Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog had a range of reactions to the House defeat last week of the anti-national standards bill. Here is a sampling of comments under each poster’s chosen screen name:
MadTeacher: The fact that they would create a committee to study and revise the standards that was made of parents and grandparents, and not have any teachers at first, was just a slap in the face to all of the educators in Georgia. It was big of them to add a whopping three teachers that could be appointed by the governor. Somehow, I don't think those teachers would be terribly effective. These standards are working. They just need to leave us alone, fund us, and let us do our jobs.
MaryElizabeth: This low respect held by the public and by Georgia's legislators toward educators demonstrates how well national political forces have succeeded in undermining traditional public education in Georgia.
Mattie: Common Core Standards are flawed to say the least. They are crazy. In kindergarten, students must learn not only nouns and verbs, but adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and the rules for making a word plural. Please remember most of these kids start kindergarten not knowing their ABCs. Even by midyear, only a few are reading and have not received instruction on the skills needed to read these words. By the end of the year, they should be reading fluently and be able to write 10 sentences. This along with very high math standards — I don't have time to list those. Oh, yes, in the extra time during the day, teachers must also teach science, health and social studies. Do we need to throw out all national standards? No. Do they need to be fixed? Yes. Common Core was written with no input from educators.
Rho: I want the state to poll the current math and language arts teachers on how they feel about the standards. I am sick and tired of people trying to make changes to my job without my input, thinking they are experts because they watched some YouTube video.
TD: While I am am against the federal government dictating to the states what they can and cannot teach in the classrooms, Superintendent John Barge summed it up well when he stated the state Board of Education (appointed by the governor) is mandated to approve standards and curriculum, so there is no way the feds can dictate any action without the governor's approval and the elected state superintendent of education.
Chris: Anyone who has read even a basic description of the Common Core State Standards (Wikipedia is a good basic source) will realize very quickly that this (controversy) is nothing except an effort by crazies like the tea party to exert their influence at the expense of our kids. Also, the reason why the tea party is against it is because the federal government (i.e. Obama) is for it. This becomes very clear after you read the actual standards. I've actually heard some tea party supporters call Common Core "socialist indoctrination" and "generating acceptance of the gay lifestyle."
GoodforKids: I simply do not believe the state Department of Education and the Professional Association of Georgia Educator surveys were valid regarding teachers supporting Common Core as developmentally appropriate for young children. Unfortunately, the people who wrote the Common Core were not young child specialists, so the kids are paying the price.
