ABCs of DumbDown: THE CARDINAL NEWMAN SOCIETY SAYS “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COMMON CORE”

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#NoWayESEA

The late Alexander Solzhenitsyn, famous Soviet dissident, noted writer, concentration camp (GULAG) survivor, issued an important warning September 11, 1973, when he said, in a speech:

“Coexistence on this tightly knit earth should be viewed as an existence not only without wars... but also without [government] telling us how to live, what to say, what to think, what to know, and what not to know.”

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THE CARDINAL NEWMAN SOCIETY SAYS “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COMMON CORE”
By Betsy Kraus 3D Research

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As you read the following article keep this in mind:

REMOVE COMMON CORE FROM CATHOLIC CLASSROOMS

God gave us free will. Catholic education, no matter what the classroom subject, but especially catechesis, cannot be taught through methods which by-pass a student’s free will, and still remain Catholic. By-passing the will is called Mind Control!

The Cardinal Newman Society and the USCCB should be shouting out warnings to Catholics to reject The Reauthorization of the ESEA Act, Common Core, OBE, and all the evil methods they employ.

Return our Catholic schools to authentic traditional classroom teaching. Reject government title money which forces Progressive/Humanistic education upon our Catholic schools. Reject the texts that have been re-written to Common Core. Reject the accreditation companies that require our Catholic schools to comply with OBE. Protect our children from the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

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On May 29, 2015, Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society, circulated an email, “The News and Notes”. It was titled “Happy Birthday, Common Core.” In citing the five-year anniversary of Coommon Core on June 2^nd, President Reilly said:

“And we have two new studies on the Common Core: one that looks at 33 dioceses and many Catholic schools that are NOT using Common Core, and another explaining why Common Core's English language arts standards remain problematic for Catholic schools.” (1.)

The study regarding the 33 dioceses, entitled Many Diocesan and Private Catholic Schools Find Success Outside of Common Core (2), was written by Denise Donohue, Ed.D.

With regard to the claim that 33 dioceses are not using Common Core, it must be noted that some dioceses may have rejected the term “Common Core”, but they have retained the Outcome Based system of testing and assessment inherent in Common Core by adopting the standards and benchmarks system of the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative (CCCII). CCCII’s Standards are based on Common Core and Outcome Based Education (OBE). Other dioceses say they are not using Common Core, but when one visits their on-line curriculum manuals, some state they have aligned their standards to state standards, which are, with a few exceptions, Common Core standards. Those few states that have re-written their standards now have Common Core-like standards.

In her study, Denise Donohue cites Denver as one of these 33 dioceses not using Common Core. I would refer her to the Report listed at the bottom of this page entitled, Catholic Education in America: To Deceive the Elect? Denver is one of those dioceses that has rejected the term “Common Core” but adheres to CCCII’s Common Core Standards. The site confirming this information was included in this 2013 report. However, when trying to open that link now, it is no longer available. How many dioceses have removed their curriculum manuals from the internet so that parents cannot readily access them? How many dioceses say they are not using Common Core and then proceed to use Common Core through CCCII?

Some dioceses do not use the term “Common Core”, but instead are using terms like “21^st Century Skills” or “Strategic Planning”. See “The Catholic Church and Strategic Planning” HERE: http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2014/09/cookie-cutter-common-core-private.html. Such terms, global in nature, usually embody the Total Quality Management system (TQA) and the OBE system though standards, rubrics, formative and summative assessments, and testing. Such systems are made even more effective with the use of computers. It is the SYSTEM THAT IS DEADLY. It functions very well without ever using the term “Common Core”.

In the spring of 2013, Kathy Mears, Executive Director of the NCEA, reported that over 100 Catholic dioceses had accepted Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative (CCCII) standards and benchmarks for Catholic schools. There are 195 dioceses in the U. S., not including unincorporated territories. How many more dioceses are now using Common Core or some euphemism for Progressive education and/or Common Core?

IT’S TIME TO STOP “ANALYZING” COMMON CORE AND SIMPLY CONDEMN IT AND REMOVE IT FROM CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

The second site, posted in the “News and Notes” email from the Cardinal Newman Society, leads to a study entitled Disconnect between Common Core’s Literary Approach and Catholic Education’s Pursuit of Truth by Denise Donohue, Ed.D, and Dan Guernsey, Ed. D. This article points to a number of the many faults and shortcomings of Common Core, and in particular to the ELA standards. (English Language and Arts) Their points are well-taken, but, curiously, there is no reference to Common Core’s social engineering ( i.e. 21^st Century Skills, Critical Thinking, Diversity, Environmentalism, Gender and Sex education, etc.) through designated reading and Operant Conditioning, nor is there any comment regarding the use of the Skinnerian Operant Conditioning of Outcome Based Education, which is inherent in Common Core. Go HERE: http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2015/06/parent-red-alert-from-anita-b-hoge.html and HERE:
http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html)

