Education policy analyst Diane Ravitch is no hard-right conservative, but she does deviate from the Obama Administration on certain issues, including the Common Core education standards. This morning, Ravitch tweeted that the Common Core approach to teaching the Gettysburg Address is a “travesty.”
The bizarre approach was highlighted in a recent article by Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post:
Imagine learning about the Gettysburg Address without a mention of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, or why President Abraham Lincoln had traveled to Pennsylvania to make the speech. That’s the way a Common Core State Standards “exemplar for instruction” — from a company founded by three main Core authors — says it should be taught to ninth and 10th graders.
“How is it possible,” Ravitch asks, “for any student to understand the meaning of the Gettysburg Address without knowing the historical context in which it was delivered?”
Good question.
Related:
You have to see these unintelligible Common Core assignments posted by angry parents
Education Secretary’s statement about Common Core opponents sparks ‘Moms Against Duncan’
Dean Cain: Common Core injecting politics into education ‘scares the crap out of me’
Michelle Malkin slams Common Core at two Indiana AFP events [pics]
Join the conversation as a VIP Member