Common Core State Standards a Threat to Personal Liberty — Thomas More Law Center Develops Opt-Out Form for Parents
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August 27, 2014
Amidst growing concerns from parents and teachers surrounding the Common Core State Standards and the Federal government’s control of classroom curriculum, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) has prepared a Student Privacy Protection Request form for use by parents who wish to protect their children by opting-out of Common Core aligned curricula, data mining and the release of information concerning their children’s personal beliefs.
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, MI, designed the comprehensive opt-out form for parents concerned about Common Core and who want to protect their children’s privacy from educational data mining. The form allows parents to choose which Common Core State Standards and data driven practices they do not want their children to be a part of, including standardized testing.
The form allows parents to opt-out of sharing their child’s information with the federal government, as well as outside agencies and private contractors. Information which parents can opt-out of sharing ranges from test scores and religious and political beliefs, to biographic, biometric, and psychometric data, such as fingerprints, DNA and information related to children’s personality and aptitude.
Richard Thompson, TMLC President and Chief Counsel, commented, “The opt-out form is based on the constitutionally recognized fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children and on federal statutes which were designed to protect student privacy. Our Founding Fathers recognized the dangers to our freedoms posed by centralized control over public education. However, today, all but a handful of state governments, enticed by millions of dollars in federal grants, are voluntarily inviting the federal government to take control of our public schools, imposing untested educational standards and obtaining personal information on children and their parents which would make any totalitarian government blush with envy. We must ever keep in mind, ‘The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will become the philosophy of the government in the next.’ Clearly, Common Core is a threat to individual privacy and liberty, and to our Constitutional Republic.”
https://www.thomasmore.org/news/common-core-state-standards-threat-personal-liberty-thomas-law-center-develops-opt-form-parents/
Every school has a curriculum. Parents can choose the school but not the curriculum.
Common core is rigorious. Is it really going to weaken your child’s brain? Choose a private school if you find it offensive.
do you work for Pearson?
No I do not. What is the magic that people imagine is happening in RPS?
Family demographics – income, parents attained education – have more of an impact on the children’s success. If we do not get it from the school we gladly pay for it with tutors and learning centers.
Ridgewood parents are competitive. Whatever the curriculum we strive for the best for our kids
Put the RPS program next to common core. Where are the horrors? Maybe we do not like what is unfamiliar and new.
According to your logic the curriculum is irrelevant – it’s all the parents.
If that’s the case then lets save lots of $$ and implement the cheapest curriculum since the curriculum doesn’t matter anyway.
The reality is that parents are hugely important, but a school curriculum sets the framework for education, thus the BEST POSSIBLE curriculum should be implemented. “Common” core – IS NOT a curriculum that strive to produce the VERY BEST student… rather its goal is to produce a CONSISTENT and COMMON student which inherently LOWERS previously exceptional curriculums (like Ridgewood) while attempting to raise substandard districts curriculums.
The curriculum is important, I do not see common core as inferior. Saying that it is inferior is just an opimion but does not provide any supporting information. It is a rigorious program and standards start in kindergarten.
It is trying to raise the bar for some districts but Ridgewood should have no problem meeting and exceeding expectations.
Parents will always supplement if they think that their kids are having problems. That said, Tutors are not just for struggling students. The “A” students are being tutored too. And a not so well kept secret is that many athletes have private coaches and 1:1 training. As I said, Ridgewood is a competitive town.
Just saying that you do not see common core as inferior does not make it a rigorous program. Saying it is rigorous is just an opinion without any supporting information… regardless of how verbose you state your opinion.
The goal of Common core is consistency – not excellence.
#6 not very insightful. Original thoughts show a working mind.
The Excellence of Ridgewood is just a slogan. Do you think that because they carved it into granite it must be true?
Colleges have been complaining for years that students are unprepared. US students rank 36 in the world and no one wants to change.
The problem is that Ridgewood is a community in which all of the students are believed to be “above average”. Some parents can’t understand that there could be something better out there. Our curriculum is not the gold standard. Keeping things just the way they are is not going to cut it.
#7 more empty words from you… lots of talk with no substance to back up your support of Common Core.
Generalizing your argument (equating Ridgewood schools with all US schools/students) is yet another sign of a weak or non-existent argument.
Just because the RW BOE has been driving the quality of RW education down over the last decade (or more?) does not translate into Common Core being either a rigorous program or a curriculum that is better than the one currently in place.
Even with its decline, RW schools are still of a higher quality than most others in the country. The way to improve them lies in realizing each INDIVIDUAL student’s potential — not in flattening everything down to a uniform lowest common demoninator.
Common Core is not about having each student achieve their potential – rather it is about fairness and consistency and making sure all students end up with the same education – regardless of its innate value of that education or the potential of the individual student.
The goal of Common core is consistency – not excellence.
if we adapt common core there is no point of paying high taxes for schools now is there
The problem of common core isn’t common core, it is that using it dramatically restricts the ability of teachers to do real teaching. The core curriculum has such specific and time consuming methods that teachers are forced to fill the day with teaching the core.
Things like class plays, class pets and pen pals with foreign lands are hard to fit in when you have to teach to a test. Same goes for letting kids of all ages explore what they are passionate about.
There is a big difference between the current standards and testing and the old HSPT which was basically a joke for schools like Ridgewood. Those tests were a true minimum and allowed great teachers the flexibility to inspire kids to love learning.