The article does not tell us that Common Core is a dreadful Communist/Chinese/UNESCO/UN form of education. (Go HERE: http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2015/05/communist-core-big-lie_26.html

Keeping the above information in mind, consider the following comments by the authors, Donohue and Guernsey:

“Catholic schools should understand and be aware of the Common Core shifts, reject their narrow and utilitarian philosophies, and seek to counter the Common Core’s effects with a distinctly more holistic and complete Catholic educational experience.” (3)

The authors go on to say, that they can see how Catholic schools must reject certain elements enshrined in Common Core, but are they intimating that Common Core Standards can be revised or fixed for a more holistic and complete Catholic educational experience? If they are suggesting that Catholic schools can simply revise the narrow standards, they are ignoring the truly evil nature of “Communist” Core with its mind-control techniques and the TQA/ OBE systems which are built into progressive education, including Common Core. Common Core cannot be “fixed” or modified to be made “Catholic”. Tweaking the standards does not address the Operant Conditioning or the Communist methodologies of Common Core.

The authors quote the Secretary for the Congregation for Catholic Education, Archbishop Michael Miller, who warns of the deficits of Common Core methods and the importance of a Christological focus. But is there no warning from Archbishop Miller that Common Core could never be compatible with Catholic truth and faith? Can we look to the Bishops and USCCB for leadership? In April of 2014, they say:

“The CCSS should be neither adopted nor rejected without review, study, consultation, discussion and caution. Catholic schools must take into consideration the horizon of the local, state and national education landscape and the influence and application of the CCSS. To ignore this would place our students at a significant disadvantage for their post-secondary education, which is not an acceptable option for our families. For example, the SAT and ACT assessments, as well as other 6 standardized tests, will be geared to the CCSS. Such realities are among the factors that must be taken into account when judging whether it is best to adopt, adapt or reject the CCSS. In preparing our students for the future, Catholic schools must constantly emphasize creativity, critical and analytical thinking, and real-world application in light of Catholic culture and teaching, and be always intent on guiding our students to academic success” (4)

After years of analyzing Common Core, is this all the USCCB can say about CCSS? After years of agonized pleas from parents to remove Common Core from the schools, warnings from teachers and professors alerting our Prelates about the dangers and destructiveness of Common Core, is this their answer? If that’s all there is, then Miserere Nobis. God have mercy on us, our children, and this world.

And this outcry against Common Core has not just been from Catholics, it has come from parents, teachers, and professors of public and secular private schools across the country.

What is most disturbing is the fact that The Committee for Catholic Education, headed up by Archbishop George Lucas, supports the passage of the awful Reauthorization of The ESEA Act. Go HERE: http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2015/04/reauthorization-esea-alert-for-catholic.html

DAVID COLEMAN DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HE HAD DONE?

Donohue and Guernsey question in their report if David Coleman, as the main architect of Common Core Standards, might not be fully aware of what he or the others had done when helping to compose Common Core Standards. Google David Coleman and his mother Liz Coleman, who supports neo-Marxist ideals. According to an article in American Thinker regarding Liz Coleman:

“She was a professor of humanities at the far left New School for Social Research, which was begun by progressives in 1932 and modeled itself after the neo-Marxist social theory of the Frankfurt School. (Emphasis, Ed.) (5)

The article went on to say the David Coleman’s upbringing was in line with the following Progressive worldview:

“Common Core is about, as David Feith would say "an obsession with race, class, gender, and sexuality as the forces of history and political identity. " Nationalizing education via Common Core is about promoting an agenda of anti-capitalism, sustainability, white guilt, global citizenship, self-esteem, affective math, and culture sensitive spelling and language. This is done in the name of consciousness raising, moral relativity, fairness, diversity, and multiculturalism.” (6)

Read about David Coleman and his connections here: http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2013/06/david-coleman-common-core-rewriting-psats-sats-coleman-connections-obama-bill-ayers-chicago-annenberg-challenge-2667402.html

Coleman participated in the socialistic John Dewey Seminars, along with Tony Byrk, current head of Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement in Teaching and Learning.

“Lesson plans and resources created by Common Core partner organizations, Asia Society, Pearson Education, Discovery Education, Expeditionary Learning, Crayola, and more, fall right in line with AHA’s vision of morality in education, while the English Language Arts standards
themselves, through the heavy use of informational texts (propaganda), lay the perfect foundation for social engineering as called for by John Dewey, a drafter of the Humanist Manifesto. David Coleman, dubbed ‘the architect’ of the standards, was in recent years a symposium speaker and participant in the IAS School of Social Science Dewey Seminar, where participants examine, through a series of workshops and seminars, “the impact of educational institutions on society, sociopolitical orders, and democracy”. (Emphasis, Ed.) (7)

Tony Byrk, head of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CFAT), was also present at these workshops and seminars. In 2007, it was he, along with Lee Shulman, former President of CFAT, who met with Catholic educators (NCEA, etc.) to formulate what culminated in the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative for Standards and Benchmarks, which have now been implanted in our Catholic schools.

