline in the quality of our jobs is a huge reason for the implosion of the middle class in this country. You can't have a middle class without middle class jobs, and we have witnessed a multi-decade decline in middle class jobs in the United States. As long as this trend continues, the middle class is going to continue to shrink.

ding 59 percent of all American workers bring home less than $35,000 a year in wages.

So if you are going to make more than $35,000 this year, you are solidly in the upper half.

But that doesn't mean that you will always be there.


Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

GLOBAL WARMING: ONLY 79 SCIENTISTS BELIEVE

IPCC cries wolf on Global Warming, Again
Daily Caller – Pierre Guy Veer – 4/3/2013

79 CLIMATOLOGISTS “believe” in climate change, but they are only three-tenths of one percent of scientists surveyed in 2008.  Shouldn’t scientists conduct a new survey?

Despite overwhelming evidence that the science is not settled, climate change fanatics keep hammering about that supposed 97 percent consensus among scientists. In reality, the supposed consensus is likely overblown. It’s either based on 2008 survey of only 79 climatologists or is actually closer to 0.3 percent when one analyzes a sample of scientific papers.

Climate fanatics’ insistence on a consensus to silence debate has some eerie traits of fascism. Indeed, only in fascist societies can authorities make sure dissenters are silenced by whatever way they see fit. And this is exactly what climate fanatics want; they systematically refuse to debate climate sceptics by snobbishly claiming they are not worthy of recognition. People like David Suzuki, Canada’s green pope, call for Inquisition-like censorship of skeptics. Professors like Lawrence Torcello want skeptics jailed for “criminal negligence.” Finally, Al Gore has no problem resorting to ad hominem attacks by calling skeptics “deniers” and by linking them to homophobes, racists, alcoholics, baby-eaters, etc.

Reasonable citizens should not lose any sleep over the IPCC’s latest report or scaremongering from climate fanatics. Their catastrophic predictions are simply a continuation of doomsday predictions Malthus started in the 19th century. And like Malthus, they have been utterly wrong, be it about agriculture, violence or the rising sea level. Climate hysteria is crumbling little by little, and like any fake science, it will collapse sooner or later.


Wednesday, April 2, 2014

COMMON CORE: THE MOVIE

The movie is exceptionally well done.  The definition of Common Core emerges throughout the video.  

Building the Machine:  A Film about the Common Core
(A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  That's what American education will become under Common Core.)

This article is a review about the movie:  Building the Machine
Cathy Duffy Reviews – March 2014

One of the most significant complaints they had was that the Common Core prepares students for community college and vocational training, but not for selective colleges or higher level math and science study. Instead, the standards aim for lower objectives that might be attainable for more students. Dr. Milgram points out how Common Core actually sets the stage for the dumbing down of college courses by requiring colleges and universities to allow all students who have graduated from high schools that have taught the Common Core to enroll in for-credit courses in math and English; they cannot require those students to take remedial courses. The inevitable result will be a lowering of the level of first-year college courses in math and English, with a subsequent scaling back of subsequent college levels courses.

While most homeschoolers are not yet feeling the brunt of the Common Core, the plan is that eventually curriculum and tests aligned to the Common Core will control education for most students, even if indirectly. It remains to be seen if there will be alternative educational paths for college and career that are independent of the Common Core.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE: STATES DROPPING OUT

Fed Up:  States Dropping Common Core
Freedom Outpost – Melissa Melton – 4/2/2014
  
Yesterday, Oklahoma took the first step in potentially following suit, as the state’s Senate passed a bill to repeal Common Core on similar grounds, citing that education standards should be set at the local and state levels instead of being set outside of democratic process by Bill Gates’ money.

Pennsylvania’s House also passed a bill to drop Common Core, and three other states, including Florida, Michigan and Ohio, have also introduced bills to get rid of it.
As New York became the first state to administer statewide Common Core initiative testing this week, some families practiced their own brand of civil disobedience by opting out. Three Brooklyn schools saw as many as 70% of their students refuse to take the state-mandated tests.

