Alaska Determining Whether it Should Follow Common Core (+video)

Today we are on the precipice of determining whether Alaska should follow the guidance of Commissioner of Education, Michael Hanley and Alaska School Board President Esther Cox as they direct our entire educational K-12 foundation to align with the national and international standards and curriculum of Common Core.

Certainly, there are convincing arguments that there should be standards of achievement for students and that there should be a method of assessment periodically throughout what is commonly held as the “formal years of education.” The argument evolves into a sense that without these standards, our Alaskan children will not be able to properly compete with all citizens for work in a global market.

And certainly, one can argue that our current educational standards are subpar both globally (ranked 26th in the world) and nationally (Alaska~ 39th overall) which are issues we need to take into account specifically when Alaska spends more money per capita, per student than anywhere in the world at approximately $22,000.00 per student. When you factor in the Taj Mahal brick and mortar structures , we have no financial competition. We get the financial “Blue Ribbon” with very little accountability, which brings me to my next point…

Most people do not know that the Commissioner of Education does not answer to the Governor in the state of Alaska. To add insult to injury, neither does the Alaska School board. These are officials who are appointed through the legislature and do not answer directly to the electorate. I find it fascinating that the most important resource Alaska has is directed by administrators who are not directly accountable to “We the People.” Perhaps, this is why we get the results we have, which brings me to my next point…

Esther Cox ~ President of the Alaska School Board recently made remarks in the House Education Committee hearing when asked what implementing Common Core standards would cost the state over a period of ten years, Ms. Cox answered:

“I could not possibly answer that question. I don’t live and breathe this daily as do those through the department.”

Commissioner of Education, Michael Hanley has made statements all over the map regarding whether the State of Alaska is Common Core compliant, and whether or not our children’s personal data has been shipped away to a national database. His changing testimony over the last few years has been less than stellar and one could certainly argue extremely deceptive and definitely not forthright and transparent.

Through it all, even a passive observer will come away with a sense that the education network in Alaska is run by a very selective “education cartel.”

Generally speaking, the Alaska legislature has had somewhat of a “hands off” approach in directing educational policy, and those few legislators who have actively engaged in the promotion of ideas of educational excellence seem to be met with some form of ostracizing as “educational zealots.” One comes away with a sense that the professionals are in place to promote the monopoly of an average educational experience and nothing more which brings me to my next point…

Common Core is being “sold” to the Alaskan legislature and to the citizen’s of Alaska as the “new” best way forward. I find it disconcerting that Bill Gates recently stated that Common Core is a 10 year experiment. One must wonder if we should expend an entire generation of our children on an educational experiment cooked up in the “Bill and Belinda Gates” education kitchen, but I divert…

Common Core is actually similar to the same national conversation we are having regarding global warming or it’s new label, “Climate Change.” There is a fascinating similarity especially here in Alaska for instead of Commissioner Hanley calling our standards “Common Core” he just promotes them as “Alaska Standards” but any reasonable assessment would indicate that they are 95% compliant to Common Core , so much so that the federal government has been willing to shovel some educational dollars into our coffers all with the idea that we will be a “good little state” and be compliant. Why do I hear that catchy tune from the movie Chicago playing in my head….” Give them the old Razzle Dazzle…” which brings me to my final point..

We are on the verge of an educational explosion based on technology. Today we have the opportunity to deliver a massive array of educational packages that are interactive in real time for pennies on the dollar. We can either embrace this new technology and begin directing the definition of excellence in educational content, or be bound to the convention of the “horse and buggy” of Common Core which is simply put, reinventing the same experiment which has given us questionable results. Recently, the “education cartel” passed legislation that “distance learning” or internet educational content must come from Alaska based educators. Given this notion, if Albert Einstein were alive today and wanted to provide Alaskan children with physics lessons via the cyber world, he would be turned down unless he wanted to take up residence in Alaska. This is an excellent example how decisions are made inside the narrow confines of the “cartel.”

For me, it is a clear picture. On one hand, we can continue to assist in the development of a condensed curriculum of educational content controlled by a select few for their own proprietary reasons which is generally associated with force, fraud and money, or we can embrace the open source market and explore all the options available to direct educational content truly as a learning tool instead of the convention of the global model which simply exists to socialize our citizens to “fit” into a global construct.

Is there any reason why any motivated student cannot accelerate at their own pace far beyond the convention of any “minimum standards” of education. Don’t we owe our very intellectual existence to assist in the development of true “brain power” based on the spirit of an individual and their desire to want more than the conventions of an educational cartel working on a “Common Core” design in the backwater of an archaic workshop simply to move the money around within their legions?

Our constitution was written for the individual to protect our personal liberties from an oppressive government. At the very least, shouldn’t our education construct reinforce the strength of our individual nature in assisting us to reach for the stars? Is our educational salvation going to find it’s greatest achievement in social doctrine?

I say we are on the shore of a great educational journey. We should not lack the common sense it will take to reclaim our destiny. “Common Core” is nothing but an expensive and embellished anchor. One we do not have the luxury to afford.

To accept the nomination of Commissioner Michael Hanley and President Esther Cox is to purchase the anchor. We deserve better

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Michael Chambers is the Chair of United for Liberty, the Chair of the Alaska Libertarian Party, and is a former public school educator.

Should Alaska follow Common Core? If not, contact your legislator today.

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