Liberals knew that if they could capture the schools, they would have future generations of people agreeing with them on almost everything.

They sold parents on the premise that public education is “free.” In reality, it has been very costly, not only in monetary value but in ideological devaluation.

Mike Huckabee does not seem to understand this.

“[F]ormer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) called on conservatives to ‘stop the fight’ over the Common Core standards and, instead, consider the positive effects the nationalized standards might have on students in poor-performing schools.”

Every school my wife and I have taught in, including public schools, homeschooling, private schools, which are the real public schools, church-related schools, for-profit schools, and classical schools) has had standards from pre-school to senior high. Every school has standards, even schools where kids graduate only being able to read at a 7^th-grade level.

There didn’t seem to be a problem with learning when I was going to school. Each year there were courses that had to be taken and expectations that had to be met. It’s not rocket science.

The problem isn’t with the standards; it’s with the content of the curriculum that is about indoctrination rather than learning, liberalism, the goals of those in control of education, the competency of the teachers, unions, and the motivation of the students.

You can have the best set of standards the world has ever seen and yet there still will be unmotivated students and disinterested parents.

If it’s just about standards, then all a school needs to do is spend time at some of the nation’s best schools and follow their example.

Poor-performing schools aren’t the result of the curriculum. It’s more about expectations, motivation, the demand for excellence, and why an education is necessary.

The education establishment today is more concerned about pushing a certain leftist ideology. The goal is control.

How many of you remember when Stanford dropped its Western Civilization course “just months after the Reverend Jesse Jackson came on campus and led members of the Black Student Union in chants of ‘Hey-hey, ho-ho, Western Civ has got to go.’ More recently, faculty at the University of Texas condemned ‘Western civilization’ courses as inherently right wing, and Yale even returned a $20 million contribution rather than reinstate the course.”1

Below is Mike Huckabee’s letter to Oklahoma Lawmakers encouraging them to support Common Core on the belief that they will be in control of the standards, “that States and local school districts will determine how they want to teach kids, what curriculum to use, and which textbooks to use.” This is the height of naïveté. When has the Federal government ever given control to the states over anything?

Liberals need uneducated people in order to stay in power.

Our goal should be to dismantle the Federal Department of Education, remove all federal money from education, and return the money to the taxpayers. And this still won’t be enough. Colleges and universities are at the heart of the problem. They are progressives who want to indoctrinate our children.

_____________________________

Dear Oklahoma Lawmakers:

As a conservative who served as governor for a state that shares the values of the very Oklahomans you represent, I’m writing to encourage you to resist any attempt to delay implementation of the improved standards adopted by your State Board of Education in 2010.

Many of you voted in favor of these standards in 2010. You were right to stand for these improved standards then and you are right to stand for these improved standards still today.

These standards, known as Common Core State Standards, have been near and dear to my heart since I served as Governor of your neighboring state of Arkansas. And it’s disturbing to me there have been criticisms of these standards directed by other conservatives including the RNC. The truth of the matter is, these criticisms are short-sighted.

Like many of you, I’ve heard the argument these standards ‘threaten local control’ of what’s being taught in Oklahoma classrooms. Speaking from one conservative to another, let me assure you this simply is not true. States and local school districts will determine how they want to teach kids, what curriculum to use, and which textbooks to use.

These Common Core State Standards evolved as governors and state leaders were talking about what we could do together to raise standards – not a Washington solution, but a voluntary effort on the part of the leaders of the states. In fact, conversations about these standards began long before President Obama occupied the White House.

Common Core State Standards are a state driven solution to address the large number of high school graduates who have to take remedial courses in college. In your state of Oklahoma, six out of every ten students who go to college need remedial courses. That’s a lot of money being thrown out of the window by families who’ve worked hard to be able to send their child to college. Imagine finding out your child’s ACT test score wasn’t high enough to get her into college, or that she if she did get in, ended up taking two semesters worth of classes that don’t count toward her college degree. That means you’re paying university prices for what your child was supposed to learn for free in high school.

From an economic and workforce development perspective, these standards are critical. Innovation driving the successful companies in Oklahoma requires them to have the best people. That means having an education system that consistently delivers a quality education so that every child graduates high school prepared for college and career. These standards ensure Oklahoma remains competitive in the race to attract companies with the highest paying jobs for Oklahomans that deserve nothing less. Not only do these standards help the Oklahoma economy, they also help the families serving our country. Children of military families will not fall behind when their parents, who’ve chosen to defend our freedom, are asked to move from Fort Benning, Georgia to Fort Sill in Lawton or Vance Air force base in Enid.

I hope you’ll join me and other conservatives, including many Oklahoma parents, educators and business leaders, in making it known these standards are valuable for our future. They’re not something to be afraid of; indeed they are something to embrace.”

1. Rodney Stark, How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2014), 1. [↩]