As I previously reported back in December, a group of eight New York principals got together and penned a letter expressing their concerns that the Common Core standardized tests were psychologically damaging the children, causing their 3rd through 8th grade students to cry, throw up and have accidents in their pants:

For a program that’s supposed to make kids “college ready,” in the real world, taking the time to perform over 100 utterly pointless, ridiculous, time-consuming steps to do something that would normally (and much more simply and efficiently) be completed in just two isn’t exactly considered a desirable trait in a potential job candidate.


Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE: WHAT ABOUT INNOVATION?

Common crap:  Education in America
Joe for America – Joe the Plumber – 3/29/2014

An education system that coddles young people instead of challenging them is also partially to blame.  The shift from rewarding top performers to rewarding all participants has contributed to national shame in our current education systems.  And kids know it.   The ones who don’t try know they are not deserving of recognition. They mock the system. The ones who exert themselves with success, but are treated as just another participant, become disillusioned over lack of recognition.  Disillusionment can lead to apathy.  It’s a vicious circle, this one-reward-fits-all arrangement.

Because of imposing a so-called level playing field, or Common Core, we are at risk of seeing critical thinking go by the wayside, and seeing curiosity and ambition die.  American inventors are going the way of video cassettes and rotary phones.  Our greatest inventors of the last thirty years were educated in the 1960s and ‘70s B.C. (Before Common Core).  It’s not a coincidence that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs excelled on the personal computer scene at the same time.  Both were products of a better system of education—one that endorsed ingenuity and exploration over preparing to pass exams.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE LACKS COMMON SENSE

Common Core Worksheet asks Fourth Graders to Describe Adultry
Right Wind News – 3/28/2014

1.               Why is this a printed out worksheet?
2.               What curriculum puts out an agenda like this?
3.               is this appropriate for fourth grade children?
4.               Does a teacher have the right to refuse to present this type of lesson?
5.               Has this entire curriculum been debated by the entire elementary teaching department?
6.               What is the educational purpose of this worksheet?

7.               If the purpose of education is to disseminate facts, apart from a found hairclip in a pretend adult story and speculation about marital / parental relationships, what are the facts of this story?

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COMMON CORE: REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO ALLOW A VOTE

Wisconsin Republicans face backlash over support for Common Core
Wisconsin Reporter - Ryan Ekvall  - 4/1/ 2014

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Republican lawmakers who supported the national Common Core academic standards are starting to face blowback from party members back in their districts.

Sen. Olsen, R – Ripon, faces a “public flogging” from party members for his support of the Common Core.

Members of the GOP’s 2nd, 4th and 6th Congressional District caucuses passed resolutions declaring “no confidence” and “no support” of Sen. Luther Olsen of Ripon and Rep. Steve Kestell of Elkhart Lake, chairmen of the Senate and Assembly committees on education, respectively. Olsen and Kestell represent portions of the 6th Congressional District.

“These resolutions are not binding resolutions; nobody is going to fire them from GOP,” said Michael Murphy, vice chairman of the Republican Party’s 4th Congressional District. “It does show the party does not support what they are doing.”

“It’s more of a public flogging, if you will, from our delegation,” he said.

Specifically, the votes come after Olsen and Kestell blocked GOP reform of Common Core, a national set of education standards requiring new curriculum, classroom resources, multi-state standardized tests and increased student data gathering.
The issue is becoming a litmus test for Republicans, especially among their tea party constituency, this primary season. Both the state and national Republican Party platforms reject Common Core standards.

The two Wisconsin lawmakers failed to schedule public hearings on Common Core required in the state budget. Instead, it was only after Gov. Scott Walker publicly supported holding the hearings that Republican leadership formed new committees to schedule them.

Those hearings resulted in a bill that would create an academic standards board that could over time adopt new standards and periodically review them. The bill would remove that power from the state superintendent of public instruction, who currently has sole authority to adopt state standards.

Olsen told reporters moments before the bill’s hearing that the bill didn’t have the support of a handful of Republicans in the Senate, but failed to name any of those senators.

Some Republicans, like Murphy, felt Olsen’s maneuvering in the press was to slight Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, who supported a full repeal of Common Core.

On Saturday, the Republican Party’s state resolution committee will meet to decide which resolutions should make it to the state convention for a full party vote.
Contact Ryan Ekvall at rekvall@watchdog.org, 608-257-1382 or follow him on Twitter @Nockian.

Please, feel free to "steal our stuff"! Just remember to credit Watchdog.org

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country