WHAT IS THE CARDINAL NEWMAN SOCIETY’S POSITION ON COMMON CORE AND THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE ESEA ACT?

Has the Cardinal Newman Society called for the complete removal of Common Core from all Catholic Schools? Perhaps somewhere along the way they have, but their current postings seem to indicate still more analyzing of Common Core. Are they standing with the parents and teachers, including those in tax-funded private, Catholic, and public education, who WANT THIS EVIL OUT OF ALL EDUCATION, or do they think that Common Core can be made acceptable?

What is the Cardinal Newman Society’s position on the Reauthorization of the ESEA Act?

Is the Cardinal Newman Society backing the Bishops in their support of the Reauthorization of the ESEA Act? This ABCs of Dumbdown blog has, for many months, pointed out the final decimation of education that will occur in America if this and other dangerous education bills become law. Catholic schools though the acceptance of government money will not be spared. Here is just one of the many links on the site dealing with the Reauthorization of the ESEA Act. http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

Is the Cardinal Newman Society not aware of how bad Common Core is? Two articles by this reporter, “Catholic Children in Grave Danger” (May, 2013) and “Catholic Education in America: To Deceive the Elect?” (October, 2013) are listed on their reference page.(8) These two reports which were sent to the head prelate of every arch/diocese in the United States leave no doubt as to the Marxist/Communistic nature of Common Core and its Operant Conditioning, or how it gained entry into Catholic Schools. These reports along with many other impressive articles condemning Common Core can be accessed at the Cardinal Newman Society reference page, or at the sites listed below.

REMOVE COMMON CORE FROM CATHOLIC CLASSROOMS

God gave us free will. Catholic education, no matter what the classroom subject, but especially catechesis, cannot be taught through methods which bypass the brain and a student’s free will, and still remain Catholic. Bypassing the will is called Mind Control!

The Cardinal Newman Society and the USCCB should be shouting out warnings to Catholics to reject the Reauthorization of the ESEA Act, Common Core, TQA, OBE, and all the evil methods they employ.

Return our Catholic schools to authentic traditional classroom teaching. Reject government Title money which forces Progressive education upon our Catholic schools. Reject the texts that have been rewritten to Common Core. Reject the accreditation companies that require our Catholic schools to comply with OBE. Protect our children from the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Footnotes:

1. Reilly, Patrick, President, “News and Notes”, The Cardinal Newman Society, May 29, 2015.

2. Donohue, Denise, Ed.D., “Many Diocesan and Private Catholic Schools Find Success Outside Common Core”, The Cardinal Newman Society, May 27, 2015. http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/Portals/0/Common%20Core/Many%20Diocesan%20and%20Private%20Schools%20Find%20Success%20Outside%20the%20Common%20Core_revised.pdf

3. Donohue, Denise, Ed.D, and Dan Guernsey, Ed.D. “Disconnect between Common Core’s Literacy Approach and Catholic Education’s Pursuit of Truth”, The Cardinal Newman Society, May 27, 2015.

http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/Portals/0/Common%20Core/Disconnect%20between%20Common%20Core%27s%20Literary%20Approach%20and%20Catholic%20Education%27s%20Pursuit%20of%20Truth.pdf

4. “Frequently Asked Questions about the Common Core State Standards”, Secretariat of Catholic Education, April 21, 2014. http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catholic-education/upload/CCSS-FAQ-final-04-22-14.pdf

5. Kalahar, Dean, “Common Core: Nationalized State Run Education”, The American Thinker,

April 12, 2013. http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/04/common_core_nationalized_state-run_education.html#ixzz3bj20mVqd

6. Ibid

7, Clark, Danette, “Common Core In-Sync with American Humanist Association’s 10 Guiding Principles for Teaching Values”, August 25, 2014. https://danetteclark.wordpress.com/tag/linda-darling-hammond/

8. The Cardinal Newman Society, Other Related Materials, (scroll to bottom of page),

http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicIsOurCore/CatholicIdentityConcerns.aspx

OTHER REPORTS BY BETSY KRAUS covering both public and Catholic education:

Gateway to Global Understanding http://www.scribd.com/doc/207950600/Catholic-Gateway-to-Global-Understanding

Catholic Children in Grave Danger
file:///C:/Users/progressive/Downloads/CCCS.%20(1).pdf

Catholic Education in America: To Deceive the Elect?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/179787173/Catholic-Education-in-America-To-Deceive-the-Elect

Common Core is Hostile to Christian and Catholic Education

http://www.scribd.com/doc/207129427/Common-Core-Is-Hostile-To-Christian-and-Catholic-Education

Social Justice in the Schools

http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2014/08/social-justice-in-schools.html

Critical Thinking: It's Not What You Think.

http://abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/2014/07/critical-thinking-its-not-what-you-think.html