Just as Common Core has divided liberals—so it is also dividing conservatives.
On the liberal side, one camp is for it because of its promise of increasing equity and competency for students across the United States and another camp is against it because they feel it has not been implemented well enough and will lead to over-testing.
On the conservative side, Big Business stands for it in hopes that it will provide a more practical and standardized education for their future employees while Tea Partiers decry it as a federal grab for control that could not possibly meet the needs of the diverse body of American students.
As Common Core edges closer, with its implementation set for next school year, the time is now for political mobilization in support of Common Core. And the most recent group to jump firmly on board is the Big Business community.
Stephanie Simon, writing for Politico, gives one anecdote that exemplifies what is taking place:
So it was that Billy Canary, president of the Business Council of Alabama, got four dozen influential executives on a conference call with the state senate leadership the other day to talk up the standards. He has also nudged hundreds of less prominent business leaders to reach out to their representatives in a campaign he calls “No lawmaker goes uncontacted.” If he senses a politician wavering on Common Core, he texts his pinstriped army. They spring at once into action.
Canary’s talking points might not win over parents who think of their children as precious individuals rather than workforce widgets, but they’re carefully calibrated to appeal to lawmakers concerned about economic development.
“The business community is by far the biggest consumer of the product created by our education system,” Canary tells them — and that system needs to produce better product if businesses are to compete in the global economy. “That’s why,” he said, “we’re all fighting in this direction.”
Around the country, the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and others are making use of political contacts, holding community meetings, and using whatever means they can to spread the word to the American public in hopes of staving off far-right wing attempts to stop Common Core in its tracks. And to some extent, this has been successful:
They blocked a bill that could have torpedoed the Common Core in Georgia. They derailed a similar bill in Arizona, too, though that fight is not yet over. They slowed a breakneck drive to get alternative standards approved in Indiana. And they blocked a bill in Wisconsin that would have empowered the legislature to shape new standards.
With elections coming up in the fall, it is hard to see how the Common Core could be anything but political fodder, but it also encouraging to see that Americans on both sides of the aisle are not afraid to take a firm stand, either for or against Common Core, rather than simply holding to their party line.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/big-business-takes-on-tea-party-over-common-core-104662.html
