- - - - - - - The following is a bit of rant from a concerned parent regarding the handling of several current events occurring in one particular North Jersey borough which goes unnamed. It is personal opinion supported by personal experiences and fact-based research, and it is in no way meant to imply or accuse any elected counsel of illegal or immoral activities but rather intended to raise questions about the possibility of such. Therefore the main purpose of this essay is to suggest schools remain “politics-free” at all costs and to encourage unification amongst parents regardless of political affiliation, and to strive for what’s best for our children in a growingly hostile environment of political change. - - - - - - -

I recently attended my son’s back-to-school night and it was quite a shock. I was horrified by the college style (with a hint of prison) vibe that I experienced with the surroundings. No more cute wooden desks....No more alphabet above the blackboard. No blackboard for that matter. Just dry erase boards now and high tech projection machines. Laptops are being introduced and soon enough text books will be obsolete. Mandatory second language and health classes are here at earlier and earlier ages. It’s all just too much for me. There seems to be a very cold nature that’s rubbing off on kids in a bad way whereas when I was ten, I felt safe and content.

The way the teachers were talking they were sounding like drill sergeants and if I was feeling uneasy I could only imagine how the students feel. Now I get why my son gets stressed. Seems like the idea is to make everyone into robots with no character and certainly no fun. They have even eliminated basic “snack time.” What happened to being a kid?

The lessons now contain math problems bordering on advanced calculus and if you don’t do them in these long-winded, wordy formulas there is hell to pay! The answer is unimportant we were told, it’s all about these crazy new methods that quite frankly I don’t think the teachers are even totally on board with. But what can they do?

Here was the worst part of the night for me and really what this blog is all about, I’m not here to wax poetic with nostalgic tales of New Jersey in the ‘80s and ‘90s though I do miss my Trapper Keeper…So out of the blue the mayor got on the loud speaker urging parents to go vote for the $4 million dollar budget (to match the just received $4 million dollar grant the schools already have to hook up new air conditioning and other “amenities”) which I felt quite uncomfortable with and thought was not at all appropriate to be doing. Am I being paranoid or are my fears warranted and is the once safe haven of a school playground now some corporate factory we must all conform to like a drone? Has public school changed this much in the past 20-25 years?

Look, there were good and bad things from 1986 thru 1995 when I was in my interparochial grammar school….but you know what, my kindergarten through eighth grade years I have nothing but fond memories. I am not saying we should revert to those days completely but it just seems that things have changed too much---for the worse. Maybe I just gotta “get with it” right? “Common Core” is here and I must accept it. That’s what I said to myself anyway. But the latest incident to take place just changed that way of thinking…

So my fourth grade son gets an in-school assignment a few days ago as reflected in the photograph. He had to copy a message written on the whiteboard (of course not a message directly from the teacher but rather one passed down from the powers above), which was a “voting reminder” for this upcoming election. My son said that the teacher advised his class that while they can’t tell them “how to vote,” they can tell them “to vote.” Huh? I thought you had to be eighteen to vote? Why are teachers relaying this to kids? More importantly, why on earth would they be making our kids hand-write such a memo for us parents? Look, if the school had sent such a notice home in the folder it would be no big deal, but for this to be the topic of social studies class, is that acceptable?

To me, there is no place for political matters in fourth grade. None. Politics are a dirty, dirty thing and I am sorry I just don’t think anything related to it should be discussed in grammar school and I don’t care if you’re conservative or liberal. I was very much in support initially of the Obamas seemingly honest attempt to improve the school lunches across the country with healthier options. But since that whole plan started (since Jamie Oliver was banned from participating with his ideas), it’s become steadily obvious that the ones who would miraculously improve all these programs are in bed with the White House cutting the First Family in on all contracts signed across the nation. Oh let me be P.C., we’re just talking about “campaign contributions.” Lots of school in the U.S. of A. (Yes and those who opt out lose federal funding.) Indeed everything is about business now, it’s not about anything else and you are in denial if you don’t agree. On a side note, they can all spread this wealth but if a kid shares their lunch they are breaking the rules and risk being suspended. No joke.

But back to the topic at hand, the indoctrination nation we are in is unacceptable. We are not talking about college or even high school; it’s nine and ten year old kids, many of which still believe in Santa Claus. Hey maybe I lived in a bubble when I was in grammar school, or maybe, private school (again, I attended Catholic school for nine years) is indeed a better environment? At least there, you know from day one you are paying money so your voice damn well counts. YOU are in control as the parent. If there was ever an issue, it was immediately rectified when I was growing up. The parent-teacher conferences are even eliminated now, we were told at back-to-school night that “this was it” yet there was no time to even utter a word, it seemed as though we were being lectured from memorized scripts. Hmm…. Why are we being shut out, what exactly is going on?

I don’t blame the teachers here; they are just the pawns in this. And my brother and seven first cousins are all in teaching so I don’t want anyone to think I am bashing public school teachers at all. There are plenty of unruly students but that goes back to the parents in not raising their children with respect. Now teachers protest their wages often when meanwhile an outsider sees millions of dollars in budgets being passed all the time and then therefore call them “greedy” for such actions. Ok so who is right? Here’s the deal, don’t be naïve in thinking that whenever a new budget is passed that all that money goes to teachers. Yes we are back to the dirty politics again and why I don’t want my kids learning about it in school at this age. All we hear about in the news are these famous people who squander funds or are under investigation / indictment for income fraud or whatever the case may be. And unless your superintendent is blatantly idiotic and driving around the neighborhood in a brand new Porsche, he/she can indeed keep all the kickbacks that they are getting relatively low-key. But don’t think for one minute that there are not special interests at play here whenever these votes come up.

