Education

Common Core Conundrum: So Toxic, Even Arne Duncan Refuses To Say It

Katie Frates Editor-in-chief of The Daily Walkthrough
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The best way to promote a highly sensitive and controversial curriculum is by not actually mentioning it at all.

And that’s exactly what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan did. At the 2014 annual National PTA convention in Austin, Texas, on June 20, he gave an entire speech about Common Core without ever actually saying “Common Core.”

Instead, Duncan referred to Common Core as “standards,” a word he used nine times. He talked about how people “came together to develop these college- and career-ready standards” and how “43 states will be moving forward this fall with new, higher, better academic standards that they chose.”

The speech has been posted on the U.S. Department of Education’s website. Common Core isn’t mentioned there either, The Washington Post reports.

Duncan has been a staunch defender of Common Core in the past, hinting at potential repercussions when states have moved away from the national educational standards. (RELATED: Arne Duncan Threatens Entire State Of Oklahoma Because State Backed Out Of Common Core)

Common Core has become increasingly unpopular, with states like Oklahoma, Indiana and South Carolina choosing to withdraw from the educational program. (RELATED: Jindal Moves To Dump Common Core, Sparking La. Civil War)