A new documentary film that explores the auspicious origins of the Common Core education standards can now be viewed for free online.
The film explains that the standards were developed behind closed doors and with little public scrutiny. A significant minority among the members of the Common Core ratifying commission voted not to endorse the standards, though this disagreement was promptly buried by the powerful interests intent on achieving a national curriculum standard.
The Obama administration, many Republican governors and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation all support Common Core.
The film features interviews with dozens of education experts. Some, including Fordham Institute Executive Vice President Michael Petrilli, give positive appraisals of the standards. Most, however, express the view that the standards are a step in the wrong direction for education reform. (RELATED: This Common Core math problem asks kids to write the ‘friendly’ answer, instead of the correct one!)
“Is it the government’s right to teach the child what the government thinks the child should know, or is it my child and I should have some say in it?” asks Ze’ev Wurman, a former U.S. Department of Education official who is interviewed in the film.