Move away from centralized education
When I attended a curriculum meeting with the Bethel Park School Board, it was discouraging to find that there were no parents in the audience. What is more important than the well-being of our children, as well as the education of them?
Is the education of children heading in the best direction today? More computer learning filled with Common Core standards can be disputed as the best choice in education today. One area of learning that is being considered important by neuroscientists and psychologists is handwriting. Computer learning cuts down the use of handwriting, and new evidence suggests that the link between handwriting and broader educational development runs deep. Children not only learn to read more quickly when they write by hand, but also, they are better able to generate ideas and retain information.
The goal of Common Core puts education into a national system with a progressive agenda of centralization and conformity, which is present in most totalitarian governments in the world.
In 1965, when the Elementary Secondary Education Act was passed, it distinctly stated, “Nothing in this act shall authorize any federal official to mandate, direct or control school curriculum.”
In 1970, the General Education Provisions Act stipulates that no provision of applicable program shall be construed to authorize any federal official to exercise any direction, supervision or control of curriculum, program of instruction of selection of instruction materials by any school system.
In 1979, a law creating the Department of Education forbids it from exercising any direction, supervision or control over the curriculum of any school system.
When amended, the Elementary Secondary Education Act states that no federal funds may be used to endorse, approve or sanction any curriculum designed to be used in grades kindergarten through 12.
How did we stray so far away from these laws? One reason may be that there is little parental involvement in education today. Wake up before it is too late to escape this centralization and conformity that will eventually produce total control of our lives here in America.
Anita Potocar
Bethel Park