A simple Google search will yield some news articles of “mismanagement of bond and tax funds by school officials,” several cases detailing the local corruption to gain public trust prior to funding votes--which ultimately upon achieving approval are then used to cover-up the squandered budgets with minimal “improvements” nowhere near those originally intended. How many cases do we NOT hear about in these small towns where all the judges and prosecutors and politicians are so connected to these school officials they may as well be blood relatives? Yes it’s all about connections and who is “popular,” like, no pun intended the cool kid in class. As that cool kid grows up and becomes a pillar of the community (mainly for—GASP—throwing a few bucks towards let’s say planting some flowers in downtown square), that speeding ticket is dismissed. Whereas the working class Joe who may be at odds with a few things is not only silenced but harassed. Because it’s not the American Way to ever differ with local government right?

The bottom line is to tie this back to where we began, the kids, Common Core (according to their own website) is not supposed to be a government mandated curriculum by any means, rather “suggestions” on how and what to teach the kids. (Yet they come with mandated assessments and lesson plans.) Oh there’s certainly no penalties for a school not adopting it but there certainly are no perks for not adopting it. Let me spell this out even clearer. ALL SCHOOLS WHO ADOPT COMMON CORE RECEIVE MONEY. Therefore, why on earth would a school NOT adopt it??? And you know what, I would say let’s just all learn it and do it because of the benefits if indeed the rewards were for all of our best interests. But no, it’s only for certain interests. The “benefits” are just lining pockets of a select group of individuals and I can tell you this---these individuals do not include teachers, parents or kids.

Proof? That’s what we see when we got teachers who head to the picket lines, us parents having to buy 25 glue sticks and a ton of other items as part of the standard September supply list to fill the stock room (because with millions of dollars there’s just not enough for the board to pick up a glue stick tab???? Are windows that expensive or is someone going on a cruise?) Oh….and last but not least, if all of this modern stuff is so beneficial why oh why are there more stories than ever entering the news about student bullying, suicides, school shootings and children so stressed out you would think that they were trying to make a mortgage payment after being laid off over a simple pop quiz (which, I will reiterate by the way is now a mandatory “assessment”!) Oh sure look at the statistics from the ‘80s to now and how many boys and girls go off to college compared to back then, more do go today. Besides the fact that the economy was far better—yes I was just a child but according to my parents they were at their financial heights during the Reagan era and neither of them have college diplomas, but what about the statistics of today’s suicide rates compared to back then…or the amount of kids on depression and behavioral medications compared to then---absolutely staggering figures.

Apparently it doesn’t matter that our kids are guinea pigs or that in 20 years it will be some other program in place, mark my words. The content of the core is not even so important here as much as it is the fact that now, in 2014, kids are not taught on an individualized basis according to which subjects they may excel in… No, rather mediocrity seems to actually be encouraged! Why? Hey if every kid is status quo all is kosher right? Wrong. Not when that includes classroom activities which encourage parents to line the pockets of those in office disguised under some ruse that they are here for the greater good of all the families in the community rather than just some.

What stinks is that if one’s views don’t jive with who is in office, your life could be made into a living hell in a small neighborhood. Plus, the people who claimed to have your back disappear and become these sheep so as not to shake the apple tree. Let me break it down real simple here. I don’t discuss to my kids how/where/why/when I allocate funds between my wife and I for our bills or my meatball business, or if we are planning to finance a new car. Again, this should be of NO CONCERN to our young kids, so tell me how it’s okay for this to be the topic in school? We do not live in a dumpy town by any means where decaying structures are obvious and the children would be aware of such issues.

See this assignment note could have asked for new air conditioning (which by the way I never had in nine years of private school and I did wonderful), but it could have said really anything, it would not have mattered. Vacation funds for guidance counselor, new wardrobe for principal, fancy waxer for the gym floor, Christmas bonus (sorry, “holiday” bonus) for superintendent, you name it. Fact is, only a certain percentage goes to anything it’s actually asking for, that is why educators are losing. Now why isn’t the IRS auditing more books in schools? Ah, more under the table business of course, keeping them away. I’ll say it yet again---these are all such topics I do not want my ten year old subjected to. Or sex for that matter, yet he’ll be taught that a lot sooner than I ever was and we have no choice.

Hey there are so many things now that I did not have growing up---mainly all funneled to and from the internet. But let’s not make our youth into machines even though the electronic world is trying to take over. Some of the articles being written are not all factual. They still recite the Pledge of Allegiance, they still teach cursive. (For now anyway). But no it’s true they don’t call it Christmas break, it’s “winter break,” but a child did supposedly get suspended from school for saying “God bless you” after someone sneezed. You can’t play with toy guns, fine, but little by little playing in general is being minimized.

Back in the day we were not allergic to everything, we were not all “P.C.” and having that certain level of toughness was respected whereas today we are made to be weak and act as scared rabbits. I will not bow down or be tricked into voting for a cause that’s clearly directly linked to Common Core which is clearly directly just another political kickback. You want to call me a conspiracy theorist or crazy, go ahead. Or just go look up the $4.35 billion dollar “Race to the Top” federal fund initiative. I won’t keep quiet to simply not ruffle feathers. I will ask questions and have cynical doubts, research and seek the truth. When it comes to my children there is no other way. I just want what’s best for them and will protect them as best I can.

Stand with me if I have you shaken to the core, or at least shaking your head.