Unfortunately, Illinois still hasn’t gotten the message!

The implementation of the Obama administration’s national education standards are being met with increased opposition from both conservative and liberal activists — albeit it for very different reasons.

In the past three years, 45 states adopted “Common Core,” a set of federal education curriculum guidelines developed by the National Governors Association and promoted by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. But now the guidelines are receiving stricter scrutiny, and mounting opposition from conservative groups — as well as teachers unions — has forced administrators and politicians to halt implementation.

Common Core skeptics have won several battles recently. In April, the Republican National Committee approved a resolution condemning the standards and urging states to withdraw. Last week, lawmakers in Michigan hit the pause button on implementation of the standards. Indiana followed suit just a few days ago.

Emmett McGroarty, a spokesperson for the American Principles Project, called Common Core a massive federal overreach at odds with the spirit of the Constitution — and one that went largely unnoticed for years.

“Our education system has gone through a radical transformation without the people or their elected representatives knowing this,” he said in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. “[The states] had to commit to the standards before they were drafted.”

Conservatives’ main concern is that Common Core will gradually erode states’ rights, stifle competition between school systems, and act as a backdoor for the Obama administration to get a left-leaning political agenda into the classroom.

“The Common Core standards’ suggested reading list directs students to read government manuals and executive orders,” wrote Lindsey Burke, a policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, in a blog post.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/02/common-core-a-common-enemy-for-some-conservatives-liberals/#ixzz2Stkfunr4